It can stretch your mind to ponder what’s really out there.
Stijn Dijkstra/EyeEm via Getty Images
Astronomers know a lot about what’s in outer space – and think it’s possible it never ends.
A behavior from kittenhood persists in many adult cats.
Byron Chin/flickr
According to a veterinarian, the behavior some people call ‘kneading the dough’ or ‘making biscuits’ is a clue your cat feels comfortable around you.
Poisonous or edible?
Ekaterina Morozova/iStock via Getty Images Plus
Poison can be a deadly defense that helps a mushroom make sure its spores are spread to new places to grow into baby mushrooms.
Scholars can be more reliable than search engines.
Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Unlike scholars, Google’s search engine can’t automatically decide which sources are the most important, most accurate or most significant.
Fire a set of high-power lasers at a tiny speck of hydrogen isotopes and you can initiate nuclear fusion, the process that powers the Sun.
National Ignition Facility
Scientists are working on ways to make lots of energy by converting matter into energy. The trick is keeping the process under control. One possibility is nuclear fusion – the Sun’s power source.
The need for shut-eye is universal.
Justin Lewis/Stone via Getty Images
Getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis can help you do well in school or at work. It might even make you better-looking.
Confederate currency had images of enslaved people, historical figures and mythical deities.
elycefeliz/Flickr
Confederate paper money was a promise to exchange the bill for gold or silver, but only after the Confederacy won the war.
Future notebook paper?
Not4rthur/Flickr
People have painted on cave walls and written on clay and wax tablets, papyrus and paper made from wood. Could screens replace paper someday?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, standing at center and facing left just above the eagle, takes the presidential oath of office for the third time in 1941.
FDR Presidential Library and Museum via Flickr
Only one president has done so – Franklin Delano Roosevelt – but others considered it, and even tried.
There are so many different states – and provinces, districts, regions and lander!
Getty Images
The U.S. is broken up into 50 states, plus territories like Puerto Rico and Guam, and a federal district, Washington, D.C. Most other countries have smaller parts too.
This skull, found in France, was among the first fossils to be recognized as belonging to our own species.
DEA /G. Cigolini via Getty Images
Our biggest evolutionary advantages are an ability to walk on two legs and our big brains.
There are a lot of people, but the oceans are very big.
Rosley Majid/EyeEm via Getty Images
Even if every human being on Earth went for a dip in the ocean at the same time, they’d be just a drop in the bucket compared to the size of the planet’s seas.
Look! It’s Superman. Or is it?
Yogi Purnama/Unsplash
Where we would be without our brains? But think about it. How do they work?
Toilets in space are a bit more complicated than those on Earth.
Don DeBold via Wikipedia
Going to the bathroom is much more complicated in space without any gravity. To solve this problem of tricky orbital potty breaks, NASA builds special toilets that work without gravity.
In addition to being fun, video games can build real-world skills.
Carol Yepes/Moment via Getty images
Research shows multiple social and cognitive benefits of playing video games.
A floral scent can be enjoyable for a person, but it has an important job for the flower.
Richard L. Harkess
Not all flowers smell good, to people at least, but their scents are a way to attract pollinators.
A leap and a plunge into the snow could earn this arctic fox its supper.
Jupiterimages/PHOTOS.com via Getty Images
Arctic foxes have a few special talents that help them sneak up on unseen prey and pounce.
‘Hey everybody, there’s big news happening over here!’
Wesley Martinez Da Costa/EyeEm via Getty Images
Dogs’ barks say a lot about how they’re feeling.
A person falling into a black hole and being stretched while approaching the black hole’s horizon.
Leo Rodriguez and Shanshan Rodriguez
If you are a sci-fi junkie you’ve probably wondered what would happen if you were unlucky enough to fall into a black hole. How well you’d fare all depends on the type of black hole.
The jet stream can have a big impact on how long a plane ride will last.
Aeroprints via Wikimedia Commons
When planes fly from east to west, they are flying against a river of air called a jet stream. These air currents can make your flight longer or shorter, depending on which way you are going.