Mental Floss

LISTS

A massive thunderstorm turns the sky dark over a field in Sweden.

Storms are used to set an ominous tone in spooky stories, even as they bring much-needed relief to parched fields or distressed humans on a hot day.

Dennis Mersereau












ElementalImaging/E+ via Getty Images

Sure, you know that bees pollinate our crops and give us honey. But there's so much more to these buzzing insects than that.

Lucas Reilly






Signs of an earthquake.

From a surprise temblor in the Mississippi Valley to colossal ruptures and tsunamis around the Pacific Ring of Fire, these are some of the biggest earthquakes in modern times.

Julie Fogerson






Some words seem like they must come from the same source—but they don’t.

Think ‘human’ was created by slapping ‘hu-’ on ‘man’? Think again: ‘Man’ and ‘human’ aren’t related at all—and they’re just one example of words that seem like they must be linked, but turn out to have nothing in common once you dig into their etymology.

Lorna Wallace