Transport
Discover facts about transport. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Transport
Why some bicycles are painted completely white
Whenever you spot an entirely white bicycle chained to a pole, it is not an avant-garde art installation. It marks a location where a cyclist was struck,…
Discover more
The Tube once needed a guard in every carriage
Automation is incredibly efficient, but society truly lost something when we fired the guy whose entire career was opening a gate. In the early days of the…
Discover more
Why some planes put their wings near the nose
Placing the horizontal stabilizers at the rear is standard, but occasionally engineers bolt them to the front instead. These canard wings produce upward lift…
Discover more
Why rockets throw parts into the ocean
Launching things into orbit is so horribly inefficient that rockets literally chuck massive, multimillion-dollar metal stages into the sea just to shed dead…
Discover more
The muscle car banned from drag racing
The 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon was engineered with 840 horsepower specifically to dominate the quarter-mile. It was so terrifyingly efficient that the…
Discover more
Why weather radar misses clear-air turbulence
Pilots have advanced screens showing horrific storms, but clear-air turbulence is entirely invisible. The radar bounces off water droplets, meaning invisible…
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.
Darkly tinted vehicle windows make night driving terrifying
Sure, five percent tint looks incredibly sleek under the midday sun. But try navigating an unlit empty street at midnight, and you are essentially driving by…
Discover more
Luggage is exactly what its name suggests
Linguistics isn't always poetic. The term "luggage" entered the English lexicon in the late 16th century, derived entirely from the verb "lug." It was…
Discover more
Reefer trailers maintain climate control
The name has zero connection to illicit substances. It is just the industry's profoundly lazy shorthand for 'refrigerated'. These thick-walled trailers burn a…
Discover more
Irish Sea ferries transport passengers through rough waves
The waters between Ireland and the UK are notoriously violent. Commuters willingly board these massive vessels to get brutally tossed around for hours,…
Discover more
First-class train cabins strictly separated social classes
Cabins were barricaded heavily just to keep the lower classes out of sight. Elite train riders demanded entirely separate entrances and exits to ensure they…
Discover more
Your boarding pass barcode reveals more than you think
The complex square printed on your paper ticket holds deeply personal details about how much you spend with the airline. A quick scan by a malicious app…
Discover more
Planetary magnetic fields deflect dangerous solar winds
An invisible shield generated by the molten core catches and slides deadly space radiation harmlessly away from the atmosphere. It is the only reason we are…
Discover more
The Roman travel guides that listed every stop
Before travel bloggers flooded the internet, Roman officials carried 'itinerariums'. These were basically hyper-detailed lists of stops, distances, and bad…
Discover more
Longboards have vastly wider turning radiuses
Hook: You cannot do a kickflip on a massive wooden plank, but you can definitely outrun a cyclist. Explanation: Because longboards feature a much longer…
Discover more
Spreader bars lift long cargo onto trailers
Trying to lift an eighty-foot pipe with a single hook will just bend it into a useless boomerang. A massive steel beam is used to separate the lifting straps,…
Discover more
Conestoga wagons featured curved floors to secure cargo
These iconic covered wagons didn't have nice, flat beds like a modern utility truck. The floor was intentionally bowed upwards at both ends like a wooden…
Discover more
Mules unleash powerful kicks sideways and backwards
Standing beside this animal is just as perilous as standing behind it. Thanks to incredibly flexible hip joints inherited from their donkey parent, they can…
Discover more
Stilts demand side-to-side shifting to move
Hook: Bolting giant sticks to your legs completely ruins the biomechanics of normal stepping. Explanation: Since you cannot bend an ankle that is made of…
Discover more
Commercial airplanes constantly flash exterior strobe lights
Once a plane enters active runways or the sky, blindingly bright white lights on the wingtips flash aggressively. They are so obnoxious that pilots actually…
Discover more
Bicycle chains consist of alternating steel plates
That greasy metal snake ruining the bottom of your right pant leg is actually a masterpiece of repeated patterns. A standard bicycle chain is formed by…
Discover more
Pantechnicons are massive British haulers
It sounds like a mythical ancient temple, but it is literally just a British term for a giant moving van. The unnecessarily grand name was slapped onto bulky…
Discover more
Infants sitting on laps still require a paid ticket
Even if your tiny human takes up zero physical seat space and weighs less than a carry-on bag, international flights demand a hefty fee. The airline industry…
Discover more
The deep sea can make a submarine's walls sag
The immense crushing weight of the deep ocean doesn't just squeeze water. The metal hull of a submersible literally compresses inward by several inches,…
Discover more