Category: Weird

Consumer experience these days is not simply designed; it’s engineered. Research determines the ads you see, the scents and sounds you encounter in stores, even the way a salesperson might casually touch your arm. It’s not all high-tech brain science, but here are some of the tricks companies use to entice you to spend more.

Infinity is a powerful concept. Philosophers, artists, theologians, scientists, and people from all walks of life have struggled with ideas of the infinite and the eternal throughout history.

Including two beloved movie stars, a pair of British royals, a couple of oil barons, and one very rich U.S. president.

Research from the past decade has shown that 95% of people can be classified into one of these three groups and that they predict a lot of human behavior. For example, they can predict things such as whether someone studies maths and science, or humanities at university. For the first time, we have shown that they can predict musical behavior, too.

So to mark World Dictionary Day - and to celebrate what would be Webster's 256th birthday - here are 26 of some of the most curious, most surprising and most obscure words from Webster's Dictionary in one handy A to Z.

The Hunt for Vulcan review: A predicted planet eluded discovery until Einstein killed it.

It is today associated with merriment, gift giving and indulgence. But how was Christmas celebrated in the Middle Ages? Here, Dr Matthew Champion from St Catharine's College Cambridge shares his top tips for a medieval Christmas…

The 19^th century witnessed a complete transformation in surgical techniques, and saw the introduction of the use of anesthesia. Using rare images from European surgical textbooks from the time, Crucial Interventions: An Illustrated Treatise on the Principles and Practice of Surgery reveals some of the vivid images of surgical practices from this period.

Two thousand years ago, around the time that Jesus of Nazareth was born, the second Holy Temple was still standing in Jerusalem. The Great Pyramid at Giza was already 2,500 years old, but the Library of Alexandria was still around. In Rome, the Colosseum hadn’t been built yet.

For years, there has been scant fossil evidence showing how the giraffe evolved to have such an admirably long neck. But now, the remains of a 7-million-year-old creature with a shorter neck provides proof that the giraffe's iconic feature evolved in stages, lengthening over time, a new study finds.

Whether you want people to like you, to agree with you, or to buy your products, use these tips to feel more powerful in your everyday interactions.

It’s not a secret that humans are absolutely amazing creatures. Today we will cover 13 most interesting facts about human behavior.

Does the sound of someone chewing make you crazy; does it seem so amplified that you can’t block it out and find yourself getting angry and even enraged?  If you have this reaction to chewing or cutting of nails or other sounds that people naturally block out, you are not alone.  This is a real neurological disorder called “mysophonia”.

Still, if we were to unexpectedly get our senses together enough to send cards this year, these baffling Victorian cards are the sort we'd like to send.

Does someone in your life not want to do something? Do you not care, even the slightest bit, about their wishes? Here's how to force them to complete a task they don't care about, and even feel superior while you're doing it.

It's important to be considerate when it comes to their feelings. They want to be heard. They want to feel their feelings. They need outlets for expressing their feelings about things otherwise they become explosive.

The roughly 600 species of carnivorous plants have evolved some ingenious strategies to capture their prey.

There are a few core philosophical thought experiments at the center of our most popular movies, like ancient cheat codes that filmmakers know we'll pay to see depicted on the big screen over and over again. So while you may think that you're just watching an entertaining movie, you might be pondering big, heavy ideas that have been vexing humanity's deepest thinkers for millennia. For instance ...

Exercise your brain and tell us how well you did!

As the thirst for all things mystical, spiritual, occult and witchy expands into the mainstream, tarot cards are experiencing a huge, almost cultish following. Tarot cards are a form of divination, which literally means working with the divine, or your higher self, which is the ultimate purpose of tarot cards, just like yoga. We’ve broken down everything you need to know about them, from types of decks to what each card represents.

You’ve likely wondered if the internet is having a negative effect on your brain. Perhaps you’ve thought this after realizing the world wide web now serves as a trusty resource when gaps in your knowledge appear, and over time it, you’ve thought, maybe it might be making you less knowledgeable overall because you habitually head to Google if you don’t know the answers to something, search, click, read a few lines, and then promptly forget the factoid until the next time you need it.

The universe, man… THE UNIVERSE.

Why the mental health of astronauts is one of the biggest hurdles when it comes to successful space missions.

If you are one of the 92 percent of the population who regularly experience earworms—snippets of music that pop uninvited into your head and won't go away—you might wish there was a way to make them stop. Earworms are a generally benign form of rumination, the repetitive, intrusive thoughts associated with anxiety and depression.

Here’s a story about something that happened to me, and the 5 steps involved in going from innocuous comment to an “outrage narrative” providing us all with content for days to come.

