Mental Floss

ENGINEERING

Hulton Archive, Getty Images

You Can Now View Leonardo da Vinci's Notebooks Online

Zoom in on every detail of Leonardo da Vinci's sketches in Codex Forster I, which is now available online.

iStock

8 Historical Buildings That Have Been Relocated

One was moved halfway across the world, brick by brick.

iStock

What Happens When You Flush an Airplane Toilet?

It's a marvel of poop-related engineering.

iStock

Popcorn Might Be the Cheap, Biodegradable Robot Power Source of the Future

All you need is heat to make it work.

iStock

How Does a Pool Table Recognize the Cue Ball?

There's a lot going on under the felt.

iStock

Engineers Have Figured Out How the Leaning Tower of Pisa Withstands Earthquakes

Four major earthquakes have hit Pisa since the tower was completed.

LLPA

U2’s 360-Degree Tour Stage Will Become a Utah Aquarium Attraction

Rock on.

Yale University, YouTube

Students Build a Machine to Study the Weak Ankles of Michelangelo’s 'David'

It's hard to stand in one place for more than 500 years.

Brooklyn Museum, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

Emily Warren Roebling, the Woman Who Helped Build the Brooklyn Bridge

With her husband bedridden, Emily Roebling helped keep the dream of the Brooklyn Bridge alive.

Lucy Quintanilla

How Scientists Are Using Plant-Based DNA Barcodes to Bust Counterfeiters

It sounds like science fiction, but it’s already happening.

The Long Now Foundation, Vimeo

Jeff Bezos Is Helping to Build a Clock Meant to Keep Time for 10,000 Years

It's 500 feet tall and is being built inside of a mountain.

The North Face

The North Face's New Geodesic Dome Tent Will Protect You in 60 mph Wind

An essential item for the extreme camper.

Jonathan How, MIT

New MIT Technology to Help Drones Dodge Obstacles May Make Deliveries Easier

To fly through cities, drones need to be able to dodge things in the way.

iStock

Researchers Pore Over the Physics Behind the Layered Latte

Fluid dynamics has never tasted so good.

NASA/JPL, YouTube

Watch NASA Test Its New Supersonic Parachute at 1300 Miles Per Hour

Woah.

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

German Nonprofit Gives $1.1 Million to Restore World’s First Iron Bridge in England

A cultural foundation in Germany has stepped in to repair England’s historic Iron Bridge.

iStock

Want to Become a Billionaire? Study Engineering

Many of the world's richest people studied engineering in college.

iStock

Here's Why It's So Hard to Achieve the Perfect Temperature While Taking a Shower

It's not you—it's your water heater.

LINDSAY FOX, WIKIMEDIA COMMONS // CC BY 2.0

Are Cigarette Butts the Secret to Better Roads?

Scientists say butt-studded asphalt could be the wave of the future.

iStock

How Do Solar Panels Work?

They power everything from off-grid rural facilities to your neighbor's home. Here's how they do it.

iStock

The Man Who Picked Victorian London's Unpickable Lock

For 61 years, no one could breach Joseph Bramah's legendary lock. Then Alfred C. Hobbs showed up and did it.

iStock

Scientists Figure Out How to Recycle Aluminum Foil Into an Ingredient for Biofuel

There's a new way to recycle aluminum, even if it has food on it.

IA Collaborative

Lovely Vintage Manuals Show How to Design for the Human Body

A design agency launched a Kickstarter to get the landmark Humanscale Manuals, first published in 1974, back in the hands of everyday designers.

iStock/Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Winston Churchill’s Audacious Plan to Build an Aircraft Carrier Out of Ice

Is the secret to building an unsinkable aircraft carrier hiding in your ice cube tray?