Mental Floss

BIG QUESTIONS

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Buying fruit juice at the supermarket is a surprisingly complicated task that leads to myriad questions. What’s really in that “100% juice”? Why does that “juice” have the word “cocktail” loitering behind it? Let’s take a look at the exciting world of jui

Ethan Trex
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You ever wake up and have lots of crust in the inner corner of your eye? What is this stuff, and where does it come from?

Matt Soniak


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The rims on U.S. dimes, quarters, half dollars and some dollar coins are called reeded edges. They’ve been on American currency almost since day one as a way of keeping people honest.

Matt Soniak


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Since the early 1970s there’s been at least one 555 number callers can dial and get an answer—555-1212 is a standard number that rings directory assistance. The rest of the 555 numbers have largely gained fame as fake numbers in movies and on TV.

Ethan Trex


The Nintendo Zapper offered a new angle on interactive television.

The 'Duck Hunt' gun, officially called the NES Zapper, seems downright primitive next to today's technology. But in the late '80s, it filled plenty of young heads with wonder.

Matt Soniak


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In 1955, a French electrician named André Cassagnes got an idea for a new toy after seeing how an electrostatic charge could hold aluminum powder to glass.

Matt Soniak
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If you’ve ever had the date on a cell phone or computer mysteriously switch to December 31, 1969, you may have thought it was simply random. However, the reason behind this odd glitch is a nice little tidbit of computer trivia.

Erica Palan
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“Lethal injection” isn’t a marketing term or a cute nickname. The intent of the injection is to execute someone. So why bother with the alcohol swab and sterile needle? Are they really worried about the condemned getting an infection?

Matt Soniak


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Medical professionals can choose from a wide variety of scrubs with different colors and patterns. So why are plain blue and green ones so popular?

Matt Soniak


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A lot of people assume that it's just the way that coins smell, and the odor is rubbing off on their hands, but you're not smelling the metal so much as you're smelling yourself.

Matt Soniak


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Soap operas, "soaps" or "my stories," as many a <em>grandmother</em> has called them, are dramas presented in a serial format on daytime television or radio. Their name comes from a time when old serial dramas broadcast on radio had soap manufacturers (Pr

Matt Soniak


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Modern myth would have you believe that goldfish can't remember anything that happened more than three seconds ago and, hence, their lives are filled with the constant excitement of never-before-seen sights and sounds.

Matt Soniak
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We all know washing our hands is important, but, like washcloths and towels, can the bars of hand soap we use to clean ourselves become dirty as well?

Matt Soniak
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"In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream." That was the tagline for the movie Alien, Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi/horror masterpiece. Released two years earlier, Star Wars allowed us to hear plenty of things in space, like the whine of TIE fighter engines and

Matt Soniak


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Bill Parcells was one of the first coaches to be doused with celebratory Gatorade after a win. But who came up with the idea? Here are the answers to some burning questions about this fairly new tradition.

Ethan Trex


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This is sort of a trick question, as they technically didn’t wear “helmets,” but leather “flight caps” that covered the head and ears. These kept the pilots from getting too cold or going deaf while flying with their cockpit canopies open, which they some

Matt Soniak


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The two-minute warning comes up at the end of each half in every NFL football game. Most fans take it for granted, but why does the NFL stop the clock with two minutes or so left in each half? Is it just so the NFL can sneak an extra commercial break in

Ethan Trex


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Beginning with the earliest American settlements and continuing into the 18th century, most barns weren't painted at all. So when did they become red?

Matt Soniak
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Ever wonder what all those strange credits are when they roll by at the end of a film? From Gaffer to Boom Operator, here's some production roles to know

David K. Israel