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Shaunacy Ferro
Follow @shaunacysays
Shaunacy Ferro is an associate editor at Mental Floss. Her work has previously appeared in
Fast Company
,
Popular Science
, and
Architect
magazine, among others. She lives in Brooklyn and spends most of her free time taking photos of her cat.
The Next Job Getting Taken Over by Robots? TV News Anchor
Say hello to Erica....
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Better Sit Down for This: Japan Wants to Modernize Its Squat Toilets for the Tokyo Olympics
The government wants to make sure its international visitors don't find any surprises on their bathroom trips....
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Good News: Being Lazy Can Be Good for the Environment
If you're spending all of your time at home with Netflix, you probably aren't driving too much....
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Why the Soundtracks to Games Like 'Mario' or 'The Sims' Can Help You Work
Video games are designed to get you in the zone, and listening to their soundtracks can help you focus outside the game, too....
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Gold Worth Millions, Salvaged From a 19th-Century Shipwreck, Is Going on Display in California
And you can buy some of it....
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What Will We Eat on the Way to Mars? Poop, of Course
No one said space travel was going to be delicious....
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See a Squirrel? These Citizen Scientists Want to Know About It
The Atlanta-based team behind the Squirrel Census wants people to know more about their bushy-tailed neighbors....
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You Can Now Download Thousands of Vintage Movie Posters in High Resolution
The University of Texas at Austin has a huge collection of film posters from the 20th century, and they’re being digitized....
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Elon Musk May Soon Be Selling a $600 Flamethrower
Musk first teased the idea of a flamethrower on Twitter in 2017....
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Smoking Just 1 Cigarette a Day Can Significantly Damage Your Health, Study Finds
New research shows that cutting back just isn't good enough....
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Can You Decipher the Playful 1817 Letter Jane Austen Sent to Her Niece in Code?
Shortly before her death, the author sent her 8-year-old niece a New Year's greeting—written entirely backwards....
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Local Reporter May Have Found the Burned Remains of the Last American Slave Ship
The ship arrived in Alabama in 1859 in defiance of a law that prohibited importing slaves to the U.S. To hide the evidence of its illegal venture, its captain burned and sunk the ship, and its wreck has been lost to history. Until now....
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The Perfect Way to Roast a Potato, According to Math
If you're chopping your potatoes into even quarters before tossing them in the oven, you're missing out on a whole lot of crisp....
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3 Easy Ways to Curb Your Smartphone Addiction
Research shows that being constantly tethered to our phones makes us unhappy, but it's hard to break the habit. Here are three super-simple ways to minimize your stress without missing a text....
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The Entire Plot of Back to the Future in One Handy Chart
This is heavy!...
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5 Things to Know About Amazon Go, the Company's Fully Automated Convenience Store
Amazon Go might be the future of shopping....
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There May Be an Ancient Reason Why Your Dog Eats Poop
Fido's gross behavior could have helped its wolf ancestors stay healthy....
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Why the Film You're Watching on HBO Might Not Be the Whole Movie
Aspect ratios matter....
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This 1940 Film on Road Maps Will Make You Appreciate Map Apps Like Never Before
It was a much more adventurous process than you'd think....
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Buckingham Palace Was Built With Jurassic Fossils, Scientists Find
The British palace's limestone is riddled with mineralized microbes from 200 million years ago....
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Stop Your Snoring and Track Your Sleep With a Wi-Fi Smart Pillow
It's made to keep you from snoring, track your sleep, and let you jam to music without your partner hearing....
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Learn to Tie a Tie in Less Than 2 Minutes
Goodbye, clip-ons!...
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Forget Horns: Some Trains in Japan Bark Like Dogs to Scare Away Deer
Japanese researchers are getting creative to reduce the number of deer killed on train tracks....
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Mysterious 'Hypatia Stone' Is Like Nothing Else in Our Solar System
"These latest results are opening up even bigger questions about its origins."...
