Mental Floss
Mental Floss

LISTS

Use anguilloform to describe something eel-shaped.

Circle, square, triangle—boring! There are so many more shapes than those in nature. Good thing there’s a rich vocabulary of fancy scientific words for shapes. Most of them don’t get much use, which is a shame. Get to know a few of these, and describe you

Arika Okrent
thinkstock

Leaellynasaura may seem like an unassuming little creature, but it tells a remarkable story—one that involves drifting continents, a snowy wonderland, and the world’s luckiest little girl. Here’s a quick crash course on this dino from Down Under.

Mark Mancini
20th Century Fox

If the arrival of Days Of Future Past has you thinking more than usual about Marvel's famous mutants, you'll have no shortage of food for thought with this list of 20 things you might not know about the X-Men, the upcoming film, and the story that inspire

Rick Marshall
ThinkStock

Long shots are harder to film than short cuts, but the end results can be spectacular (or unnoticable, depending on the filmmaker). Here are 13 memorable long and unbroken single takes.

Rudie Obias
Getty Images

While it seems rude to heckle or boo a movie at the local cineplex, it’s actually somewhat common at the Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off today. Hey, French moviegoers are pretty passionate about cinema—and they're not afraid to tell filmmakers how t

Rudie Obias
Not every stick-on note is a Post-It Note.

Many items we use every day, like zippers and escalators, were once brand names. These names are or were trademarked, but are now often used to describe any brand in a product category.

Lauren Harrell
ThinkStock

The average life expectancy in the United States these days is nearly 79 years. As animal species go, humans are pretty hearty, especially given all these fancy medicines we’ve developed. But we’re not the only ones who hope to live past 80 (or 90). Other

Clay Wirestone
PREVNEXT