Mental Floss

The holiday is always a three-day weekend for a reason.

HOLIDAYS

Why Is Memorial Day Always on a Monday?

ENVIRONMENT

Penguin Poop: The Latest Tool to Fight Climate Change

ENTERTAINMENT

26 Incisive Facts About ‘Jaws’

LIVE SMARTER

The Right Way to Clean Your Baseboards

People now have the privilege of seeing Uluru and Kata Tjuta after the sun goes down.

TRAVEL

Travelers Can Spend the Night Near Uluru in Australia for the First Time Ever

NASA’s iconic image of Pluto, showing its heart-like pattern, captured by the New Horizons flyby in 2015.

SPACE

7 Surprising Facts About Pluto

Mouth breathing isn’ that bad.

HEALTH

You Probably Shouldn't Be Mouth Taping While You Sleep

Where does your state rank?

AFTERNOON MAP

The Fastest Drivers in America By State, Mapped

LANGUAGE

1

Definition Detective Quiz #38

2

Why Is It Called a “Swiss Army Knife”?

3

12 Distant Places in the Solar System (And What They’re Named After)

4

Would You Have Passed This 1920s Pronunciation Test?

5

Why Do We Say “Uncle” When Admitting Defeat?

HISTORY

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A Japanese Chin on her throne.

8 Dogs Bred for Oddly Specific Purposes

The Dakotas didn't get along.

Why Are There Two Dakotas and Two Carolinas?

The cover of the 1902 Sears, Roebuck catalogue.

11 Bizarre Items Sold by Sears in 1902

A U.S. Marine charges forward through Japanese machine gun fire during the Battle of Okinawa.

11 Things You Might Not Know About the Marine Corps

QUIZZES

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Can you decipher this twisted tune?

Tune Twist Quiz #42

The Greek gods of Olympus.

Quiz: Can You Name the Greek God or Goddess?

Ken Jennings.

What’s the Kennection? #167

Quiz: Can You Solve This Old-Timey Riddle? #39

FEATURES

Lights, cameras, and ... crickets.

An Oral History of When Geraldo Rivera Opened Al Capone’s Vault

How Paperbacks Transformed the Way Americans Read

The Quest to Break America’s Most Mysterious Code—And Find $60 Million in Buried Treasure

BIG QUESTIONS

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Flags displayed a Boston Common for Memorial Day.

What’s the Difference Between Memorial Day and Veterans Day?

It doesn’t get much more suburban than this.

Where Did All the Minivans Go?

Corsages and boutonnieres are still popular. It‘s about time you learned their origins.

Why Do People Wear Corsages and Boutonnieres?

These should probably be covered.

Why Do Grocery Stores Cover Potatoes at Night?