Science
Discover facts about science. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Science
Pandas eat bamboo with a carnivore's digestive system
Despite possessing the exact digestive system of a dedicated meat-eating carnivore, these bears stubbornly decided to exclusively chew on tough, unyielding…
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Kite string tension limits maximum flight altitude
You can't just let out miles of string to touch the clouds. A kite flies strictly because of aerodynamic lift acting against the anchor of the string.…
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Rhinos use dung heaps like a social network
For rhinos, the communal bathroom is literally the local social network. They utilize massive, shared dung heaps called middens to post updates about their…
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Avocados outlived the giant animals that spread their seeds
Your expensive millennial toast topping is a literal evolutionary ghost. The avocado's absurdly large seed was designed to be eaten and pooped out by giant…
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Prairie dogs can describe predators by color and size
These burrowing rodents have developed a surveillance language better than most security teams. Prairie dogs use highly complex squeaks that decode into…
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Mohs scale judges rocks by scratch resistance
In the nineteenth century, Friedrich Mohs decided the best way to classify minerals was to simply make them fight each other. The Mohs hardness scale ranks…
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When ice makes mountains float in the sky
Optical illusions are not restricted to scorching desert sands. When varying temperatures of air layer perfectly over freezing water, the atmosphere…
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Seiches make completely enclosed lakes slosh
You do not need a massive coastline to experience giant, terrifying waves. A seiche is a standing wave that occurs in completely enclosed bodies of water,…
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How gases can make a sealed casket burst
Death is not the dignified, peaceful slumber the funeral industry sells you; it is a chaotic chemical comedy. As bacteria digest a corpse, they produce…
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Earth is the odd planet out in the solar system
We gave Mars the God of War and Venus the Goddess of Love, but completely dropped the ball on our own home. 'Earth' just stems from old Germanic and English…
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Ceres may hold more freshwater than Earth
It's literally just a giant rock floating in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, but Ceres is hiding a ridiculous secret. Scientists estimate that…
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Antimony aggressively hardens lead into absolute rigid forms
Normally, lead is a pathetic, droopy metal completely unsuited for retaining strict rigid shapes. Enter antimony, a weirdly brittle semi-metal that totally…
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Why drawing games reveal how you think
Scribbling a pathetic stick figure while your friends scream in frustration reveals deep cognitive biases. Drawing party games aggressively alienate players…
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Equine genetics boast over seven major blood groups
While a standard blood transfusion seems relatively straightforward, horse genetics heavily complicate the process with over seven distinct major blood groups…
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The rare rainbows that appear by moonlight
Because the visual spectrum refuses to sleep, optimal misty conditions under a bright moon will forcefully generate nocturnal rainbows. These ghostly optical…
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Berzelius discovered thorium lurking in black minerals
Continuing his absolute obsession with heavy Scandinavian rocks, Berzelius examined a black sample sent to him by a local clergyman. He subjected it to…
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Group theory is the mathematical study of pure symmetry
Instead of appreciating a nice snowflake, mathematicians decided to rigidly define symmetry through abstract algebraic structures. It turns out that rotating…
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Aspdin invented a unique cement resembling natural stone
Joseph Aspdin basically cooked crushed limestone and clay on his kitchen stove until it formed a massively tough binding powder. When mixed with water, it…
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Why a candle flame isn't plasma
Despite common misconceptions, a typical candle flame is just a super-heated gas, not a fancy fourth state of matter. To rip electrons away from their nuclei…
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The hippocampus can grow new neurons into old age
Contrary to the bleak warnings of high school health teachers, neural tissue does not stop growing at graduation. The hippocampus continues churning out brand…
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Sand that comes out of water completely dry
By simply coating entirely normal grains of sand with a trimethylsilanol vapor, the sand decides to permanently sever ties with liquids. When dumped in a…
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Paramagnetic substances exhibit temporary magnetism
Certain materials are magnetic opportunists. They will weakly align themselves with an external field, feigning attraction, only to immediately revert to…
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Moths that drink sleeping birds’ tears
The ultimate nightmare fuel of the insect kingdom involves tiny winged intruders stealthily flying into your eyeballs while you sleep. Certain moths in…
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Web URLs are strictly forbidden from having gaps
The foundational rules of the web absolutely despise basic sentence structure. Web addresses cannot contain blank gaps, which is exactly why modern links…
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