Despite the fact that movie theaters were closed for a big part of the year, and many productions were postponed, 2020 still had movies. And like every year, Sleepy Skunk… Read the rest of the article: The feature films of 2020 in one great mashup

Have you ever seen a cast-iron dog? They were once quite popular, used to prop open doors or to keep doorknobs from damaging the wall behind them. Scott Thompson knows… Read the rest of the article: Heavy metal: down the rabbit hole of cast-iron doorstops

Mathematician Kokichi Sugihara of Meiji University has once again won first place in the Best Illusion of the Year contest. His "3D Schröder Staircase" can break your mind until you… Read the rest of the article: Best Illusion of the Year 2020

Snapdragon is a game from the 18th and 19th centuries that involves sticking your hand in a bowl of flaming brandy to snatch a raisin. While it sounds painful and… Read the rest of the article: How to play a fiery Victorian Christmas game and not get burned

There are lists of the best Christmas movies here and there, and all are arguable, not only about how "great" they really are, but whether they are Christmas movies at… Read the rest of the article: The greatest Christmas movie Is The Lord of the Rings

Between the 1860s and World War I, railroads were built to tie the various communities of New Zealand together. They were heavily advertised with gorgeous posters under the auspices of… Read the rest of the article: Behind the gorgeous railroad posters of New Zealand

There are many types of fungus that will invade insects in order to reproduce, but most kill the host and then release spores. Two new species of fungus discovered in… Read the rest of the article: Scientists find two new species of fungi that turn flies into 'zombies'

The song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" has always lent itself to parody lyrics -surely you remember that one about the sheriff who shot his wife that you learned on the… Read the rest of the article: Rudolph the Leaky Lawyer

The latest mashup from YouTuber There I Ruined It (previously) features Billy Idol singing a lively Christmas song. The tune of "Jingle Bells" fits the lyrics of "Dancing With Myself,"… Read the rest of the article: Dancing With Myself: Christmas edition

Twitter user @Pandamoanimum put together an Advent calendar to spread joy and laughter for the holidays. Or despair, who knows, your mileage may vary. Each day she posts a new… Read the rest of the article: An Advent calendar of things that go wrong during the holidays

On Monday morning, people near the southern tip of South America experienced the only solar eclipse of 2020. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite caught images… Read the rest of the article: The only solar eclipse of 2020 seen from space

Like Da Vinci before him, Sir Isaac Newton was a polymath with plenty of claims to fame. He explained gravity. He developed calculus. He invented the cat flap. But Newton's… Read the rest of the article: Isaac Newton's attempts to unlock secret code of pyramids

Earlier this week, Kiev had an ice storm which left a coating on everything, including roads, sidewalks, and ramps. Security cameras caught people trying to negotiate the perils of ice-covered… Read the rest of the article: An icy night in Ukraine

Vanilla is the world's second-most costly spice, exceeded only by saffron. While we refer to vanilla seed pods as "beans," the plant is really an orchid, the only food-producing orchid… Read the rest of the article: Why Madagascar is the world's largest vanilla producer

Peoria artist Joshua Hawkins was commissioned to paint a mural in Peoria, Illinois. The work had to be completed over Thanksgiving weekend, and he would be well paid. The requested… Read the rest of the article: The rise and fall of Peoria's Cookie Monster

Amid the news that 78-year-old Harrison Ford has signed up for a fifth Indiana Jones movie, it occurs to us that it's about time for Dr. Henry Jones, Jr. to… Read the rest of the article: 'You Call This Archaeology?'

The Zodiac Killer, who murdered at least five people in 1968 and 1969 and claims to have killed many more, sent taunting letters to California newspapers. One of the message… Read the rest of the article: The Zodiac Killer's final cryptogram solved

As you clean the cobwebs from the corners, you can take comfort in the fact that the ISS has spiders, too. Those are experimental spiders, deliberately taken aboard to see… Read the rest of the article: Space station spiders found a hack to build webs without gravity

A mummified body buried near the Rio Grande between 1000 and 1400 years ago reveals not only a diagnosis, but his end-of-life care. A microscopic-level study of his digestive tract… Read the rest of the article: Mummy GI tracts yield evidence of early hospice care

Christmas becomes gloriously weird in the song "Apocalypse Christmas" by the RiffTones. Josh Flowers made a video for the song using clips from various B-movies featured on RiffTrax. From those… Read the rest of the article: "Apocalypse Christmas" illustrated with awful movie clips