Cool Finds

Tolkien's Dwarves Would Have Needed 38 Mini-Nuclear Plants to Melt All That Gold So Quickly

Unless those dwarf furnaces were burning some sort of Middle-earth super fuel, in real life Smaug probably would have just eaten the dwarves

Batteries

The Latest Technology in Cheap Energy Storage Is Manufactured with Pasta Makers

A startup based in Manhattan called Urban Electric Power is taking a stab at the energy storage problem.

In 1949, a Physicist Proposed Using Skyscapers And a Roof to Control NYC’s Climate

No scorching summers, no freezing winters...just a nice pleasant time, all year round

Get Geeky About Dialects With the Dictionary of American Regional English

Did the NYTimes' dialect quiz get you interested in regionalisms? Then check out the Dictionary of American Regional English

Coconut Crabs Eat Everything from Kittens to, Maybe, Amelia Earhart

According to one theory, Earhart did not drown in the Pacific but instead crashed on the remote Nikumaroro atoll, where she was eaten by coconut crabs

Sewage Water Reveals Community’s Illegal Drug Habits

Sewage analyses in the US found the highest levels of methamphetamines to date, but revealed that cocaine use in the US seems on par with that in Europe

Can You Fry Things in Space?

Can the good old American tradition of caking foods in grease continue in the vast recesses of space?

A member of the Texas Camel Corps.

The United States Army Used Camels Until After the Civil War

When the first American settlers started moving west, their horses and mules weren't cut out for the long, dry treks

Some Spiders Eat Salads

Most people think of spiders as terrifying carnivores, laying in wait to trap their prey. That's mostly true, but sometimes spiders eat other things too

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This Trippy New Headband Supposedly Allows Wearers to Take Control of Their Dreams

A startup called iWinks is attempting to commercialize lucid dreaming, or dreams in which the dreamer realizes she's dreaming

Victorians Made Jewelry Out of Human Hair

Hair work went out of fashion around 1925, but it was popular for hundreds of years before that

We've Done So Well by Chesapeake Oysters, We Can Start Eating Them Again

Perhaps this time we can keep ourselves from eating them to oblivion

How the North American Aerospace Defense Command Got Into the Business of Tracking Santa

It all began in 1955 with Sears, a wrong number and a very confused Colonel

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See Every One of Santa's International Guises

An entrepreneurial kid could potentially rack up on the gifts by traveling around the world, hitting three Christmas jackpots in one short month

The Gift Card Was Invented by Blockbuster in 1994

So the next time you buy a little piece of plastic with money on it for someone, you can thank Blockbuster

Campylaspis costata, a species of crawfish recently discovered in Norway.

Look Closely, And You Can Find New Species—Even in Well-Explored Countries Like Norway

Determination is all that's needed to discover new species

What Does Sociology Teach Us About Gift Giving?

Not only do gifts make or break relationships, they also tell scientists about society as a whole. No pressure.

A side-by-side comparison of cities’ sizes.

Everything's Bigger in America, Especially Urban Sprawl

Eight other cities (total population: 100 million) fit into the footprint of Atlanta (population: 5 million)

The Best of the British Medical Journal's Goofy Christmas Papers

This year, for example, we learned about just how much James Bond actually drank. Last year we learned just why Rudolph's nose was red

The Terrible Twos Are Actually the Worst

Toddlers are brats. It's science

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