David W Brown

Joined: Nov 21, 2012

David Brown is coauthor of The Command (John Wiley & Sons, 2012) and Deep State (Wiley, 2013). He is a correspondent for The Atlantic and a contributor to The Week and mental_floss. He can be found online at http://dwb.io.

United States Army Chief of Staff General Collins studying a map of the front line during the battle for Korea, with Lieutenant General Walker, Brigadier General Farrell, and Korean Brigadier General Paik.

10 Facts About the Korean War

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

7 Surprising Facts About Pluto

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

7 Fascinating Facts About the Sun

A fireball streaks through the sky in Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013.

It’s Fireball Season: Spot Meteors Brighter than Venus this Spring

Learn about the mysteries of fireball season, which peaks in the weeks around the vernal equinox.

America’s entry into the space Olympics.

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

On January 31, 1958, the United States became a space-faring nation with the Explorer-1 satellite.

The Milky Way over Monument Valley in Arizona.

10 Astonishing Things You Should Know About the Milky Way

The Milky Way is one of the biggest in the observable universe: Even if you traveled at the speed of light, it would take 100,000 years to go from one end of our home galaxy to the other.

The Lyrids meteor shower will light up skies around Earth Day.

The Lyrid Meteor Shower Peaks on Earth Day in 2024

Make some time for the Lyrid meteor shower and you’ll probably see shooting stars zooming across the heavens every few minutes.

The total solar eclipse in August 2017 was the last one with a path of totality across the United States.

Solar Eclipse 2024: The Mental Floss Viewing Guide

Here's everything you need to know about Great North American Eclipse, from its path of totality, to the best place to view it, to finding safe eclipse glasses.

The Board Game Trial of the Century

After Ralph Anspach created an anti-monopoly game, he ended up in the middle of a controversial patent case with Parker Brothers over the history of ‘Monopoly’ itself.

This Blue Marble Earth montage shows many stunning details of our home planet.

8 Amazing Facts About Earth

Our planet is spinning more than 1000 mph at the equator while simultaneously zipping through space at 67,000 mph.

A map of the world's undersea cables in 2015.

10 Deep Facts About the Internet’s Undersea Cables

The internet is really just a spaghetti-work of really long wires found in the coldest depths of the ocean.

Women register to vote following the ratification of the 19th Amendment.

12 World-Shaping Events That Happened in 1920

Despite what you may believe, 1920 wasn't all flappers and jazz bands. The year saw some major events that would go on to shape history.

getty images (churchill) / istock (flag)

The 8 Honorary Citizens of the United States

Honorary citizenship is granted by Congress and the president, and has only ever been bestowed upon eight people. Here's what they did to deserve it.

An artist's rendering of the dwarf planet Eris

10 Facts About the Dwarf Planet Eris

Eris was once thought to be larger than Pluto.

The Orionid Meteor Shower Peaks This Weekend

Look up!