Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Hashtags group disparate internet posts into single streams
Adding a hashtag links a post to a larger stream of posts using the same tag, making it easier for strangers to find them together.
Discover more
Movie arrow sounds come from bamboo sticks
Whipping thin bamboo rods past a microphone creates an arrow's fast, threatening whoosh—without firing projectiles in a crowded recording studio.
Discover more
Arrested Development foreshadowed Buster's missing hand
Before Buster lost his hand to a seal, the show planted clues: a bench obscured the words “ARM OFF,” he won a stuffed seal from a claw machine, and his…
Discover more
Van Gogh painted himself after the crisis that cost him an ear
Following the December 1888 episode, he made self-portraits showing the bandage. The visible injury became part of how later viewers recognized the artist,…
Discover more
Roller coaster screaming is highly encouraged
Some parks aim coaster drops toward walkways so riders’ screams draw passing visitors toward the ride.
Discover more
Why infomercial numbers change by channel
Companies use different toll-free numbers for the same product on different channels to track which stations bring in the most sales.
Discover more
STACKY FOR IPHONEA bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.
Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
Peanuts characters never actually aged a day
Despite the strip’s 50-year run and references to contemporary pop culture, its child characters remained in elementary school.
Discover moreCatwoman's sleek suit was a production problem for Pfeiffer
Getting Michelle Pfeiffer into the Batman Returns costume involved powder and a tight latex fit. She later described the result as vacuum-packed and said it…
Discover more
Kingda Ka launched riders at 128 miles per hour
The New Jersey coaster used a powerful hydraulic launch to send its train up a 456-foot tower. It operated from 2005 until 2024, when its record-setting era…
Discover more
Lilo and Samara were played by the same actress
Daveigh Chase voiced Lilo in Lilo & Stitch and played Samara in the 2002 horror film The Ring. She went from a sweet Hawaiian girl to the ghost who crawls out…
Discover more
The X-Files episode that helped create Breaking Bad
Bryan Cranston's guest role as a terrifying but sympathetic antagonist in an X-Files episode impressed writer Vince Gilligan. Years later, Gilligan cast him…
Discover more
Muting microphones prevents background noise on group calls
Without muting, group calls can pick up heavy breathing, barking dogs, and clacking keyboards along with the conversation.
Discover more
Crash Bandicoot spent part of development as Willie the Wombat
Naughty Dog explored Australian animals while building a mascot for a new kind of 3D platform game. The character and name changed as the design developed.…
Discover more
Sheet music dominated the industry before phonographs
Before recordings, the music business sold sheet music; a hit was measured by how many households bought the notes to play at home.
Discover more
Super Soaker water blasts exert immense physical pressure
Its pneumatic mechanism fires a pressurized stream strong enough to sting at a distance, replacing the dribbly squirt guns that came before it.
Discover more
Why balloons are banned at Animal Kingdom
Balloons can pop or drift into animal enclosures, so the park bans guests from bringing them in.
Discover more
Drafts folders are digital graveyards for abandoned posts
They can hold abandoned rants or heavily edited selfies that never made it into a public post.
Discover more
Alice in Wonderland's creator also published mathematics
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, an Oxford mathematics lecturer. Under his real name he wrote on subjects such as geometry and…
Discover more
Why Friends viewers thought Chandler was gay
When the Friends pilot script circulated, some readers—including Lisa Kudrow—thought Chandler was gay because of his sarcasm and awkwardness with women. The…
Discover more
Digital avatars allow players to attend virtual concerts
Players gather as avatars in multiplayer lobbies to watch virtual concerts, letting performers reach crowds without physical venues.
Discover more
Domain name Cars.com sold for a fortune
The domain sold for nearly a billion dollars despite being a straightforward label for motor vehicles, not a piece of proprietary technology.
Discover moreJoaquin Phoenix faked a rap career for a year
For a year, Phoenix claimed he was quitting acting for hip-hop, grew a beard, gave chaotic interviews, and performed rap songs in clubs as part of a…
Discover more
Zelda Majora's Mask gives you exactly three days
You get 72 in-game hours to stop the moon from crashing into the world. If time runs out, the cycle resets and you have to try again.
Discover more
One mistyped chord can turn speech into gibberish
Stenographers press several keys at once to represent words or sounds, so one mistimed finger can turn a speech into gibberish.
Discover more