Interesting Thing of the Day

Those wacky Finns. The best-known and goofiest sporting competition in Finland involves carrying a woman through an obstacle course. The reward? The woman's weight in beer!

It's not just for instant coffee and camping foods anymore! The process by which virtually all the water can be removed from something while keeping its structure intact is being applied to everything from flowers to pets.

The old cure for constipation has also been used as a weapon, and extracts from the same plant produce a deadly poison.

What's the connection between Belgium and Green Bay, Wisconsin? It's not cheese, but a little-known language called Walloon.

A refreshingly low-tech way to keep butter fresh without making it rock-hard and unspreadable, French butter dishes rely on simple physics.

Are there really dozens of Eskimo words for snow? Maybe or maybe not, depending on how you look at it. But there are definitely at least eight English terms for "snow crust."

Referred to by some as the king of fruits, this tropical fruit has an overpowering aroma and a flavor that, to be generous, is an acquired taste.

For testing audio equipment and other sensitive tasks that require a complete absence of reflected sounds, an anechoic chamber is the ultimate cone of silence.

An professor at Oxford University around the beginning of the 20th century is remembered not for his keen intellect but for his frequent verbal blunders.

Chefs sometimes top their most expensive dishes with a bit of gold leaf for decoration. But some people believe that a form of edible gold can levitate, miraculously cure illnesses, and much more.

Okra may have a reputation as a slimy and unappetizing (to some) vegetable, but it works wonderfully as a thickener for the spicy soup that's a staple of Cajun cuisine.

The best-known invention of R. Buckminster Fuller is a strong, lightweight structure that encloses the largest possible volume with the smallest surface area.

In numerous parts of the world, typically near large bodies of water, mysterious booming noises have occurred regularly for centuries. Are they the footsteps of the gods, or might there be a simpler explanation?

Where do interesting things go when they die? Few things remain interesting forever, and today we remember things we used to think were pretty neat.

During a thunderstorm, a bright fireball sometimes floats through the air for several seconds or longer, perhaps even indoors. This rare phenomenon resists scientific explanations, but don't go blaming UFOs.