Esther Inglis-Arkell, Author at Gizmodo

The Mushrooms You See In Every Children’s Book Are Psychoactive

These adorable mushrooms are in every children’s book illustration. They’re so cute, with their bright red umbrellas and white spots! They’re also psychoactive. And toxic. They’re called Amanita muscaria, or fly agaric. You might have even sat on stools painted to look like this mushroom while reading the children’s book. If a kid stumbles across…

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How Do You Turn A Monkey Into A Therapist?

Harry Harlow’s most famous experiments involved isolating an infant rhesus monkey until it was socially and emotionally devastated. Less well-known is the experiment in which he revived them using “therapist monkeys.” In the 1960s, Harry Harlow made headlines when he revealed the experiments he done on rhesus monkey infants. He’d raised infants in isolation, with…

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Blue Food Coloring Could Be Better For You Than You Ever Imagined

Coomassie Brilliant Blue, or Brilliant Blue G, is a dye first manufactured in 1913 as a way of staining cloth. Over time, and with testing, it made the jump to food. Is it bad for you? No. In fact, it’s so good that doctors may one day use it to treat spinal cord injuries. Brilliant…

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It Finally Happened On Arrow, And It Was Awesome

During the flashback in last night’s episode, “The Fallen,” a deadly bioweapon is released because of Ollie’s butterfingers and no one cares. No one cares, because the A-plot gives us something we’ve been waiting for. Hell, we’ve been dying for it. But never in a million years did we think it would happen like this.…

Television Esther Inglis-Arkell

Brewing Booze And Animal Husbandry Have More In Common Than You Think

Brewers of alcoholic beverages aren’t just making drinks — they’re managing, and sometimes even breeding, specialized herds of tiny lifeforms which perform specific functions: yeasts. One function that yeast can be bred for is flocculation, which means “grouping together in clumps.” Different strains of brewers yeast do it at different times. This isn’t just a…

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Here’s Why Fish Scales Get Put In Lipstick

If you are a lady, you have probably at one point slathered your lips in fish scales. (If you are a gentlemen, you have probably pressed your lips against those scales.) Why? Because it looks pretty. And because of physics. To understand why fish scales were first used in makeup, we have to understand why…

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Top 10 Most Horribly Mistreated First Wives In Gothic Fiction

In Gothic fiction, it never pays to be the first wife. The things these women go through are awful, and are made worse by the fact they usually end up as the backdrop of someone else’s story. Here’s our ranking of the 10 Gothic first wives who suffered the most — and what you can…

Books & Comics Esther Inglis-Arkell

This Food Psychology Experiment Was Nearly Foiled By Chronic Politeness

Psychology experiments have to straddle the line between letting people act naturally, and forcing them to act out an extremely specific situation. Sometimes that doesn’t work out. Here’s an experiment that drove psychologists crazy. Why? Because they underestimated the politeness of Minnesotans. Psychologist Traci Mann runs a food lab at the University of Minnesota. She…

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Here’s What Really Happens When You Force-Feed Someone

The American Medical Association and the Red Cross both condemn force-feeding as a form of torture. And yet, the U.S. government and the United Nations have both force-fed hunger-striking prisoners. The real problem? Most people probably don’t realize how complicated force-feeding is, and how much can go wrong. Top image: U.S. Navy personnel holds up…

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This Devious Fish Basically Reenacts The Thing To Catch Its Prey

This is an adorable fish and a horror movie, all rolled into one. When it sees a school of other fish, it checks ‘em out, works for weeks to blend in with them, and then it systematically murders their young. When caught, it starts all over again. This fish is adorably called the dottyback. It’s…

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Don’t Ever Touch This Fish

Yes, this fish has spines. Yes, this fish releases toxins. No, that’s not the reason why you shouldn’t touch it, though. You’ll know why you shouldn’t touch it when you find out what it has instead of scales. Image: Luc Viatour / www.Lucnix.be The mandarinfish has a few good qualities. It engages in a charming…

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The Chemistry Of Fraudulent Photographs

In the 1970s, newly-discovered pictures of “Victorian waifs” were a hit with both historians and art collectors. The chemistry seemed right. The context . . . not so much. But people only learned that too late. In 1974, the work of Francis Hetling delighted the academic world. Hetling was a diarist and amateur photographer. He’d…

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Your Air Freshener Is Actually Filling Your Home With Dust

By making your house smell nice you are also making it filthy. Though it may make a house smell clean, secretly, most air fresheners fill the house with tiny particles of dust — all thanks to limonene. Limonene has been featured before on this site — it’s a liquid hydrocarbon that turns an orange peel…

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The Invention Of Lobotomies Is As Disturbing As The Procedure

If the history of lobotomy itself weren’t infuriating and horrifying by itself, the development of the procedure would be. Because the experiment that gave Antonio Egas Moniz the idea for the lobotomy in the first place was actually a partial failure, yet Moniz chose to focus on the “positive.” In the 1930s, John Fulton was…

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Why You Should (And Shouldn’t) Put Hydrogen Peroxide On Cuts

What you’re seeing, when hydrogen peroxide fizzes up on contact with blood, is a desperate stuggle for life. An enzyme in your blood, and most other living things, rips hydrogen peroxide apart – but not fast enough for bacteria. Hydrogen peroxide is just H2O2. That’s water with one extra oxygen, which seems simple enough. For…

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Have You Been Struck By “Pine Mouth”?

