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BrainStuff Classics: What Can Babies See in the Womb?
A human fetus doesn't develop retinas until around gestational week 28. Learn how researchers have tried to figure out what babies can see in the few…
14 hours ago
Can You Really Escape an Alligator by Running Zigzag?
You could probably outsprint an alligator no matter what pattern you ran in -- but it's extremely unlikely that you'd ever need to. Learn how alligat…
1 day, 14 hours ago
What Fueled the Feud of the Hatfields and McCoys?
The 30-year feud between these two families is more dramatic than fiction -- and may be the starting point of negative stereotypes about Appalachia. …
2 days, 14 hours ago
How Does Mayonnaise Work?
Love it or hate it, mayo achieves a creamy texture without any dairy thanks to the science of emulsions. Learn how it works -- and why it's not the r…
3 days, 11 hours ago
How Did a Wisconsin Woman Lead a German Resistance to Nazis?
Mildred Harnack was an American literature professor living in Berlin when the Third Reich took control. Learn how she and her husband led a resistan…
1 week, 3 days ago
Are Lobsters Functionally Immortal?
It's true that lobsters don't age, but that doesn't quite make them immortal, and it's far from the only fabulously weird thing about them. Learn abo…
1 week, 4 days ago
Is It 'Jerry-Rigged' or 'Jury-Rigged'?
Both of these terms are actually valid, though they have slightly different meanings, and only one of them is based in sailors' slang. Learn the hist…
1 week, 5 days ago
How Did Beer Help Sell the Myth of Custer's Last Stand?
The idea of General George Custer's deadly military blunder being a heroic last stand was constructed over decades to encourage U.S. colonization of …
2 weeks, 4 days ago
How Does Bioluminescence Work?
When organisms like fireflies, fungi, and fish glow with cold light, there's chemistry at work. Learn what we know (and don't know!) about biolumines…
2 weeks, 5 days ago
How Is Maillardet's Automaton Still Wowing Us After 200 Years?
Around the year 1800, Swiss clockmaker Henri Maillardet created a mechanical doll that moves like a person as it produces drawings and poems with a p…
3 weeks, 1 day ago