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Mental Floss
Sharks are mysterious creatures. Even the origins of the word "shark" are unknown, though it might come from the Mayan word xok. Maybe that's what makes these 400 million year old denizens of the deep so captivating—and why they sometimes fill us with dre
Sean Hutchinson|
If you’ve been rolling your eyes at people who say “duck tape” adhesive, prepare some apologies.
the mag|
Is there any suffix more adorable than the lovely little –ling? It gives us yearlings and starlings, downy ducklings and goslings, affectionate darlings and siblings, and comforting tender dumplings. But –ling hasn’t always been so little and cute. It use
Arika Okrent|
Men are from Mars and insist on turning up the air conditioning; women are from Venus and always complain of being cold. In a world striving for gender equality, is there something holding us back from liberty and comfortable temperatures for all, or is i
Roma Panganiban|
There's always someone around to offer marital advice, but historically, words of wisdom to wives have a tendency to be daft and maddening.
Therese Oneill|
One location + no budget = some of television’s finest moments.
Jennifer M Wood|
The architecture of sentences can be a beautiful thing.
Arika Okrent|
A sharp knife is undoubtedly the handiest tool you can slip into your pocket, but a dull one is a disaster waiting to happen.
Editorial Staff|
August 7, 1913: France Passes Three-Year Service Law Beneath all the diplomatic maneuvering and bellicose blustering, Franco-German relations in the pre-war period were dominated by a single, inescapable fact: Germany’s larger population, the product of i
Erik Sass|
Everyone knows what a computer is, right? It's electronic, high-tech and digital. It's only existed for the last 50 or 60 years. It has defined the word "modern" in “modern world.” And it’s given hackers a useful role to play in big-budget action movies.
Clay Wirestone|
Animal smugglers have some serious baggage.
Amanda Green|
Matt Soniak|
How does Ariel Castro's prison sentence—a millennium and then some—stack up against other stints in the clink?
Matt Soniak|
Some things you might not know about the War Between the States.
Eric Johnson|
In addition to the Chinese, French, and Swahili versions, you can find unusual translations into other languages, from real-life tongues to fictional ones.
Chris Stokel-Walker|
Most people’s fundraising experience ends at running a race for charity or selling candy for a good cause—but if you really want to go big with your efforts, you need to think outside of the box. Here are a few of the weirdest charity stunts ever performe
Jill Harness|
Here's what went into some of the most recognizable album covers in music history.
Bill DeMain|
Here are some of the more peculiar questions that people have pondered over the decades.
Mark Juddery|
Shark Cam makes its debut in the Shark Week special "Return of Jaws" tonight at 9 p.m. EST on the Discovery Channel; we talked to Skomal about developing the robot and what it revealed that traditional tracking methods did not.
Erin McCarthy|
Matt Soniak|
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