Mental Floss
Mental Floss

BIG QUESTIONS

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Every year on April Fools Day, you might find yourself the victim of a practical joke or two—the old water over the door trick, maybe, or short sheeting a bed. But why are these jokes called practical?

Kara Kovalchik
Wikimedia Commons

In 1957, the face of New York baseball was forever changed when the Giants and Dodgers—two teams that had been playing in the Big Apple since the late 1800s—abandoned the city for California. To this day, their relocation remains a touchy subject to longt

Mark Mancini
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Fans of MythBusters will point out that Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage proved several years ago that five seconds on the floor was enough for tasty morsels to attract all sorts of bacteria—but a new study finds that, depending on the type of food and the f

Meghan Holohan
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Helium's atomic number is 2 and its atomic weight is 4.002602. Its boiling and melting points— -452.1°F and -458.0°F, respectively—are the lowest among the elements. It is the second most abundant element in the known universe (after hydrogen). And it mak

Matt Soniak
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Whenever I cry, my beagle, Sadie, jumps into my lap and nudges me with her nose. Is Sadie’s intuitiveness unique, or can dogs really understand human emotions?

Meghan Holohan
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When you get home, you cover those fancy patterns up with a sheet. But those graphics are there to catch your eye in the showroom, not at home. The mattress business is extremely competitive and very confusing for the average consumer.

Kara Kovalchik
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“I’ve only got 24 hours of living, and I ain’t gonna waste ‘em here!” groans a disgruntled housefly during a hilarious scene in Pixar’s A Bug’s Life. But do those pesky insects really brandish a day-long life expectancy?

Mark Mancini
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Reader Erica emailed to say, “I heard on Twitter, from one of those 'amazing facts' accounts, that cows moo in regional accents. Is that true?”

Matt Soniak
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Let’s part the underpants-shaped veil surrounding urination information. Let’s learn about peeing.

Kate Horowitz
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The generic name “Pol” for a parrot can be traced back to England since at least the early 1600s. In his 1606 comedy Volpone, Renaissance playwright—and close friend of William Shakespeare—Ben Jonson assigned many of the characters animal personas which r

Kara Kovalchik
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Furbys were all the rage in the late nineties—1998 alone saw the sale of a whopping 27 million units—and remain popular to this day. But did you know that they’ve actually been cited as a national security threat?

Mark Mancini
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Well-meaning geologists ended up confusing plenty of folks when they named stalactites and stalagmites. Both of these similar-sounding structures—typically formed in limestone caves—are capable of stretching over 27 feet in length. But what's the differen

Mark Mancini
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If you watch the speed skaters during this year’s Winter Olympics, you’ll certainly notice something strange about the footwear they’re sporting. With a hinged blade that moves independently from the boot, modern speed skates look nothing like hockey or f

William Herkewitz
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As any kid with a mason jar can tell you, the honeybee isn't the smartest animal on the planet. But oddly enough, a honeybee colony is actually pretty intelligent. How does the group make decisions when the individuals can't?

William Herkewitz
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