Everything new, newest first.
Explainer The famous illusions explained without overstating what the science shows: what is well established, what is still argued about, and what the brain is really up to.
Myth or Fact Etymology attracts more invented stories than almost any subject. Ten origins, honestly sorted, plus the one test that catches nearly every fake.
Countdown Famous structures are photographed from angles that flatter them. Ten landmarks with their actual dimensions, and why the photographs mislead.
Myth or Fact Nobody bathed, everyone died at thirty, and the world was grey and filthy. Ten medieval myths, checked against the documentary and archaeological record.
Story Part five of five. What actually changed was smaller than justice and considerably more useful, and it is the reason he gives the advice he gives.
Explainer Why metal feels colder than wood, why the sky changes colour, why ice is slippery and six more. Plain explanations, including where the honest answer is that it is complicated.
Countdown Burned CDs, away messages and the family computer in the hallway: ten online habits from the mid-2000s that have disappeared completely.
Explainer Ceiling heights, window sizes, room layouts and roof pitches all changed for practical reasons. A decade-by-decade guide to reading a house from the outside.
Countdown Patent archives are full of devices that somebody genuinely believed in. Nine of them, and the real problem each one was trying to solve.
Countdown Tool use in animals is often overstated. Nine cases with genuine experimental or field evidence, and a note on what each study did and did not show.
Memory Challenge A memory challenge where every answer is read straight from the scene data, so there is never an argument about what was actually shown.
Explainer Native speakers obey dozens of rules they were never taught and cannot explain. Here is the most famous one, plus five more you are using right now.
Countdown An island in a lake on an island in a lake, a border that swaps every six months, and the most remote inhabited place on Earth. Eight islands and the reasons behind them.
How It Works A practical method for working out when a family photograph was taken, using the process, the mount, the clothing, the background and the details in the corners.
Twelve claims that everybody repeats, checked one at a time. Four are true, five are false, and three are the interesting answer: partly.
Countdown Nobody wrote them down, nobody taught them, and yet children hundreds of miles apart played by the same rules. Twelve of them, and why they spread.
Countdown The design moves that make a very small home liveable, the ones that only work in photographs, and the compromises people say they regret.
Countdown Pink lakes, striped mountains and ground that has been burning for decades. Eight places that look impossible, with the geology that explains each one.