I’ve avoided pine nuts since the first time I had them. That’s because a few hours after snacking on them, I noticed that my mouth tasted like I’d been eating old engine parts that had been soaked in ammonia. Everything, including my own breath, tasted metallic and bitter. I figured I was mildly allergic. I…

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Welcome To The Nightmare World Of Sea Creatures With Human Teeth

Feel like going down to the beach this weekend? Don’t do it. Or if you have to for some reason, don’t go into the ocean. Because there are things swimming around your waters that can bite you with your own teeth. If that’s not scary enough for you, by all means, plunge in! Sheepshead: The…

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A Very Simple Property Of Sugar Can Save (Or Ruin) Your Food

Why does everything have sugar in it? It isn’t just in there because it tastes good. If that were all sugar had to offer, it would be added to far fewer products. As it is, sugar is added to things that aren’t like leather, concrete and hand lotion. Why? Because it is hygroscopic. Hygroscopic things…

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What Happens To Someone Standing Next To Plutonium That Goes Critical?

A horrible accident at Los Alamos in 1958 illustrates what happens to a person’s body when they stand next to plutonium during a chain reaction. Cecil Kelley was an experienced and knowledgeable lab technician. This is one of the reasons why what happened to him is so inexplicable. He was sifting traces of plutonium from…

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The First Ever Picture Of A Monkey Everyone Thought Might Be Extinct

This is Bouvier’s red colobus monkey. Until two primatologists released this picture, the scientific community didn’t even know whether it still existed. And now, that’s pretty much all they know. When Lieven Devreese and Gaël Elie Gnondo Gobolo were told that people living near Ntokou-Pikounda National Park had seen a certain kind of monkey, the…

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Esther Inglis-Arkell

The Mushrooms You See In Every Children’s Book Are Psychoactive

How Do You Turn A Monkey Into A Therapist?

Blue Food Coloring Could Be Better For You Than You Ever Imagined

It Finally Happened On Arrow, And It Was Awesome

Brewing Booze And Animal Husbandry Have More In Common Than You Think

Here’s Why Fish Scales Get Put In Lipstick

Top 10 Most Horribly Mistreated First Wives In Gothic Fiction

This Food Psychology Experiment Was Nearly Foiled By Chronic Politeness

Here’s What Really Happens When You Force-Feed Someone

This Devious Fish Basically Reenacts The Thing To Catch Its Prey

Don’t Ever Touch This Fish

The Chemistry Of Fraudulent Photographs

Your Air Freshener Is Actually Filling Your Home With Dust

The Invention Of Lobotomies Is As Disturbing As The Procedure

Why You Should (And Shouldn’t) Put Hydrogen Peroxide On Cuts

Have You Been Struck By “Pine Mouth”?

Welcome To The Nightmare World Of Sea Creatures With Human Teeth

A Very Simple Property Of Sugar Can Save (Or Ruin) Your Food

What Happens To Someone Standing Next To Plutonium That Goes Critical?

The First Ever Picture Of A Monkey Everyone Thought Might Be Extinct

Getting Stuck Inside a Glitching Robotaxi Is a Whole New Thing to Be Scared of

Artemis 2 Live Updates: Humanity’s Epic Return to the Moon 🔴

NASA’s Artemis 2 Mission Blasts Off

Disney’s Robot Olaf Dying Is the Funniest Thing to Happen in 2026

Kia’s EV3 Is Headed to the US This Year With Up to 320 Miles of Range

This Is the Way to Lego’s April Releases

Group Pushing Age Verification Requirements for AI Turns Out to Be Sneakily Backed by OpenAI

Amazon Facilities in Bahrain Hit Again as Iran Follows Through on Threat, Report Says

Why the PS6 Handheld Will Matter More Than the PS6

DNA Study Casts Even More Doubt on Shroud of Turin’s True Origin

The Best Gadgets of March 2026

AirPods Max 2 Review: Still Ridiculously Expensive and Ridiculously Nice

DJI Osmo 360 Review: The Best 360 Camera for the DJI-Pilled

Aqara Smart Lock U400 Review: Hands-free Unlocking at Its Best

MSI Prestige 14 Flip AI+ Review: A Solid 2-in-1 Laptop With Some Glaring Flaws

Sonos Play Review: Call It a Comeback

Sonos Era 100 SL Review: The Cheapest Way Into Wired Sonos Sound

Asus ROG’s Massive Swift OLED Gaming Monitor Epitomizes Excess in the Best Way

The Ikea Varmblixt Smart Lamp Fills a Donut Hole in My Life

Nothing Headphone A vs. Headphone 1: Which Pair of ANC Wireless Headphones Wins?