Mental Floss

ANTHROPOLOGY

Stenciled human hands in a cave near Rio Pinturas, Argentina, dating from the last ice age.

We break down some common myths about our early human ancestors—and what makes our species, ‘Homo sapiens,’ so different from them.

Kat Long


Foot pain and sprained ankles are just a few of the common problems affecting our ill-adapted feet.

From back injuries to difficult childbirth, here are six annoying parts of being human that you can blame on evolution.

Megan Gannon














A portrait of the scientists who found and examined the Piltdown Man skull (accompanied by a picture of Charles Darwin on the wall).

From forged artworks to fake mummies and even fraudulent orangutan bones, archaeological hoaxes fool scientists and stir the public’s imagination—until the culprits are forced to come clean.

Stacy Conradt
Tollund Man on display at the Silkeborg Museum, Denmark.

The bodies of Iron Age Europeans are so well preserved in peat bogs that they’re sometimes mistaken for modern murder victims.

Kristina Killgrove








Zora Neale Hurston in a portrait by Carl Van Vechten.

Writer and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston’s literary legacy is a class apart. Here are some facts you might not have known about the author of “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”

Sohel Sarkar