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Capitol Records

The story of how Pet Sounds was made has been told and retold (and parodied) plenty of times since its release in 1966, but there are still many fascinating little stories about the album that may have gone under the radar.

Nick Greene
Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece.

Its cantilevered tiers hang over a 30-foot waterfall—Frank Lloyd Wright’s ingenious way of melding the human-made structure with its natural surroundings. Here are 12 facts about its history and legacy.

Kirstin Fawcett






Grab your magnifying glass.

We give you an obscure word with four definitions—one correct, three made up. Can you identify the correct one?

Ellen Gutoskey


You‘ll never guess how big this creature is.

Think the shark in ‘Jaws’ was huge? Find out how big great white sharks really get and how they compare to megalodons and whale sharks.

CaLea Johnson




See if you can decipher this twisted tune.

It’s time to play Tune Twist, where we translate the lyrics of popular songs into multiple languages and then back into English. Can you figure out what the song is, or who performed it?

mentalfloss .com




Villa Baviera was originally a Germany colony known as Colonia Dignidad.

Inspiring to imagine but nightmarish to live in, these failed communes have become cautionary tales in hubris and ego. 

Colin Scanlon








Fabbriche di Careggine, a sunken town in Italy, emerges from under Lago di Vagli reservoir.

Forget Atlantis (which probably doesn’t exist)—we’re taking a trip to 10 real cities that ended up underwater.

Erin McCarthy
The red, white, and blue.

Read on to discover which American president wanted to be a concert violinist, which carried a dictionary around in his pocket, who burned his official White House portrait, and why Joe Biden's dog made history.

Corinne Cummings