Science
Discover facts about science. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Science
Quicksand is more ordinary than movies suggest
Despite starring in every major adventure movie as a bottomless pit of doom, quicksand is basically just an incredibly soggy dirt soup. When normal grit gets…
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The chowder so thick it barely feels like soup
Why carefully sip a completely delicate seafood broth when you can violently consume a violently thick, deeply heavy dairy sludge heavily packed with rubbery…
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Viroids are entirely naked nucleic acids destroying flora
Viruses at least have the absolute decency to wear a protective protein coat, but viroids just show up completely bare. These microscopic vandals are merely…
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How heat can turn into deafening sound
In one of the most obnoxious conversions of energy imaginable, stark temperature differences can literally create blaring noise. When gas is rapidly heated…
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Plant roots navigate soil obstacles using sheer touch
Plants are stumbling around in the dark just like the rest of us. Root systems possess a highly sensitive mechanical response, allowing them to literally feel…
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The day Kentucky rained chunks of meat
Forget a light drizzle, the skies of Bath County opted to rain raw flesh. For several minutes in 1876, chunks of mysterious meat fell from a perfectly clear…
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The moss that comes back after drying out
While most foliage dramatically withers and dies during a heatwave, common moss simply goes to sleep. By pausing their cellular processes and completely…
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Nashville cooks aggressively weaponize chicken with cayenne
Regular fried chicken completely apparently lacked entirely enough sheer violent agony, so intensely malicious southern chefs aggressively drown entirely…
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The microbes thriving in boiling acid
While you complain about tepid coffee, certain microscopic tough guys are living their absolute best lives in incredibly corrosive hot springs. By possessing…
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Universities once took demonology seriously
Long before universities were offering degrees in communications, you could officially major in chasing away the literal devil. At several prominent European…
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The American sandwich made with fried cow brains
Zombie apocalypses are utterly unnecessary when perfectly normal Midwestern residents willingly consume aggressively flattened, heavily battered bovine…
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Balut: the egg that contains a tiny duck
Why violently force society to choose between happily eating a breakfast egg or a roasted bird when you can completely consume both simultaneously? Balut…
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Why pine cones open and close
Pine cones are basically free, low-tech weather stations scattered across the dirt. Their scales are constructed of rigid tissue that physically warps…
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Boiling points drop drastically at high elevations
Cooking pasta on a massive mountain is a test of sheer patience. Because the ambient atmospheric pressure is so incredibly weak at high altitudes, liquids…
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Boron acts as a crucial flux in basic glassmaking
Regular glass is incredibly brittle and cracks under rapid temperature changes. Throw in some boron, however, and everything stabilizes. Boron effortlessly…
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The metal that loses its magnetism at room temperature
Gadolinium is fiercely magnetic when placed in a frigid room, but it gives up immediately when things get slightly comfortable. It has an incredibly low Curie…
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Silver tarnishes by bonding with airborne sulfur
Buying expensive silverware is just inviting a lifetime of tedious polishing. Silver actively reacts with trace amounts of sulfur floating around in the…
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Why badminton shuttlecocks use 16 goose feathers
Nothing screams peak athletic performance like plucking birds. Professional badminton requires shuttlecocks made from precisely sixteen overlapping goose…
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Ruthenium acts as an exceptional metallic hardener
Pure platinum and palladium are quite lovely, but annoyingly soft. Ruthenium steps in as the brutal chemical disciplinarian, vastly hardening these softer…
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Ytterbium behaves curiously like an alkaline earth metal
Ytterbium is technically a heavy lanthanide, but it clearly failed to read its own job description. It possesses an unexpectedly low density and actively…
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Lutetium is the hardest and densest lanthanide element
Sitting at the absolute end of the lanthanide series, lutetium is the heavy enforcer of the group. It packs a staggering amount of mass into its atomic…
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Final Fantasy VII was once a noir detective story
The sprawling epic about an eco-terrorist mercenary with a giant sword fighting a silver-haired demigod originally had a very different vibe. Early drafts…
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Why the marathon is 26.2 miles
The grueling 26.2-mile distance has absolutely nothing to do with optimal human endurance. It was arbitrarily extended at the London Olympics simply because…
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Niobium pairs with titanium to create powerful magnets
On its own, niobium is just a modestly interesting transition metal, but mixed with titanium, it transforms into an absolute powerhouse. It rapidly sheds all…
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