Mental Floss

BIG QUESTIONS

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The ubiquitous packaging is everywhere, from cereal to deliveries to impromptu cat beds. But where did it come from?

Jake Rossen


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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.

Matt Soniak


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A hot and humid day can have a dramatic effect on both your comfort and your health. As millions of people around the world can attest to right now.

Dennis Mersereau












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An animal doesn't need to be a pig, a peacock, or something just as unconventional to qualify. What constitutes an emotional support animal has little to do with the pet itself and more to do with its owner.

Michele Debczak
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Support for Flag Day, a sometimes-overlooked holiday, was ignited during the Civil War. But there was a commercial purpose behind it.

Jake Rossen






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Cats are undeniably smart, but do they have an understanding of their own identity? Researchers in Tokyo may have found the answer.

Jake Rossen


Voyou Desoeuvre, Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0

A New York chemist found a way to make dry cleaning safer and faster, so of course he named the process after himself.

Kara Kovalchik
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Each year, more than 1 million people descend on New Orleans for Mardi Gras, an organized parade of debauchery and alcohol-induced torpor where plastic beads are tossed as a kind of currency.

Jake Rossen