Interesting Thing of the Day

The QWERTY keyboard layout is weird and hard to learn. A competitor, the Dvorak layout, may be superior, but arguments on both sides are so full of hype and bias that it's hard to determine who to believe.

From green eggs and ham to purple ketchup, foods with unusual colors can be incorrectly perceived as tasting different from their normal counterparts.

By careful manipulations of the vocal tract, a person can sing two, three, or even four distinct notes at once. This art form was popularized by the residents of Tuva in central Asia.

The American idea of what constitutes a normal work week (or normal vacation time) is very different from what most of the rest of the world thinks. It's also, arguably, less sane and healthy.

James Bond may have ordered his martini shaken, not stirred, because of a shaken martini's greater health benefits. That's just one of several surprising facts about this trendy drink.

An elegant pairing of a simple yet ingenious device and a special kind of Swiss cheese adds an artistic touch to your breakfast.

There's more to a bagel than a piece of dough with a hole in the center. Bagel connoisseurs know the history of this food and the best way to bake (or buy) and eat bagels.

With the help of some digital signal processing, an array of two or more microphones can pick out a speaker from background noise, and even refocus their signals as the speaker moves.

Using sails to propel ships is so two centuries ago. But replace the sails with special kites, and wind power turns out to be the most modern way to improve the fuel efficiency of even the largest cargo ships.

Buried beneath the streets of San Francisco are the remains of numerous ships abandoned when their passengers and crew went to the hills to seek their fortunes in gold.

Winners of sporting events and other competitions often receive a trophy in the shape of a cup. But why a cup? What does that have to do with victory?

The piñata may be a staple of children's birthday parties in North America, but it apparently originated in China. Or maybe Africa. Ask Marco Polo.

It's just like French toast, but in a convenient, dessert-friendly pudding form. You can even make it without a book (or magazine subscription).

You've heard of using lemon juice to make "invisible" ink that appears when exposed to heat, right? My current favorite ballpoint pen works the opposite way—heat makes the writing disappear!

The most famous cemetery in Paris rose to fame because of fictional characters supposedly buried there, and now contains the remains of legendary historical figures.