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 7 of 36
Why Do We Have Leap Years? The Calendar Catching Up With the Sun
A year is not a whole number of days, so every calendar drifts unless corrected. Why February gets an extra day, why 1900 did not, and how a pope fixed it.
How Do Rainforests Work? Layers, Rain and the Richest Life on Land
Tropical rainforests cover six percent of the land and hold half its species. How the layers work, where the rain comes from, and why the soil is poor.
What Is a Logarithm? The Scale That Turns Multiplication Into Addition
A logarithm is the power a base must be raised to in order to give a number. Why that turns multiplying into adding, and where log scales hide in daily life.
What Is a Novel? How the Long Prose Story Took Over Literature
A novel is an extended fictional narrative in prose, and it is younger than it looks. Where the form came from, what sets it apart, and why it took over.
Who Is Hanuman? The Monkey God of the Ramayana
Hanuman is the devoted, immensely strong monkey god of Hindu tradition who leapt to Lanka to find Rama's wife. His story, his powers, and his worship today.
Who Was Napoleon? From Corsican Officer to Emperor of Europe
Napoleon Bonaparte rose from artillery lieutenant to master of Europe in fifteen years and lost it in three. His rise, his wars, his laws, and the argument.
How Do Rockets Work? Throwing Mass Backwards to Reach Orbit
A rocket moves by throwing its own mass out behind it at high speed. Why that is the only way to push in a vacuum, why most of it is fuel, and what orbit is.
What Are Saturn's Rings Made Of? Ice, Gaps and a System That May Be Young
Saturn's rings are almost pure water ice, from dust grains to house-sized boulders, in a sheet wider than the Earth-Moon gap. What they are and how they formed.
What Is Stress? What the Body Does Under Pressure and When It Turns Harmful
Stress is the body's response to a demand, tuned for short emergencies and costly when it runs for months. The hormones, the damage, and what reduces it.
What Is Sculpture? Carving, Modelling, Casting and Assembling in Three Dimensions
Sculpture is art that occupies space rather than picturing it. The four ways of making it, the materials each suits, and how the form left the human figure.
How Is Ice Cream Made? Why It Stays Soft in a Freezer That Turns Water to Stone
Ice cream is a frozen foam of tiny ice crystals, fat, sugar syrup and air. How it is made, why the crystals must stay small, and what churning does.
How Do Snowflakes Form? Why Every One Has Six Sides
A snowflake grows from a speck of dust in a cloud as water vapour freezes onto it. Why the shape is always six-fold, and what decides stars versus needles.
What Is Calculus? The Mathematics of Change and Accumulation
Calculus is the mathematics of things that change continuously: speeds, slopes, areas and totals. What its two halves do, and why they are one subject.
What Is Cancer? When a Cell Stops Obeying the Rules
Cancer is a cell's own descendants growing without limit after mutations disable the brakes on division. How it starts, why it spreads, and how it is treated.
Who Was Cleopatra? The Last Queen of Egypt Beyond the Legend
Cleopatra VII ruled Egypt for twenty-one years, allied with Caesar and Antony, and lost to Octavian. What is known about her and what the Romans invented.
Who Is Quetzalcoatl? The Feathered Serpent of Mesoamerica
Quetzalcoatl was the feathered serpent god of wind, learning and the morning star, worshipped in Mexico for a thousand years. His myths and the Cortes legend.
How Do Elo Ratings Work? The Maths Behind Chess Rankings
The Elo system gives each player a number and moves it after each game by how surprising the result was. The formula, what a 200-point gap means, and its uses.
How Does Bitcoin Work? A Ledger With No Bank Behind It
Bitcoin is a shared public ledger kept honest by cryptography and competition rather than a bank. How transactions are recorded, what mining is, and its limits.
How Do Penguins Survive the Antarctic Winter? Feathers, Fat and the Huddle
Emperor penguins breed in the coldest winter on Earth, the males fasting on the ice for two months. The insulation, the huddle and the physiology behind it.
Who Were the Vikings? Raiders, Traders and Settlers From the North
The Vikings were Scandinavians who raided, traded and settled across Europe from about 790 to 1066. What drove them, where they went, and how it ended.
What Is Infinity? Why Some Infinities Are Bigger Than Others
Infinity is not a very large number but a property of collections that never run out. How Cantor tamed it, and why the points on a line outnumber the integers.
What Are Vitamins? The Thirteen Molecules the Body Cannot Make
Vitamins are small organic compounds the body needs in tiny amounts and cannot make itself. What each does, how they were discovered, and whether pills help.
How Do Tornadoes Form? The Spinning Storms of the Great Plains
A tornado is a column of spinning air from a thunderstorm to the ground. The rotating storms that make them, why the Plains get so many, and the EF scale.
Who Is Anansi? The Spider Who Bought All the Stories in the World
Anansi is the trickster spider of West African folklore, who won the world's stories from the sky god. Where he comes from and how he crossed the sea.
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