From The Archive

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Emperor Augustus’s Mausoleum in Rome Set for Restoration

The long-overdue restoration will be completed with a donation from an Italian telecommunications company.

The Pioneering Female Sci-Fi Writer Whose Identity Was Kept Secret for 50 Years

Katharine Burdekin wrote one of the first dystopian novels, but her authorship wasn't revealed until well after her death.

10 Hamilton-Related Documents You Could Own

Hundreds of letters, manuscripts, and other documents belonging to the Founding Father and his family are going up for auction.

The Jeff Goldblum Activity Book Is Just as Quirky as You'd Expect

Must read faster.

10 Words for Fanciful, Obscure, Batty, Nonexistent Creatures

Since the days of yore, tales of imaginary creatures have been spread by storytellers, myth-makers, and drunk guys lost in the woods. But not all are as literary as the Bandersnatch or as hairy as the Yeti—some non-existent creatures, like the ones mentio

Inside Wichita's 'Blessing Box,' a Micro Food Pantry

It's like a Little Free Library, but for food.

Levi Strauss, The Man Who Changed Fashion

Pay your last respects to the man who forever altered the way we dress.

11 Mysterious Facts About Okapis

These forest-dwelling creatures weren't discovered by western scientists for centuries.

8 Actors and Directors Who Did Not Get Along

When two highly paid creative visionaries work together, things don’t always go smoothly.

A $10 Donation Can Better the World—and Make Idris Elba Your Valentine

"Idris is a great listener. He’s also a great talker. He’s pretty much great at everything. I mean, have you seen 'Luther'?”

40 Words Turning 40 in 2017

If you're turning 40 this year, you have something in common with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Saturday Night Fever, and the Chia Pet. You also got to grow up with these words, dated by first citation to 1977 in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Why Do People Say 'Bias' Instead of 'Biased'?

It’s an error you see a lot these days, and it happens for a variety of reasons.

Sushi Bazooka Lets You Shoot Out Sushi Rolls in Record Time

Like a delicious t-shirt cannon.

30 Things Turning 30 in 2017

Cherry Garcia, "Full House," The Simpsons, Prozac...

Dumpster Fire and 4 Other Words of the Year Chosen by The American Dialect Society

These words capture the zeitgeist of 2016 in a variety of categories.

The Gun-Toting Geologist Who Became First Lady

The wife of the president was just that—until a gun-toting geologist named Lou Hoover moved into the East Wing.

25 Words Turning 25 in 2017

8 Old-Timey Ways to Say ‘No Way’

Feeling over committed? Need a better way to say "no"? Aside from using “don’t" instead of “can’t,” here are eight fun and old-timey ways you can say, “No way.”

25 Things Turning 25 in 2017

Party on, Wayne!

Our 35 Most Popular Stories of 2016

In case you weren't obsessively refreshing mentalfloss.com all year, here's what you missed.

Truman Capote at his Black and White Ball at the Plaza Hotel New York, with 'The Washington Post' publisher Katharine Graham. Photo by Harry Benson/Express/Getty Images

10 of History’s Most Lavish Parties

Forget the spinach dip and noisemakers, these parties are all about decadence and excess.

Taco Bell Is Testing Loaded French Fries in California

If the fries are a hit, they could expand nationally.

Where Does ‘Ditto’ Come From?

It predates Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore's on-screen exchange, and the copy machine.

What Happened When Elizabeth I Organized A National Lottery

Almost 450 years ago, even Queen Elizabeth I got in on the act by organizing the very first national lottery in English history—and perhaps the first state-sanctioned lottery in the English-speaking world.

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