Mental Floss

TBT

NBC Network, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

'Watch Mr. Wizard,' which aired on NBC from 1951 to 1965, featured host Don Herbert performing a series of science experiments using everyday objects—glass bottles, cans, aquariums, matches—to illustrate the amazing world of physics.

Jake Rossen








Ralph Orlowski, Getty Images

Guy Holmes popped the tape into the cassette player in his car and waited. The British record promoter was eager to hear new acts, but knew that the majority of them weren’t going to be good or unique enough to cut through the noise of the worldwide music

Jake Rossen














Peter Parks, AFP/Getty Images

Although it doesn’t have quite the same archaeological provenance as hieroglyphs or dinosaur bones, historians believe there’s ample evidence to suggest that the mullet has been around for centuries. And it's gaining popularity once again.

Jake Rossen


iStock

In the fall of 1923, street vendors in Santa Barbara, California received an unexpected bit of attention regarding one of their more popular wares: 'The San Francisco Chronicle' wrote about the sellers' “freakish little brown seeds” that “cavorted about t

Jake Rossen
Dan Kitwood, Getty Images

One sure sign of a toy craze is annoyed toy store owners, and in 1976, there were plenty of them. The reason? The Kenner Company had introduced a novel 10-inch latex doll that never remained on shelves for more than a few minutes at a time.

Jake Rossen