Articles
Explore our collection of articles covering a wide range of topics.
Why is a famous American bridge officially measured in units of a human's height?
One of America's most famous bridges isn't officially measured in feet or meters, but in a bizarre unit derived from the height of one specific man.
Why are the numbers on a calculator and a phone keypad arranged differently?
It’s not a random design choice that your phone and calculator keypads are opposites; one was engineered for speed, and the other was intentionally designed to slow you down.
Why can Silly Putty bounce like a rubber ball yet also melt into a puddle?
Uncover the bizarre scientific secret that allows this peculiar putty to bounce like a solid rubber ball one moment and ooze into a liquid puddle the next.
Why do giraffes have the same number of neck bones as humans?
It may seem impossible, but a giraffe's towering, two-meter neck contains the exact same number of bones as your own—and the secret lies in a brilliant and bizarre feat of evolutionary engineering.
Why are golf balls covered in dimples?
It seems completely counterintuitive, but a perfectly smooth golf ball would be an aerodynamic disaster, traveling less than half the distance of a dimpled one.
Why did a London skyscraper once accidentally melt cars on the street?
It sounds like science fiction, but a simple design flaw turned a London skyscraper into a giant heat-ray, concentrating sunlight with enough power to melt cars and famously fry an egg on the pavement below.