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
Why ancient soldiers trained with polo
Chasing a wooden ball on horseback was never meant to be a leisurely afternoon for the rich. Ancient empires utilized the chaotic swarming to ensure their…
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Commercial drones require strictly filed flight plans
You can't just send a remote-controlled plastic quadcopter to deliver a package whenever you want. Operators have to submit paperwork as if they were flying a…
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Kickball began as baseball without the bats
When hitting a pitch with a wooden bat proved too difficult, someone realized you could just roll a massive rubber sphere instead. Created in 1917, it…
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Lightly touching foreheads supposedly awakens spines
Receiving a tap on the forehead from a master is supposedly enough to instantly trigger a massive internal awakening. Shaktipat is the mystic equivalent of a…
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Why premium dog food may not be so premium
That beautifully illustrated bag of wild wilderness chow usually features a rather deceptive ingredient list. Despite showing pristine cuts of salmon and beef…
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When hide-and-seek was a dating ritual
Nothing says romance quite like crouching in a dirty bush. Historically, European adults played this in the woods to celebrate spring and secretly pair off…
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Giant Canadian valley spans a long distance
The Rocky Mountain Trench is a massively long, completely straight geological depression stretching nearly a thousand miles through British Columbia. Visible…
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Why planes use different altitude layers
To keep planes from kissing mid-air, westbound routes take even altitudes while eastbound take odd ones. It is a giant invisible layer cake of organization in…
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Why a winning streak feels like a superpower
Landing three lucky shots in a row suddenly convinces everyone you are a deity of pure skill. The hot hand fallacy makes people believe that a random winning…
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Why alternating current won the electricity war
Thomas Edison lost the electricity war because his rival figured out how to easily pump up the pressure. Direct current required massive cables and frequent…
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Tunnel boring machines push forward using hydraulic jacks
Carving through a massive mountain is accomplished by a giant mechanical worm violently pushing off its own installed waste. As the spinning cutter head chews…
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The invisible line that divides Indonesia's wildlife
Running strictly between certain Indonesian islands is the Wallace Line, a completely invisible biological boundary where the local fauna drastically changes.…
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Badminton was named after a duke's estate
Swatting a feathered cone over a net sounds ridiculous, and its history matches. British military officers brought the concept back from India and played it…
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Why hippos travel miles inland at night
Despite spending the daylight hours lazily submerged in muddy pools, these massive hostile potatoes haul their enormous bulk onto land in the dark. They stomp…
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The fiery origin of hot potato
Frantically passing an object around a circle taps into a very real fear of suffering third-degree burns. The origins stem from the desperate tossing of hot…
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Cities convert streetlights to LED to slash upkeep
Local governments did not suddenly care about the visual ambiance of your street; they just hated paying for bucket trucks. The massive shift to harsh, bright…
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Your dog’s MRI may have scanned human brains first
When a major hospital upgrades its diagnostic equipment to the newest shiny model, the old multi-million-dollar magnet does not go to the scrapyard. It gets…
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Why movie babies often come in pairs
Infants are notoriously terrible at following even the most basic directions. Because stringent labor laws restrict exactly how long a single baby can be…
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Why growing pains often strike at bedtime
Children don't ache while running around; the throbbing only kicks in when they finally lie down. It turns out that rapid bone elongation forcefully stretches…
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How city kids turned walls into tennis opponents
Slapping a tennis ball against a brick façade is the quintessential pastime of cramped city living. Lacking wide-open green spaces, kids adapted by using the…
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Keepy uppy is a desperate battle against gravity
Preventing a balloon from touching the carpet requires the agility of a professional athlete and the panic of a trapped animal. This chaotic activity…
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NASA's Opportunity crawled 28 miles across Mars
It took an advanced robotic rover over fourteen years to travel the distance of a mediocre marathon. It slowly crawled across barren red dirt until a massive…
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Cassini threaded the gap between Saturn and its rings
In a brilliant display of cosmic recklessness, scientists steered their beloved billion-dollar camera right through the rocky debris of Saturn's rings. They…
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Canada geese travel thousands of miles in rigid formations
Known primarily as aggressive park menaces, these incredibly loud birds band together to terrorize the skies. They fly relentlessly toward better breeding…
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