Now I Know Trivia, Quizzes, and Brain Teasers

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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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The Easter Island "Heads" Have Bodies

Maybe this isn't a newsflash to anyone but me, but, um, the Moai "heads" on Easter Island have bodies. Because some of the statues are set deep into the ground, and because the heads on the statues are disproportionately large, many people (myself included) tend to think of them as just big heads. But the bodies (generally not including legs, though there is at least one kneeling statue) are there -- in many cases, underground. What's even more interesting -- there are petroglyphs (rock markings) that... 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