The world is more interesting than you think.
Unexpected facts, big ideas, and little discoveries. Find something that sparks your curiosity today.
A little more wonder
A pigment suitable for paint is not automatically suitable for a tattoo
The FDA notes that some tattoo pigments have industrial uses and that no color additives are approved in the US for injection into skin. What matters is the…
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Fake ice cream can be a model made from frosting
Food stylists can mix frosting and powdered sugar into a scoop that holds its shape for photography. It may stand in when another product, such as a topping,…
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Customs declaration forms use chemically treated paper
Those multi-copy forms use pressure-sensitive paper: writing bursts tiny dye capsules on one sheet, and the color marks the sheet below. One pen stroke…
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Hay fever once looked like an upper-class disease
When John Bostock investigated it in the early nineteenth century, the small collection of cases he identified came from the middle and upper classes. That…
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The tiny carbon molecule shaped like a soccer ball
This molecule is a hollow cage of 60 carbon atoms arranged in pentagons and hexagons, like panels on a soccer ball. The pattern closes into a shell instead of…
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Airports use dogs to chase birds off runways
Dogs patrol the runway and make birds feel that a predator has moved into the neighborhood. Birds that scatter are less likely to meet an arriving aircraft,…
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How researchers accidentally get the answers they expect
People don’t behave like sealed laboratory instruments: they notice how a question is asked and respond to the person asking it. If researchers signal what…
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Sea shanties were once tools for heavy labor
Their rhythms helped sailors coordinate strenuous jobs such as pulling ropes and hauling sails.
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An aircraft door can remain dangerous even after the plane has landed
Residual cabin pressure can force a door open violently when it is released. Airbus uses a warning light to alert ground staff and crew to that risk. Being…
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Chestnut blight killed the canopy without always killing the roots
The fungus devastated billions of American chestnuts, removing great trees from eastern forests. Many surviving roots still send up shoots, which often…
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Snow geese fly in large V-formations to conserve energy
Each goose in the right spot can use the upward-moving air pushed by the wings of the bird ahead, saving energy in flight. The leader does the less-assisted…
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Title insurance protects a home purchase from its past
An unpaid tax bill or an earlier owner's unresolved claim can become the new buyer's problem. Title work searches for those defects before closing, while…
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Scoliosis predominantly targets adolescent girls
Idiopathic scoliosis means the cause of the spinal curve is unknown. During adolescence, the spine is still growing, and a curve can worsen as growth…
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First-class cabins use heavy curtains for isolation
Heavy curtains block sightlines and absorb some cabin noise, giving first-class passengers a softer boundary from the rest of the carriage. It’s privacy by…
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A Komodo dragon's bite has more than teeth
Its serrated teeth tear flesh, while glands in the lower jaw produce venom containing compounds that interfere with clotting and lower blood pressure. The…
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Massive waterfalls divide two countries
They stretch across the Argentina-Brazil border in hundreds of separate cascades, whose roar carries through the surrounding jungle.
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Thermal power plants lose massive energy as heat
A power plant burns fuel, but much of the energy never becomes electricity: more than half can leave as waste heat, warming the air or nearby rivers.
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Imaginary spinal snakes make people shake wildly
Kundalini practitioners picture a coiled serpent at the base of the spine as dormant inner power; its supposed awakening can involve intense bodily movements.
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In Spud, hearing your number turns you from runner to thrower
One player throws the ball upward and calls a number; the named player must retrieve it while the others scatter. Once the ball is controlled, the chase…
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Millions of red crabs march across Christmas Island
Each year, red crabs head from the forest toward the coast to breed. Females release their eggs into the sea, and the young later travel inland, completing…
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A microchip may not help a lost pet
A microchip isn’t a universal beacon: different manufacturers have used different radio frequencies. A shelter’s scanner may fail to read the chip, even when…
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Baseball belongs to an older family of bat-and-ball games
English games such as rounders and stoolball shared the broad idea of striking a ball and running or defending targets. Modern baseball developed its own…
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Burning coal releases radioactive material into the air
Coal contains trace amounts of uranium and thorium, which can end up in the fly ash released when it is burned.
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How plastic threads become carbon fiber
Polyacrylonitrile fibers are heated without oxygen so they don’t burn; the treatment removes non-carbon atoms, leaving strong carbon-rich fibers.
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