

Matt Soniak
Joined: Nov 21, 2012
Matt writes about science, history, etymology and Bruce Springsteen for both the website and the print magazine. His work has also appeared in print and online for Men’s Health, Scientific American, The Atlantic, Philly.com and others. He tweets as @mattsoniak and blogs about animal behavior at mattsoniak.com. He lives in Philadelphia with his girlfriend, two cats and a large collection of bourbon whiskeys.


Why Do We Have Eyebrows?

5 Real-Life Zombies

Gifs Explained: Explosive Tickling
Why Does the New Year Start on January 1?
Our current calendar all goes back to the Roman god Janus. Who, way back when, was the god of doors and gates and had two faces—one looking forward and one looking back.
License to Bird: Meet the Real James Bond
On January 4, 1900, a child was born in Philadelphia. His name was Bond. James Bond. He would grow up to become an ornithologist, and lived a fairly quiet, normal life—until someone borrowed his name.
35 Facts About Bruce Springsteen
Today, Mr. Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen—"The Boss," the patron saint of the working man, the protector of all that is holy and righteous on E Street—turns 70 years old.
35 Facts About Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen, a.k.a. "The Boss," is the patron saint of the working man, the protector of all that is holy and righteous on E Street.
How Are Hurricane Categories Determined?
In order to assign a numeric category value to a hurricane, meteorologists look to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
Why Do People Get Ice Cream Headaches?
You may know an ice cream headache by one of its other names: brain freeze, a cold-stimulus headache, or sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia ("nerve pain of the sphenopalatine ganglion"). But no matter what you call it, it hurts like hell.
10 Facts You Should Know About Mosquitoes
Between the itching and the welts and the fears of West Nile, it's easy to forget that mosquitoes are a wonder of evolution, and maybe they don't really get a fair shake from us.
Why Do Baseball Managers Wear the Same Uniforms as Their Players?
For many years, a baseball team's “manager” wore a player’s uniform simply because he was also a player.
BIG QUESTIONS
What Happens to the Losing Team's Pre-Printed Championship Shirts?
For each year's Super Bowl showdown, manufacturers and retailers will produce and stock two sets of T-shirts, hats, and other merchandise that declares each team the champ. So who gets the losing team's stuff?
BIG QUESTIONS
In What Field Was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a Doctor?
Martin Luther King Jr. earned a doctorate in systematic theology from Boston University in 1955. In 1989, archivists working with The Martin Luther King Papers Project discovered that King’s dissertation suffered from what they called a “problematic use o
BIG QUESTIONS
Why Does Santa Claus Give Coal to Bad Kids?
The tradition of giving misbehaving children lumps of coal predates the Santa Claus we know and love today.
BIG QUESTIONS
Why Does Turkey Make You Tired?
Why do people have such a hard time staying awake after Thanksgiving dinner? Most people blame tryptophan, but that's not really the main culprit.