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Mental Floss
We already looked at libraries in all the major continents, but there were so many great ones in the United States that the article featuring libraries in North America had to leave many beautiful buildings out. Now’s the time to share some of the stunnin
Jill Harness|
Kryptos, a set of huge copper plates with enciphered text carved into them, is an encrypted sculpture installed at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Although the sculpture was installed in 1990, it took until 1999 for someone to actually decrypt part
Chris Higgins|
It’s a reliable movie trope: Our heroes are lost in the woods, and in their valiant effort to make a beeline out of the forest or back to camp or civilization, they inevitably get turned around and wind up back at the same spot where they began.When a sci
Matt Soniak|
Coat patterns such as a zebra’s stripes afford animals the ability to blend into their environment and among other individuals with the same patterns. Predators can’t see camouflaged animals or target specific individuals in a mass of spots or stripes. A
Monica Granados|
Naming a dinosaur is no easy task. Beneath the apparent mess of prolonged syllables and technical jargon, a vast array of unexpected factors—from politics and religion to wordplay and spelling—can dictate which dino moniker gets officially recognized and
Mark Mancini|
The first balloons were made from actual animal intestines, which provided a good—albeit smelly—medium for manipulation into shapes.
Monica Granados|
These characters had their own fairy tales and books and, later, Disney movies. They were also the basis for psychological disorders and personality types.
Lauren Baker|
Some might believe that scientists stay holed up in their laboratories wearing white coats, mixing chemicals, and hanging out with lab animals, but the truth is that we do get out occasionally. That influence from the outside world continually creeps in a
Meghan Radford|
Wikimedia Commons"Happy as a clam" is one of those expressions that makes you wonder: Does this phrase come from an actual measurement of the happiness of
Erica Hersh|
Stereoscopy—the illusion of depth created by showing a separate image to each eye—is at least as old as photography itself. In the last few years, however, stereoscopic 3D movies have come back in a big way. Theaters show you 3D movies by projecting two i
Andrew Koltonow|
Every time you watch Antiques Roadshow, you probably wonder: Just how do we know what items are antiques?
Julia Krueger|
Don’t freak out if your flatmate says he will be sure to knock you up in the morning.
Kathleen Elise|
Historically, dockworkers covered their hats with tar and let that harden to offer some protection against falling objects. But hard hats as we know them today developed slowly.Wikipedia credits writer Franz Kafka with designing the first industrial hard
Laura Steadham Smith|
The colored swirls indicate the tail end of Saturn's massive storm that occurred sometime between 2010 and 2011. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science East Coasters panicked by this weekend's oncoming Frankenstorm haven't seen anything yet. New readings
The Week|
If I say the name Jim Thorpe, most of you will probably think of the Native American baseball player/football player/Olympian. Some of you, though, will think of the Carbon County, Pennsylvania borough known as “Switzerland of America” and the “Gateway to
Matt Soniak|
In 1957, Monsanto demonstrated its vision for future housing, emphasizing one word: plastics. Its House of the Future was displayed at Disneyland from 1957 through 1967, and it envisioned a future home from the then-distant future of 1986.
Chris Higgins|
Wikimedia Commons Sure, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue isn't exactly the Amityville house, but that big, drafty mansion is one of the most haunted of houses in America. Over the decades, and particularly in the early ones, the presidents and families who have
Lauren Hansen|
Installment #41: After Montenegro declared war on the Ottoman Empire on October 8, 1912, the situation began to unravel rapidly for the beleaguered Turks. On October 11 and 16 the Montenegrins occupied the towns of Bijele Polje and Berane, respectively (b
Erik Sass|
Legendary monsters "exist," if only in legend, all over the world. The series of monsters continues with a look at a few strange stories from North America. 1.
Miss Cellania|
A full 16 years before The Cosby Show debuted, the performance would serve as the blueprint for the themes that would define his work.
the mag|
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