Instead of avoiding sarcasm completely in the office, the research suggests sarcasm, used with care and in moderation, can be effectively used and trigger some creative sparks.

So just to give you an idea of how tiny we really are here on planet earth, here are some visual aids.

Here are 15 basic English words that have remained etymological mysteries.

“I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.” – Albert Einstein

Let's discuss one of the craziest scientific and philosophical questions raised by quantum mechanics. How is it that by simply looking at something, we cause it to change? Does the human mind, through its power to observe, control quantum mechanical systems?

Here are six people who not only managed to remember their dreams for more than five seconds after waking up, but actually used them to change their lives (or the freaking world).

The hemline is only one of myriad indicators that economists have used to divine prospects for growth. Another anecdotal measure is the number of cranes visible on the skyline, their stately dance a prominent visual signal of the underlying pace of construction activity.

A decade ago, Lamb — a former computer analyst — started playing dead for fun. Turns out he had a knack for it. To show off his unique hobby, in December 2005 he launched the website deadbodyguy.com, where he would post pictures of himself in different death scenarios around his house.

From the Affair of Poisons in Louis XIV France to Dior's Hypnotic Poison eau de toilette, scent has been sinister for a very long time.

We can feel it when we turn on the radio and our favorite song happens to be playing, or when we sit quietly and listen to the rain. There is a palpable peace when we are absorbed in quiet and a different kind of rejuvenation when we hear the wind in the trees. There is no doubt that sound has subtle, but profound effects on our body, minds and spirits. How exactly does sound work, though, to heal us?

In a perfect world, there would be no substitute for a quality product offered at a bargain price. But this is not a perfect world, and a lot of times the only thing between mediocrity and market dominance is the kind of devious plan that would make a supervillain proud.

Psychologists call it "thin slicing." Within moments of meeting people, you decide all sorts of things about them, from status to intelligence to promiscuity.

In 1769, Denis Diderot published an essay entitled Regrets for my Old Dressing Gown, or A warning to those who have more taste than fortune. In it, Diderot laments the loss of his old dressing gown, which he wore around the house for casual clothing:

A restaurant’s menu is more than just a random list of dishes. It has likely been strategically tailored at the hands of a menu engineer or consultant to ensure it's on-brand, easy to read, and most importantly, profitable. Here are a few ways restaurants use their menus to influence what you’re having for dinner.

Does trying to calculate a tip make you break out in a cold sweat? You’re definitely not alone. Math can be intimidating, to the point where sometimes even the earth's most brilliant scientific minds have trouble crunching numbers.

It turns out social media is crammed with dead people. Senior Planet reported in 2012 that three Facebook users die every minute. The number is probably bigger now.

Lucid dreams are perhaps the most bizarre perceptual experience one can have. You are asleep and dreaming, but suddenly you realize that it’s all just a dream. At that point, you can choose to wake up (I usually do… I don’t think I’ve ever had a lucid dream that wasn’t a nightmare) or you can continue to dream on, with one important advantage. You’re now aware that the world around you is completely made up by your brain.

How a needle, a shower curtain, and a New England clam explain the possibility of parallel universes.

You probably already know the story behind the famous FedEx logo and its clever use of negative space. (If you don't, read this.) But of course, it's hardly the only logo with a "hidden message." British plastic card maker Oomph has collected 40 such logos—check them out below. Amazon, Unilever and the Tour de France are particularly cool. How many of these sneaky messages would you have spotted without the help?

H.P. Lovecraft claimed in a letter to Conan author Robert E. Howard that the Cthulhu Mythos was his own creation. Even diehard Lovecraft fans don't buy that anymore. Lovecraft was a voracious reader (meaning he was poor and not exactly prolific) and was a hardcore fanboy before fanboys were a thing. He famously wore his influences on his sleeve (Dunsany, Poe, etc), but maybe there were some he kept a bit closer to his vest.

TV in the 1970s was a lot racier than you might think, until the “family viewing hour” crashed the party 40 years ago this month.

Conveying calm assurance, the practice of placing one hand inside of a top garment is ancient, dating back to before people even wore jackets, at least as we think of them.

In this lecture I intend to look at magic bowls in order to see how and for what purpose they were used, and to get a glimpse at the way they worked and what hidden treasures can be found within them. Before considering the feast of images in these somewhat peculiar, some might say attractive objects, I should point out that the in essence their greatest importance lies not so much in their physical appearance, seductive though it might be, but in the texts within them.

Mobsters are often portrayed as men who care about their communities and who live by their own codes of honor and conduct, impervious to the political whims of the establishment.