Mental Floss
Mental Floss

BIG QUESTIONS

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You zip into Starbucks looking for a latte and a Wi-Fi connection. Your MacBook does a little dance and connects so you can go online. But how does it actually work? What’s the magic?

John Brandon
Getty Images

This week, Major League Baseball released the schedule for the 2015 season. You may have noticed that it starts later and ends later than previous seasons, but each team still plays 162 games, just as they have for decades. But how did MLB arrive at such

Hannah Keyser
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When you cut your skin, your body knows exactly what to do in order to heal the pesky wound as fast as possible. Eventually, a brownish rust colored scab forms over the cut. But what is a scab made of, and why do they just fall off?

Sean Hutchinson
ThinkStock

Most of our abbreviations for units of measurements are pretty straightforward. They are made up of of letters from the words they stand for. So how do we get lb for “pound” and oz for “ounce”?

Arika Okrent
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When a child with chocolate smeared on his face assures Mom that he didn't steal his brother's candy bar, is he telling a bald-faced or bold-faced lie?

Kara Kovalchik
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“The implications [of this question] are… profound,” says entomologist Michael Raupp. “Reckless flying, passing out in frosty beer mugs, hitting on crane flies instead of mosquito babes. Frightening!” Still, no major studies have been conducted to determi

Mark Mancini
Photo by ?? Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

Just like how an older sibling might act out when a new baby joins the family, a study from PLOS ONE suggests dogs get jealous when they perceive there is a rival for their owners' attention.

Hannah Keyser
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