The Secrets To Handling Passive-Aggressive People
Dealing with people who exhibit passive-aggressive behavior is easily one of the most challenging aspects of our social…
Forty Years Ago, America's Farms Completely Changed Their Shape—And No One Noticed
Do you think you know what a cornfield looks like? You don’t know what a cornfield looks like.
Are You a Nighttime Tooth Grinder? Here's How To Tell—And What to Do About It
Teeth grinding is a problem that affects nearly one in ten individuals, yet many of us don’t even realize we’re doing…
Why The Nazis Believed They Could Win the Battle of Britain
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the first time in history that one nation tried to…
Why Brave New World is No Longer the Terrifying Dystopia it Used to Be
Brave New World used to be one of the most terrifying stories about a false utopia. It gave us the concept of “test…
How Vertical Farming is Revolutionizing the Way We Grow Food
Traditional farming is taking a huge toll on the environment—a problem that’s set to worsen due to our ever-growing…
Why Are Dogs So Insanely Happy to See Us When We Get Home?
Unlike a certain companion animal that will go unnamed, dogs lose their minds when reunited with their owners. But it’s…
Could a Massive Collision Produce a Subsurface Ocean on Pluto?
Pluto and Charon have captured our hearts and imaginations. But how did these adorably strange worlds form, and what…
Why is the Scale of the Universe so Freakishly Large?
“Space is big,” said Douglas Adams. “You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-boggingly big it is.” But why must…
How the Science of Smell is Changing Modern Warfare
The sensory chaos of battle has always posed a challenge to armies hoping to prepare for—and recover from—war. And…
How to Cope With an Existential Crisis
Despite the weirdness of existence, most of us are able to get on with our lives and avoid debilitating feelings of…
When We Discovered Pluto, It Changed How We Saw The Solar System
On the 23rd and 24th of January, 1930, a young astronomer working in Flagstaff, Arizona, scanned a small patch of the…
What to Expect From Aliens When We Make First Contact
Given the vastness of space, it may only be a matter of time before we make contact with intelligent extraterrestrials.…
These Ants Took Over The World, And We Just Noticed
We know ants form large colonies. In 2002, we realized one specific kind of ant formed supercolonies. And then, in…
How Does A Creature Reproduce When It's Four Separate Creatures?
Siphonophores are groups of creatures that live, connected, as one animal. And they’re incredibly confusing — they all…
This Huge Engineering Project May Be Our Best Chance At Colonizing Space
Space colonization has reached an impasse, for reasons far more fundamental than a lack of money for the Space Shuttle…
You Can Thank Genetic Engineering For Your Delicious Cheese
It used to be that making cheese meant killing cows. Young cows, specifically—a few days old, at most. The stomach of…
Orphan Black's Crazy Bioweapon Actually Exists In Nature
This season, Orphan Black introduced a line of genetically male clones to its tale, and with them came a scary new…
What Would Happen If All Our Satellites Were Suddenly Destroyed?
Since their inception 60 years ago, satellites have gone on to become an indispensable component of our modern…
How Chess Has Changed Over The Last 150 Years
The rules of chess have remained consistent since the early 19th Century, but that doesn’t mean our approach to the…