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Once-in-a-lifetime experiences are amazing while they happen, but they may make you depressed in the long term. A new study shows that your incredible vacation may come at a personal cost — Discover’s Carl Engelking has the story.

10 Flashbacks That Totally Changed Our Favorite Stories

A great story has lots of layers, and a rich backstory. When you only see part of the picture, you might reach a snap judgment about what’s going on — but then you see events from years ago, that make you rethink everything. Here are 10 flashbacks that turn your understanding of a story upside-down.…

The Best Weapon to Trap and Kill Bed Bugs Is Hidden in Our Blood 

Bed bug infestations are a nightmare. The tiny, assholish insects can resist all sorts of measures to kill them completely. Drawn-out infestations are a scourge, but also fairly common in big cities like New York. There are plenty of remedies, from all-natural bean leaves to special heated suitcases, but none are foolproof. One new weapon…

Keep Common Phrases On Hand With Snipboard for iOS

Snipboard is a really handy app for iOS that gives you quick access to the words and phrases you rely on the most. It’s a third-party keyboard for devices running iOS 8.0 and above and it’s free to use. Here’s how it can make a difference to the typing experience on your iDevice. As with…

Why 2015 Is A Hugely Important Year For The Marvel Cinematic Universe

2014 has been a great year for Marvel: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy dominated the blockbuster market this year, Agents of SHIELD found its footing and they unveiled big plans for the next 5 years. But 2015 might be the Studio’s most important year since Iron Man débuted in 2008. Warning: There…

Card decks with 52 aces of spades were used for psych warfare in Vietnam

During the Vietnam War, American soldiers started hearing rumors that the Vietnamese were very superstitious about the ace of spades. So Cincinnati’s U.S. Playing Card Co. responded by printing decks of nothing but ace of spades—and sending them for free to GIs in Vietnam for the purposes of “psychological warfare.” Colin Dickey, author of Afterlives…

Report: Microsoft Could Ditch IE For a New Browser Named “Spartan”

Windows 10 should bring lots of changes to Microsoft’s operating system, including a possible overhaul of Internet Explorer. Many believed the beleaguered browser would be getting an update with codename “Spartan,” including much needed additions like extension support. Now, ZDNet reports that Spartan may in fact be a new browser entirely. So what’s different? Well,…

TLDR: All the Paleofuture Posts From 2014 You Swore You’d Read Later

From the story of the Cold War Roomba in Moscow to Frank Lloyd Wright’s unbuilt suburban utopia: These were the long-ish stories you swore you’d finish later, but never found the time. Well, here’s your second chance! The All-American Expo That Invaded Cold War Russia Over the course of six weeks during the height of…

Security Expert IDs Two Idiots Claiming to Be Lizard Squad Hackers

Security buff Brian Krebs thinks he knows the names of two of the people behind last week’s massive PSN and Xbox Live outages. Or at least, he thinks he knows the names of two people who went on TV and the radio claiming to be been behind it. Last week, just as a bunch of…

Astronomers Capture A Rare Glimpse Of Eclipsing Jovian Moons

Earlier this month, astronomers surveying Jupiter’s moon Io received an early Christmas surprise when another Jovian moon, Europa, unexpectedly passed in front of it. This is what’s called a transit — when a celestial object passes in front of another object along our visual plane of sight. In this case, Europa passed in front of…

Our Windowless Megachurches Are Killing the Stained Glass Industry

For more than a thousand years, people have worshipped under stained glass windows. Is there any more appropriate setting to celebrate god? According to modern churchgoers, yes, yes there is. And more and more, that involves a giant LED screen in a darkened big box. Stained glass makers are looking for new ways to market…

Kim Jong Il Had A Fan Club And They Really, Really Hated Team America

The official website of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has a forum where Hermit Kingdom groupies from around the world can share their admiration for the Pyongyang regime. When Team America was released, the wrath of fandom was on full display, with one declaring, “Kim Jong Il is really NOT a lonely man.” The…

How To Avoid The Crowds And Sail Thailand’s Islands

Koh Phi Phi, off Thailand’s western coast is basically one big frat party. Gross. For less than $100, we rented a private long boat and escaped for a snorkeling and climbing adventure. You can do that too, here’s how. The last few months had been pretty brutal. I nearly died in Iceland. Barely made it…

This Week’s TV: A Goofy Medieval Musical From Tangled‘s Songwriters

It’s the week that we ring in the new year with endless TV marathons (while resolving only to watch the best TV in 2015). But we’ve also got a new show coming out this week, a musical about true love and revenge from a legendary Disney composer, and his lyricist collaborator on Tangled. Today Breaking…

Netflix Will Destroy New Year’s Eve for Children with Fake Countdown 

It used to be the only way to trick children into falling asleep before the shiny ball on TV lowered at midnight on New Year’s Eve was to find a ball drop in a different time zone or record one from a previous year and hope no one noticed. But 2015 is a year of…

The Ninth Doctor, Rose And Captain Jack Return In New Doctor Who Comic

Chris Eccleston’s reign as the Ninth Doctor only lasted a season, but Doctor Who fans looking for more adventures of the leather jacket-wearing Time Lord need look no further than Titan’s newest Who comic, which pairs him not just with Rose, but the dashing, omnisexual Jack Harkness as well. Titan will release a five-issue Ninth…

How ILM Helped Make Winter Soldier One of 2014’s Best Movies

As far as superheroes go, on paper a movie about goody two-shoes Captain America doesn’t sound like it would be all that entertaining. But both of Marvel’s Captain films have been pretty fantastic, and part of the credit goes to the wonderful visual effects done by Industrial Light & Magic, which recently posted a breakdown…

“Garlic Smell” Tours Your Whole Body Before Getting to Your Mouth

Garlic smells delicious when it’s being sautéed in butter, but foul when it’s in someone’s mouth. Why? We’ll tell you about the remarkable tour a garlic compound takes around your body, and why it ends up right back in your mouth. First of all the scent of garlic comprises many compounds, some of which do…

The Most Futuristic Predictions That Came True In 2014

As 2014 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on the most futuristic breakthroughs and developments of the past year. This year’s crop features a slew of incredible technological, scientific, and social achievements, from mind-to-mind communication to self-guiding sniper bullets. Here are 15 predictions that came true in 2014. Technologically-assisted telepathy was successfully demonstrated…

The Four U.S. Cities That Want to Host the 2024 Olympics

This month, the board of directors of the US Olympic Committee approved America’s bid for the summer Olympics in 2024—the first step in the long process of competing for the right to host the games. And it named four cities as the final bidders: LA, San Francisco, Boston, and D.C. The games are still a…