The BrainSnail Blog
Small, practical ideas for learning more with less stress. Study tips, memory tricks and the science of slow and steady.
846 articles · page 1 of 36
What Was the Bauhaus? The School That Designed the Modern World
The Bauhaus was a German art school that ran for fourteen years and set the look of modern buildings, furniture, type and objects. What it taught.
How Does Noise Cancelling Work? Silence by Adding Sound
Noise-cancelling headphones listen to the noise around them and play its mirror image, so the two waves add up to nothing at the ear. How the physics works.
What Is the Coriolis Effect? Why Storms Spin, Winds Curve and Bath Water Does Not Care
The Coriolis effect is the apparent deflection of anything moving across a rotating Earth, curving winds and currents. Why it happens.
How Does Archery Work? Bows, Arrows and Why Accuracy Beats Strength
A bow stores the energy of a slow pull and releases it into an arrow in a few thousandths of a second. How bow, string and arrow work together.
Who Is the Dalai Lama? A Reincarnated Monk and the Politics of Tibet
The Dalai Lama is the head of the largest school of Tibetan Buddhism, held to be the fourteenth rebirth of the same being. How the office works.
What Is a Statute of Limitations? Why Old Claims and Crimes Expire
A statute of limitations is a law that bars a lawsuit or prosecution after a set time has passed. Why the clock exists, and when it starts.
What Were the Terror Birds? Three-Metre Predators That Ran Down South America
For fifty million years the top predators of South America were flightless birds up to three metres tall with axe-shaped beaks. Why they vanished.
What Was Velociraptor Really Like? Turkey-Sized, Feathered and Nothing Like the Film
The Velociraptor of the films is a two-metre scaly pack hunter; the real one was the size of a turkey and covered in feathers. What the fossils say.
What Is Lent? Forty Days, Fasting and the Road to Easter
Lent is the forty-day season before Easter in which Christians fast and prepare, modelled on Jesus's forty days in the desert. What is left of it.
What Is Venture Capital? Betting on Ten Companies to Find the One
Venture capital is money invested in young companies for shares, on the expectation that most will fail and one will pay for the rest. How the funds work.
How Does a Vacuum Flask Keep Drinks Hot? Blocking Heat Three Ways at Once
A vacuum flask keeps coffee hot and lemonade cold by stopping the three ways heat travels. How it works, and who invented it.
What Is a Pulsar? A Lighthouse Made of a Dead Star
A pulsar is a spinning neutron star that sweeps a beam of radio waves across the Earth with each turn, ticking like a clock. What makes it pulse.
What Was the Dodo? An Extinction Within a Century of Discovery
The dodo was a large flightless pigeon on Mauritius that sailors first saw in 1598 and last saw about 1662. Why it could not survive people.
Where Do Werewolf Legends Come From? Wolves, Rabies and the Beast Within
The werewolf is one of the oldest monsters in Europe, older than the vampire by two thousand years. What the belief grew from, and what the films added.
What Is Tarot? Cards, Cold Reading and Why a Spread Feels True
Tarot began as a fifteenth-century Italian card game and became a tool of fortune-telling three centuries later. How a reading works on the mind.
How Did Cotton Shape the Modern World? Slavery, Mills and the Cloth Everyone Wears
Cotton was the first global industry, linking Indian weavers, African slaves, American planters and Lancashire mills. How a fibre made the modern world.
Why Is the Dead Sea So Salty? Evaporation, a Falling Lake and the Lowest Land on Earth
The Dead Sea is ten times saltier than the ocean because rivers bring salt in and only evaporation takes water out. Why it sits so low, and why it is shrinking.
What Is Nostalgia? Why the Past Feels Warmer Than It Was
Nostalgia was a disease of homesick soldiers before it became a feeling everyone has. What triggers it, why it is mostly good for people, and how it is sold.
How Does Fencing Work? Right of Way, Three Weapons and Electric Scoring
Fencing is a duel with blunted swords, scored by electric contact and, in two of its three weapons, by who had the right to attack. The weapons and the rules.
What Was the Giant Ground Sloth? Megatherium and the Animal That Pulled Down Trees
Megatherium was an elephant-sized sloth that reared up to browse the trees of South America until 10,000 years ago. How it lived, and why it vanished.
What Was Stegosaurus? Plates, Spikes and a Brain the Size of a Plum
Stegosaurus was a nine-metre Jurassic plant-eater with a double row of plates on its back and four tail spikes. What the plates were for.
What Is Perjury? Lying Under Oath and Why Courts Punish It
Perjury is knowingly making a false statement that matters after swearing to tell the truth. What has to be proved, and why it is rarely prosecuted.
What Is Yom Kippur? The Day of Atonement Explained
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish year, a 25-hour fast of prayer and repentance ten days after the new year. What is done, and what atonement means.
What Is the Taj Mahal? A Tomb, a Grief and the Mughal Empire at Its Height
The Taj Mahal is a marble tomb at Agra built by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his wife, who died in childbirth in 1631. Who built it, and what it means.
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