Mental Floss

BIG QUESTIONS

iStock

While it’s endearing to imagine that in the olden days people kept literal torches burning for their past loves, fanning the flames of their rejection, this isn’t exactly the case.

iStock

Many women turn to cranberry juice to ease the awful symptoms of urinary tract infections. But does it actually work?

iStock

Spoiler alert: It was not designed to hold loose change.

iStock

Those breathy vowels are so 'ooh la la.'

Jason English

Someone analyzed the worth of wizard money—and it really puts Harry's wealth into perspective.

iStock

It's often several hundreds of dollars more than you would likely actually pay for the room. Why?

Getty Images

What happens when a skunk sprays another skunk? We asked the one man who would know.

iStock

It looks like your parents were on to something.

iStock

A bit of physics and biology are to blame.

IStock

It's more than just tradition.

Jaysin Trevino, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

"Dr. Unger spent 60 years cracking only the knuckles on his left hand (the right hand served as his control)."

Compound Interest // CC BY-ND

A new infographic from Compound Interest explains how this astonishing substance is made.

Getty Images

$1.4 billion will go to the lucky jackpot winner(s), but who gets the rest?

Getty Images

There are no elephants in Alabama. What gives?

iStock

'Absolute power' is a bit of a myth.

iStock

Oh the weather outside is frightful, too bad your battery level isn't delightful.

iStock

There's a reason why your cat has murder in her eyes when she gets wet.

iStock

Science has given us an idea of the volume of our toots.

iStock

No, that barcode isn’t there for aesthetics.

Getty

It’s hard to imagine why we would ask Santa to fill our stinky socks with treats.