Mental Floss

BIG QUESTIONS

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If your experience with bears is largely limited to reading Winnie the Pooh as a kid, you might think that these fuzzy mammals will do anything to get their gigantic paws on a jar of honey.

Alvin Ward
No more teachers, no more books.

Discover the real reason why students get summers off each year, which contrary to popular belief, wasn’t because kids had to work on the family farm.

Lucas Reilly




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The ubiquitous packaging is everywhere, from cereal to deliveries to impromptu cat beds. But where did it come from?

Jake Rossen




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You may know an ice cream headache by one of its other names: brain freeze, a cold-stimulus headache, or sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia ("nerve pain of the sphenopalatine ganglion"). But no matter what you call it, it hurts like hell.

Matt Soniak
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A hot and humid day can have a dramatic effect on both your comfort and your health. As millions of people around the world can attest to right now.

Dennis Mersereau










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An animal doesn't need to be a pig, a peacock, or something just as unconventional to qualify. What constitutes an emotional support animal has little to do with the pet itself and more to do with its owner.

Michele Debczak


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Support for Flag Day, a sometimes-overlooked holiday, was ignited during the Civil War. But there was a commercial purpose behind it.

Jake Rossen




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Cats are undeniably smart, but do they have an understanding of their own identity? Researchers in Tokyo may have found the answer.

Jake Rossen