Mental Floss

BIG QUESTIONS

A possum (left) and an opossum (right).

‘Possum’ and ‘opossum’ are sometimes synonyms—but sometimes they refer to different animals. (Also, there’s a chance you've been pronouncing ‘opossum’ wrong all along.)

Buffalo wings are a Super Bowl staple.

Americans consume more than 1 billion wings on Super Bowl Sunday, and we have sports bars to thank.

Why is this woman yawning?

The short answer is that no one really knows why we yawn. But people have theories.

Turns out, those weird shapes actually serve a pretty big function.

Those funky circles and squares you might see on a car’s bumper aren’t just for show—they actually come in handy if you ever need your car towed.

The Buckeye State? More like the Astronaut State.

NASA counts a surprising number of astronauts from the past and present who hail from the Buckeye State.

Which of these water types is better? We have an answer.

“It just tastes funny” is only part of the difference between hard water vs. soft water.

Strombolis and calzones might seem the same, but they actually differ in some crucial ways.

These pizzeria staples have a lot in common, but they’re not the same.

Gasping when you're surprised is a quirk of evolution.

Gasping is tied to an innate survival mechanism, hardwired into humans through evolution: the fight-or-flight response.

Probably cocoa powder.

‘Cacao’ and ‘cocoa’ started out as synonyms—but there’s a little more to unpack in today’s product labels.

Fancy.

Diamonds are forever. So is debt, if you’re not careful.

Mental Floss readers wanted to know all about dogs, dogs, and dogs in 2022.

In 2022, Mental Floss readers had trucks, dogs, food, Wordle, and the royal family on their minds.

Celine Dion performs in London's Hyde Park.

Celine Dion recently announced that she has been diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome (SPS), a rare and progressive neurological disorder that only affects about one or two out of every 1 million people.

Trees hit growth spurts just like we do.

Your tree has lived a whole other life before being attacked by your cat.

This question is a real doozy.

It’s delightfully old-timey slang we still use today. But does it have anything to do with the Duesenberg cars of the 1920s?

The MCU has made an art out of the post-credits tease.

Kevin Feige and the brains at Marvel may have perfected the art of the post-credits tease, but they didn't invent it.

Ponder no longer!

Though it doesn’t always affect casual conversation, the difference might matter to your credit card company.

Pictured: A delicious bowl of stuffing ... or is it dressing?

For carbohydrate lovers, nothing completes a Thanksgiving meal quite like stuffing ... or is it dressing? It depends whom you ask.

It's complicated.

It’s worth learning the difference between these spirits.

The entrance to the 1939 World's Fair in New York City.

Once celebrated by millions, these events were later derided as "architectural beauty pageants" and have largely fallen out of favor. What happened?

Why don't we have more Halloween songs?

Christmas has tons of music associated with it, while Halloween is practically devoid of holiday tunes. It hardly seems fair.

Here's how to keep cool when it comes to hot food.

Hyperventilating over your hot coffee or pizza slice? Here's what's actually happening.

Black Diamond Apples

What is it about the dark and mysterious fruit that justifies the premium price tag?

Apples are a classic gift for teachers.

The link between teachers and apples goes back centuries.

King Tut's death remains an unsolved mystery.

History's most famous child ruler was also the result of inbreeding, which sure didn't help his longevity much.