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5 Scrapped Designs for the World's Most Famous Buildings
In an alternate reality, the Arc de Triomphe would have been a three-story-tall elephant statue....
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Ocean Waves Are Powerful Enough to Toss Enormous Boulders Onto Land, Study Finds
Strong winter storms in Ireland in 2013 and 2014 were able to hurl 600-ton boulders right out of the sea....
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This 1907 Vision Test Was Designed for People of All Nationalities
As an optometrist working in turn-of-the-20th-century San Francisco, George Mayerle encountered plenty of immigrant patients who weren't comfortable reading Roman scripts. So he made a whole new test for them....
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Make Your Own Ship in a Bottle With a New LEGO Set
It's based on a design a LEGO fan spent three weeks building....
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This $6000 Toilet Warms Your Seat, Plays Music, and Flushes on Command
You’ll never have to touch your toilet again....
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App Syncs Your Lights and Computer to Create the Perfect Mood Lighting
Make mini-light shows tailored to your favorite video games, music, and movies....
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Logging On to Public Wi-Fi Networks Is About to Get More Secure
A new type of Wi-Fi encryption is coming your way in early 2018, and it will make logging onto public Wi-Fi a lot safer....
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Scientists Accidentally Discover Ancient Hepatitis B in a 16th-Century Mummy
They thought they were studying the earliest evidence of smallpox, but found a different disease altogether....
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A Rare Apple Lisa 1 Computer Is Up for Auction on eBay
There are only between 20 and 100 of these early computers left in the world, and you could own a functioning one (for $55,000)....
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On Sale: The Safest House in America, Complete With Hidden Command Center
This house has so many amenities you may be perfectly happy riding out the apocalypse there....
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A Man-Made Mountain in Finland Serves as an 11,000-Tree Time Capsule
Between 1992 and 1996, artist Agnes Denes built a mountain....
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Take a Look at The Ideas Scrapped From Famous Pixar Movies
<em>Toy Story</em>, <em>Inside Out</em>, and <em>Up</em> could have looked a lot different if Pixar had gone with their initial impulses....
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Your Roomba Will Soon Be Able to Find Your Home's Wi-Fi Dead Zones
An update to the iRobot app will allow high-end robot vacuums to map Wi-Fi strength across the house....
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Scientists May Have Found a Cure for Deadly White-Nose Syndrome in Bats
The spread of the devastating fungal disease could potentially be halted with portable UV light sources, a new study suggests....
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Can You Figure Out Why the Turtles Bulge in This Optical Illusion?
Psychologist Akiyoshi Kitaoka studies visual illusions, and he posts some mind-boggling ones to Twitter....
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Mount Vernon’s New Theater Gives You a Front Row Seat to the Revolution
Mount Vernon's new 4D theater lets guests experience the sights and sounds of the American Revolution in a whole new way....
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That Hilarious Story About Taft Getting Stuck in His Bathtub? It’s Not True
He did, however, have another embarrassing—and very real—bathtub incident....
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The School Book That Pioneered Funny Cat Pics 100 Years Before Lolcats
Why don't all elementary schools teach kids to read using cats that yell "I am the Queen!"?...
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9 Towns Across the World With Christmas-Themed Names
You'll be surprised where the town of North Pole is located....
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Bake Like a Literary Hero With 3 Recipes From Emily Dickinson
The poet was also a skilled baker....
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5 Great Chrome Add-Ons You Should Install Now
Browse to your full potential....
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The Healthiest States in the U.S., Mapped
Different states have wildly different healthcare systems....
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Can You Find the Money in Santa’s Sack in This Hidden Image Puzzle?
Ho ho—hold on. When did Santa get rich?...
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Inside the German Town Where Advent Is the Main Attraction
Gengenbach is serious about its Christmas countdown....
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Researchers Pore Over the Physics Behind the Layered Latte
Fluid dynamics has never tasted so good....
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A Limited Edition, Handwritten Manuscript of The Great Gatsby Can Be Yours for $249
The manuscript reveals how the classic book was rewritten and reworked throughout the writing process....
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