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Mental Floss
Installment #28: The rise of German power on land and at sea in the first years of the 20th century forced Britain and France, rivals since the medieval period, to put aside their differences to contain the growing German threat. This was a huge change fo
Erik Sass|
When we think of the world of science, we often imagine white lab coats and sterile instruments, where everything is perfectly measured, monitored and executed. After all, scientists are supposed to be the smartest of us all. It's easy to assume they aren
Jessica Hullinger|
Birds’ digestive systems and naughty bits don’t work exactly like ours or most other animals'. Instead of pooping and peeing separately, they basically do it all in one weird mess.
Matt Soniak|
Editor's Note: This is the third installment of Bill DeMain's new column, where he explores the real historical events that inspired various songs. "Music History" appears twice a month. “Yes! We Have No Bananas” Written by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn (
Bill DeMain|
How did Harriet Tubman lead so many slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad? With careful planning, plenty of luck, and a little opium.
Erik Sass|
From A-Z, here are the full names of some of your favorite mononymous stars—and the reasons they dropped the rest of their names.
Stacy Conradt|
Authors like H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein have long envisioned a future where the automobile gives way to massive, high-speed moving walkways. Some of them merely zoom commuters around cities, while others, like Heinlein’s "mechanized roa
Matt Soniak|
“A combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness” is how an international team of chemists describes the unique odor of old books in a study. Poetic, sure, but what causes it?Books are made up almost e
Matt Soniak|
Don't say, "I don't know." Since making its debut on 'You Can't Do That on Television,' Nickelodeon’s green slime has become an icon of pop culture.
Matt Soniak|
Spoiler Alert: It's not. The purpose of the tag is to assure consumers that they’re buying a new, never-been-used product and to let them know exactly what’s inside it.
Matt Soniak|
File this under Seems Like a Hoax, But Isn't.
Chris Higgins|
Benjamin Franklin loved electricity. He also loved the turkey. One day, he put the two together. It all started as a party trick. Franklin had been dabbling with electricity for years, and he wanted to show off his newest electrical toys. On April 29, 17
Lucas Reilly|
Take a closer look at the products and devices folks have used throughout the centuries to fight plaque, tartar, oral fungi, and other miscellaneous cavity creeps.
Jon Seder|
It sounds like an elaborate joke today — legendary acid rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix working as the warm-up for a teenybopper group like The Monkees? But back in 1967, the pairing actually made a little bit of sense for both
Kara Kovalchik|
When a run-of-the-mill watermelon and a souped-up frankenmelon love each other very much, they come together and make a baby seedless wundermelon.Seedless watermelons are a lot like mules – sterile hybrids formed by crossing genetically incompatible paren
Julia Davis|
Bob Ross said he made over 30,000 paintings in his lifetime. If he didn’t sell them, where did his army of happy clouds go? We’ll let Bob explain:“One of the questions that I hear over and over and over is, ‘What do we do with all these paintings we do o
Lucas Reilly|
Louis Sachar's Sideways Stories From Wayside School series is still a favorite of elementary-age kids, 34 years after the first book hit the shelves. Each of the three books features 30 chapters -- one for each floor of the Wayside School building -- and
Adrienne Crezo|
Installment #27: Beginning in 1910, the general staffs of France and Russia, allied since 1894, held regular talks once a year, alternating between Paris and St. Petersburg, to coordinate their military strategies in case of war with Germany. In June-July
Erik Sass|
Your iPhone is not living up to its full potential. Sure, everyone loves posting pictures of their cats to Instagram, and the new RadioLab app is awesome. But we're living in the future! Why not use those tiny computers we're all carrying around for somet
Matt Soniak|
Super-hero comics have provided some brilliant cliffhangers over the decades. Choosing 10 of the best, most significant cliffhangers is a tough job, so let's narrow it down to the "Big Two" comic book companies, Marvel and DC Comics. Between them, they ha
Mark Juddery|
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