Shaunacy Ferro

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Shaunacy Ferro is a senior staff writer for MentalFloss.com. Her work has previously appeared in Fast Company, Popular Science, and Architect magazine, among others. She lives in Brooklyn and spends most of her free time taking photos of her cat.

How You Deal With a Breakup Depends on Your Beliefs About Personality

People who view their personality traits as fixed are more affected by romantic rejection, a Stanford study finds.... READ ON

8 Anatomical Images From the 15th Century

Our understanding of the human body has come a long way since the 1400s.... READ ON

London's Bike Share is Getting Safety Lasers That Project Individual Bike Lanes

Every Santander Cycle will soon be equipped with laser lights that remind drivers and pedestrians not to move into the path of an oncoming bicycle.... READ ON

The World’s Largest Rubik’s Cube Has More Than 2900 Squares

Bet you can’t solve this one behind your back.... READ ON

World’s Oldest Tea Found in Chinese Tomb

A Han Dynasty emperor was buried with tea leaves 2150 years ago.... READ ON

Brewer's Yeast Creates Love Nests in Wasps' Digestive Tracts

Yeast breeds best in insect intestines, a new study finds.... READ ON

What Classic Literature Looks Like Without the Words

A poster series visualizes books like 'Moby Dick' and 'Pride and Prejudice' using only the punctuation in their texts.... READ ON

Dogs Really Can Read Your Emotions, Study Says

New research indicates that dogs can decode emotional cues in both other dogs and in humans.... READ ON

6 Secrets of Being a Reddit Moderator

It involves more pubic hair than you'd imagine.... READ ON

Make a Custom Pillow Pet Out of Your Cat’s Picture

For those times when your real cat just refuses to cuddle.... READ ON

Reveal How New York Has Changed With This 'Scratch-Off' Map

It's like a lottery ticket, but you win history instead of cash.... READ ON

Standing Desks May Be Good for Your Mind, Too

A small study of high school students finds that standing more at school improves working memory and executive brain functioning.... READ ON

The Future of American Public Transportation in One Map

Transit Explorer maps North America’s “fixed-guideway transit” options, like subways, streetcars, commuter trains, and bus-rapid transit.... READ ON

What It’s Like to Swim Through Poop All Day at Work

Being a professional sewage diver is not as smelly as you'd think.... READ ON

This Smoking Magpie is the British Pizza Rat

It might be time to roll out those avian anti-tobacco PSAs.... READ ON

Puff Adders Can Hide Their Smell From Predators

It's chemical camouflage.... READ ON

The Paradoxical Ways Bike Helmets Make Us Less Safe

A new study finds that wearing a helmet increases willingness to take risks.... READ ON

Scientists Have Mapped the Seafloor Using Gravity

So that’s where all those underwater mountains are hiding.... READ ON

A Portable, Dry EEG Could Change the Way We Monitor Brain Activity

The bizarre-looking helmet could be an easier, less messy way to study brain activity.... READ ON

A Smart Pill Could Study Your Farts Before You Release Them

Hey, it's better than a rectal catheter.... READ ON

Your Tone of Voice Affects How You Feel

In a study, people whose voices were altered to sound happier, sadder, or more fearful were more likely to begin exhibiting those emotions.... READ ON

All the Money on Earth, in One (Giant) Visual

What does $600 billion really mean? This graphic can show you.... READ ON

Doctors Are Testing Freeze-Dried Poop Pills to Treat Obesity

Dieting may not work, but someone else’s poop could.... READ ON

Last Survivor of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Dies

Willian A. "Bill" Del Monte was 3 months old when his family escaped the burning city in a horse-drawn wagon.... READ ON

CMYK Swatch Calendar Changes Color Schemes Every Day

Perfect for those who always want a fresh look.... READ ON

Arctic Plankton Use the Moon to Navigate in Dark Winters

During the winter, they switch from a 24-hour day governed by sunlight to a 24.8-hour lunar day governed by the phases of the moon.... READ ON

Smarter People Live Longer, Study Finds

A study of more than 2200 Scottish people first studied in 1932 finds that IQ can affect longevity.... READ ON

Bodies Don’t Host as Much Bacteria as Experts Thought

The previous assessment that bacterial cells outnumber human cells in the body 10 to 1 is probably overblown, a new study finds. The ratio might be be closer to equal.... READ ON

Experience What It’s Like to Drive a Subway Train

It's like you're in the conductor's chair.... READ ON

A Tablet for Seniors That Comes With Uber

For people who can still see well enough to check email, but not well enough to drive after sunset.... READ ON

Scientists Create the First Age Map of the Milky Way

A new technique allows scientists to reveal the galaxy's young, old, and middle-age stars.... READ ON

Canadians Really Are More Polite, Study Says

Canadian tweets tend to be much more tame than their southern neighbors'.... READ ON

Journey Inside a Cavernous Collection of Antique Medical Devices

Steve Erenberg has been collecting everything from early anatomical models to antique shock treatment devices for 30 years.... READ ON

Winky Faces Make Your Texts Sarcastic, Scientists Say

Thanks a lot, science. ;)... READ ON

The New iPhone Might Be Waterproof

Throw out your rice bags!... READ ON

Sharks Use Their Noses to Find Their Way

Leopard sharks that can’t smell find it harder to find their way home, a study in California finds.... READ ON

Sitting Quietly Helps You Remember Information, Study Finds

Letting your mind wander helps consolidate memories much like sleep does, according to a new study.... READ ON

A Street Lamp That Doubles as a Mosquito Trap

The technology might help prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases like dengue.... READ ON

How Causes of Death Change as You Age

Most 17-year-olds die don't die of cancer, but a lot of 60-year-olds do.... READ ON

11 Highlights From the New York Public Library’s New Public Domain Collections

Go forth and download high-res images.... READ ON

Reddit Is Releasing a Book of AMAs

Did your favorite interview make it into the limited-edition coffee-table book?... READ ON

A Highly Detailed Map of the Observable Universe

Can you spot the Oort Cloud?... READ ON

New Jersey Fossil Haven Might Reveal What Killed Off the Dinosaurs

A quarry pit may hold clues pointing to a mass extinction more than 65 million years ago.... READ ON

Tiny Chameleons Have the Most Powerful Tongues

You don't want a tongue-lashing from one of these guys.... READ ON

Futuristic Underwater Skyscrapers Made From Ocean Trash

An architectural solution to ocean pollution.... READ ON

How a Makeup Artist Transforms Herself Into a Supervillain

Cosplay at 10,000 times the speed.... READ ON

11 Squeaky-Clean Facts About Spit

Saliva is more important than you think.... READ ON

16th Century Skeleton Found Under a Playground

A Scottish primary school was built over the unmarked grave of a man who was likely executed near the Newhaven harbor in the 16th century.... READ ON

In Photos: Family Life in Turn-of-the-Century Australia

Staffers from the Museum Victoria in Australia spent six years collecting family photos from around the state dating between the 1890s and the 1940s.... READ ON

The Oldest Black Rhino In America Just Turned 45

Elly lives at the San Francisco Zoo.... READ ON

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