Mental Floss

BIG QUESTIONS

Wildfires have reached historic proportions this year.

The August Complex fire ravaging California is being called a "gigafire," and it's every bit as imposing and destructive as the name implies.

Jake Rossen




Who wouldn't be screaming in this situation?

Our ancestors may have predisposed us to fear spiders, insects, and other many-legged creatures, but there's a lot more to it.

Ellen Gutoskey






Photo by Vaibhav Jadhav from Pexels

When your bread dough doubles in size overnight, you have a hard-working team of microorganisms to thank.

Michele Debczak


It's not exactly the "safety in numbers" situation you might be imagining.

The facts on where it comes from, how it works, and whether it could happen with the novel coronavirus.

Ellen Gutoskey












Azat Kılınç, Unsplash

Your cat's habit of sleeping all day isn't a sign of laziness—it's a survival instinct that's baked into their genes.

Michele Debczak
Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

The name "Jim Crow" appears throughout many U.S. history books, but he was a caricature—not a real person.

Michele Debczak
Phillip Pessar, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

Four actual brothers formed the Brooks Brothers clothing brand after their father had started the menswear business in 1818. It survived scandal and changing styles—but the current economic downturn may be a different story.

Claire Cock-Starkey