Mental Floss

MF EXPLAINS IT ALL

When to snip, and when to put your scissors away.

Nix those unnecessary stitches.

A lion as depicted in a French Book of Hours, circa 1432.

Just because lions were depicted frequently in medieval art and design doesn’t mean they were depicted well.

Drink responsibly.

Ads used to be cloaked in secrecy before the big game. A 2011 Star Wars spot changed all that.

A number of factors go into the price of truffles.

To figure out a little bit about why truffles are so expensive, Mental Floss talked to Vittorio Giordano, the Vice President and Truffle Guru at Urbani Truffles USA.

A lorry by any other name would carry as much cargo.

It wasn’t inspired by a beast of burden named Laurie, if that’s what you assumed.

Ever wonder why there are 5280 feet in a mile?

Ever wonder why there are 5280 feet in a mile?

There are a few workarounds to the iPad’s lack of calculator.

Apple’ s iPad is a versatile computing device that has pretty much anything a user could ever want—except a standard calculator. Here’ s why.

Let's talk about snow.

We dig into this winter puzzler.

Probably cocoa powder.

‘Cacao’ and ‘cocoa’ started out as synonyms—but there’s a little more to unpack in today’s product labels.

Fancy.

Diamonds are forever. So is debt, if you’re not careful.

dolgachov/iStock via Getty Images

Christmas is one of the most profitable times of the year for film studios, who count on people desperate to get away from their families for a couple of hours.

Celine Dion performs in London's Hyde Park.

Celine Dion recently announced that she has been diagnosed with stiff-person syndrome (SPS), a rare and progressive neurological disorder that only affects about one or two out of every 1 million people.

Jesus’s birthday is subject to interpretation, and there are plenty of intriguing theories to explain how we landed on December 25 to celebrate Christmas.

Chocolate doesn’t always look this good.

Sometimes chocolate looks a little rough. And you might be to blame.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

You’d never reach for cold French fries. How does cold pizza manage to remain so delicious?

The MCU has made an art out of the post-credits tease.

Kevin Feige and the brains at Marvel may have perfected the art of the post-credits tease, but they didn't invent it.

It's complicated.

It’s worth learning the difference between these spirits.

Probably still enough room for this guy to climb out.

There are some cars with back windows that open fully—but here’s why they’re not more common.

Charging your phone shouldn't land you in the burn ward.

If you can iron your shirt with your cell phone brick, you've got a problem.

No, you're not supposed to use the square McFlurry spoons from McDonald's like a straw.

You just know which one Goldilocks is going for.

Deciding when to use an em dash instead of some other punctuation mark is largely up to you—except in situations that call for an en dash or hyphen.

Queen Elizabeth II and company at Buckingham Palace after her coronation in June 1953.

Prince Charles’s coronation won’t be for months. Yes, he’s already technically King Charles III.

Though the designs can be traced to American folk traditions, quilt barns are part of a contemporary movement.

St. Augustine's Flagler College—originally the Ponce de León Hotel, constructed in 1888.

The oldest city in the U.S. predates Jamestown by more than 40 years.