the magazine

Swiss Army Pianos ... and Other Incredible Lost Designs

Your apartment would look a lot different with this decor.

3 Times Trees Were Taken Too Soon

These trees met their untimely ends at the hands of celebrities, drunk drivers, and graduate students.

9 Shocking Facts About Electric Eels

A Brief and Incomplete History of the Swimsuit

When you squeeze into your Speedo, you’re not just baring your skin—you’re celebrating centuries of technological breakthroughs.

The Most Audacious Soap Opera in History

(And why so many people have never heard of it.)

11 Things to Know About What It's Like to Run a Penis Museum

Polar Bears: The Perfect Spies

The Guy Who Tried to Edit English

Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain (Beowful); AJWAD CREATIVE/ISTOCK VIA GETTY IMAGES (SPEECH BUBBLE)

10 Old English Words You Need to Be Using

If you learn just a few words in Old English, be sure to include the one that means "lying awake before dawn and worrying."

9 Ways Chores Used to Be Even Worse

Modern housework is as pleasant as sitting through your niece’s recorder recital. But compared to housework of the past, we are living the domestic dream.

The World's Greatest Maple Syrup Heist

A Day in the Outback with Australia's Most Popular Postman

Peter Rowe’s path carves a 372-mile loop through a landscape that looks extraterrestrial: the South Australian outback.

Where Does Space Begin?

If 'Star Trek' has taught us anything, it's that space is "the final frontier." But where exactly does that frontier lie? It depends on whom you ask.

Curious George's Great Escape

How the inquisitive monkey and two bicycles saved a German couple's lives.

How Close Can You Get to a Lion?: Dispatches from Kenya's Coolest Safari

7 Golden Rules for Success

By saving bananas and training pigs, these historical innovators improved their lives, made millions, and prevented nuclear catastrophe.

4 of Earth's Most Alien Lands

10 Facts About Le Chêne Chapelle

Everything you need to know about France’s coolest treehouse/church.

10 Things to Know About Grammy-Nominated Pianist Vijay Iyer

"It never dawned on me that I had any shot at being an artist."

10 Jokes from Around the World

Laughter may be a universal language, but not every country chuckles at the same jokes. Here are a few international knee-slappers to bring down the house the next time you address the United Nations.

An Illustrated Field Guide to 5 of the Oldest Living Things on the Planet

Your next birthday might have you feeling old, but it’s nothing compared compared to these senior citizens.

Frederick Winslow Taylor, the Patron Saint of the Shovel

Want to make a worker astonishingly more efficient? Give him the right tool?

3 Gangsters of the Plant Kingdom

Most plants are sweet, sunlight-chugging citizens. These carnivorous kingpins are not.

The Man Who Revolutionized Breakfast

There’s only one word for the man who invented the frozen waffle: genius.