Mental Floss

NEWS

They could still bug you at the beach.

Despite the name, some of these beachside pests aren’t even insects at all, though they could still hop up during your summer vacation in more ways than one.

Rudie Obias












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


Grab your magnifying glass.

We give you an obscure word with four definitions—one correct, three made up. Can you identify the correct one?

Ellen Gutoskey








See if you can decipher this twisted tune.

It’s time to play Tune Twist, where we translate the lyrics of popular songs into multiple languages and then back into English. Can you figure out what the song is, or who performed it?

mentalfloss .com


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