Mental Floss

Put your money on the bull.

MONEY

What’s the Difference Between a Bull and a Bear Market?

ART

15 Colorful Facts About Georgia O’Keeffe

ANIMALS

A Florida Park’s Gopher Tortoise Population Exploded Thanks to Hurricane Helene

TECHNOLOGY

The Windows 95 Chime Just Earned a Spot in the National Recording Registry

Hard not to have fun in a place like this.

AFTERNOON MAP

Each State’s Favorite Bachelorette Party Destination, Mapped

Draft beer, not boys.

VIETNAM WAR

8 Gripping Facts About the Vietnam War Draft

Grab your magnifying glass.

QUIZZES

Definition Detective Quiz #33

Look out below!

BIG QUESTIONS

Where Does Astronaut Poop End Up?

LANGUAGE

1

11 Suffixes That Gave Us New (And Often Terrible) Words

2

The Peppy ’80s Song “Vamos a la Playa” Was Actually About Nuclear War

3

Where Does the Phrase ‘Going to Hell in a Handbasket’ Come From?

4

15 Memorable Slang Terms From the Vietnam War

5

Why Do We Refer to Airplane and Ship Passengers as ‘Souls’?

HISTORY

SEE MORE

‘Greatest Escapes With Arturo Castro’ Episode 11: The Manson Family’s Squeaky Escapee

Many of the soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War were Baby Boomers.

6 Ways the Vietnam War Affected Baby Boomers

FDR had a lot to prove.

Why America Obsesses Over the President’s First 100 Days in Office

America’s entry into the space Olympics.

The Secret Cold War History of the Missile That Launched America’s First Satellite

QUIZZES

SEE MORE

Can You Match the Moon to the Planet It Belongs To?

Ken Jennings.

What’s the Kennection? #161

Can you figure it out?

Can You Solve This Old-Timey Riddle? #32

See if you can decipher this twisted tune.

Tune Twist Quiz #36

FEATURES

In space, it isn’t just number one and done.

To Boldly Go: The Science Behind Pooping in Space

The Dame of Sark, Sibyl Hathaway, in March 1953.

How the World’s Only Feudal Lord Outclassed the Nazis to Save Her People

Robert Kennicott, pictured against Alaska’s Kennicott Glacier, was a key figure in the Smithsonian’s formative years.

Death of a Scientist: The Mysterious Demise of Smithsonian Pioneer Robert Kennicott

BIG QUESTIONS

SEE MORE

The passenger's side-view mirror serves an important function, too.

Why Are Objects in a Car’s Side-View Mirror Closer Than They Appear?

Tomatoes can be either fruit or vegetable, depending on who you talk to.

Is a Tomato a Fruit?

Not quite a Brundlefly, but still too close for comfort.

What Happens When a Fly Lands on Your Food?

White makes a surprising amount of sense for a painter.

Why Do Professional Painters Wear White?