Now I Know Trivia, Quizzes, and Brain Teasers

Now I Know

Big Question

Why Is Ice Slippery?

If you’ve ever shakily stepped onto the ice at your local skating rink, you are intimately familiar with the fear of falling on slippery ice. But what makes ice so slippery in the first place? Interestingly enough, scientists are still trying to figure that one out.... READ ON

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Determining Migratory Patterns of Early Humans — With Earwax!

Dan Lewis runs the popular daily newsletter Now I Know (“Learn Something New Every Day, By Email”). To subscribe to his daily email, click... READ ON

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The Last Five Members of the Akuntsu Tribe

Dan Lewis runs the popular daily newsletter Now I Know (“Learn Something New Every Day, By Email”). To subscribe to his daily email, click here. Rondônia is a state in the northwest of Brazil that shares a border with Bolivia. Covered mostly by rain forest (or, more commonly, deforested area that was once rain forest), Rondônia is the 13th largest Brazilian state (of 26) by area, but only the 23rd by population. It covers an area of just over 90,000 square miles, roughly the size of Michigan,... READ ON

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Surrounded by Death on Snake Island

Dan Lewis runs the popular daily newsletter Now I Know (“Learn Something New Every Day, By Email”). To subscribe to his daily email, click... READ ON

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Getting High Off Someone Else's Blood

Dan Lewis runs the popular daily newsletter Now I Know (“Learn Something New Every Day, By Email”). To subscribe to his daily email, click here. "Flashblood." The word itself conjures the idea of something not-so-good, and the description confirms... READ ON

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The Strangest Soccer Match Ever Played

Dan Lewis runs the popular daily newsletter Now I Know (“Learn Something New Every Day, By Email”). To subscribe to his daily email, click here. In 1994, twenty-one Caribbean nations gathered on the soccer pitch to play for the Shell Caribbean Cup. Trinidad and Tobago would emerge victorious, beating—among many—Barbados along the way. But the two countries would have never matched up but for, perhaps, the strangest soccer match ever played. Barbados, Grenada, and Puerto Rico were grouped... READ ON

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The President's Secret New York City Train Station

Dan Lewis runs the popular daily newsletter Now I Know (“Learn Something New Every Day, By Email”). To subscribe to his daily email, click here. Grand Central Terminal, located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, has more than 40 platforms. But one of those platforms is almost never... READ ON

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The Truth About McHotDogs

"There's no telling what's inside a hot dog's skin," said Ray Kroc, "and our standard of quality just wouldn't permit that kind of item."... READ ON

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The Missing Person Living in Savannah

Dan Lewis runs the popular daily newsletter Now I Know (“Learn Something New Every Day, By Email”). To subscribe to his daily email, click... READ ON

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Miranda Piker and the Chocolate Factory

Dan Lewis runs the popular daily newsletter Now I Know (“Learn Something New Every Day, By Email”). To subscribe to his daily email, click here. If you have not read the book noted below, nor seen either of the two movies, take a few hours to fix that — I suggest the cult classic 1971 movie, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder as the protagonist candy man. Fair warning: some plot points from the story follow below.... READ ON