Science
Experiments, discoveries and the strange ways bodies and minds work. 31 stories, a few minutes each.
- Why Carrots Are OrangeBefore the late 16th century, most carrots were purple, white, or yellow.
- The Wow! SignalOn August 15, 1977, a radio telescope in Ohio detected something that still has no definitive explanation. The signal lasted 72 seconds, arrived at…
- Why Honey Never SpoilsWhen archaeologists opened tombs in Egypt, they found jars of honey sealed thousands of years ago that were still perfectly edible.
- The Tunguska EventOn the morning of June 30, 1908, something exploded in the sky above a remote stretch of Siberian forest.
- TarrareIn the late 18th century, a French man with an insatiable appetite became one of history's strangest documented medical cases. Known only as…
- Why Golf Balls Have DimplesA smooth golf ball hit by a professional golfer would travel only about half as far as one with dimples. The textured surface seems…
- The Immortal JellyfishA jellyfish smaller than a pinky fingernail has figured out how to cheat death. Turritopsis dohrnii, found in temperate and tropical oceans…
- Why Barns Are Painted RedThe red barns scattered across the American countryside are not painted that color for aesthetic reasons. They are red because rust was cheap.
- Whale FallsWhen a whale dies in the open ocean, its carcass eventually sinks to the seafloor. In the deep sea, where food is scarce and life clings to…
- The Baader-Meinhof PhenomenonYou learn a new word, and suddenly you see it everywhere. You hear about a band, and within a week it seems like everyone is mentioning them. You…
- Ball LightningIn 1638, a "great ball of fire" reportedly came through the window of a church in Devon, England, injuring about sixty people.
- The Svalbard Global Seed VaultOn a remote island in the Norwegian Arctic, about 620 miles from the North Pole, there's a concrete entrance jutting out of a mountainside. Behind…
- Leap SecondsThe Earth is slowing down. It has been for billions of years.
- Why Wombat Poop Is Cube-ShapedOf all the animals on Earth, only the wombat produces cube-shaped feces. Each day, a bare-nosed wombat deposits roughly a hundred six-sided…
- Why Cats PurrThe assumption is that a purring cat is a happy cat. And that's often true—cats purr when they're content, when they're being petted, when they're…
- The Collyer BrothersIn March 1947, the New York City Police Department received an anonymous tip that someone had died inside a decaying brownstone at 2078 Fifth…
- The BloopIn the summer of 1997, hydrophones operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration picked up an unusual sound in the South Pacific.
- The Man Who Ate an Entire AirplaneMichel Lotito was a French entertainer who spent his career eating things that were not food.
- The Corpse FlowerThe titan arum blooms so rarely and smells so terrible that botanic gardens issue public alerts when one is about to open. Visitors line up,…
- Why Bananas Are RadioactiveEvery banana you eat exposes you to a tiny amount of radiation. This isn't a concern—it's barely measurable—but it's real enough that nuclear…
- Why We Have FingerprintsThe most common explanation for why humans have fingerprints is grip—the ridges on our fingertips supposedly help us hold onto objects, the way…
- The Tanganyika Laughter EpidemicOn January 30, 1962, three girls at a boarding school in Kashasha, a village near the western shore of Lake Victoria in what was then Tanganyika,…
- Why the Sea Is SaltyRivers carry salt to the ocean. They've been doing it for billions of years.
- How Aspirin Was Discovered TwiceWillow bark has been used as a pain remedy for thousands of years.
- Why Flamingos Stand on One LegFlamingos spend hours standing on one leg, often while sleeping. The behavior is so consistent and so seemingly uncomfortable that it has attracted…
- Why Old Books Smell GoodThe smell of old books has a name: bibliosmia. It's a compound aroma produced by the chemical decomposition of paper, binding glue, and ink over…
- How Mauve Changed Fashion ForeverIn 1856, an eighteen-year-old chemistry student in London accidentally created the first synthetic dye while trying to synthesize quinine, a…
- Why Your Voice Sounds Different on RecordingsAlmost everyone dislikes the sound of their own voice on a recording. The experience is so universal that psychologists have given it a name: voice…
- The Boy Who Built a Nuclear ReactorIn 2008, a fourteen-year-old from Texarkana, Arkansas, named Taylor Wilson became the youngest person in history to achieve nuclear fusion. He…
- Why We Get GoosebumpsWhen you're cold or frightened, tiny muscles at the base of each hair follicle contract, pulling the hair upright and creating a small bump on the…
- Why Paper Cuts Hurt So MuchA paper cut barely breaks the skin. There's often no visible blood. Yet the pain is immediate, sharp, and disproportionate to the injury—a fact…