True bravery is serving your country from deep inside the lion's den. James Armistead Lafayette was an enslaved man from Virginia who volunteered to work for the British military during the American Revolution. They made him a spy. What the British didn't know was that Lafayette was already working for the Continental Army, who arranged his move to the British. As a double agent, Lafayette fed false or useless information to the British while relaying critical information to the Americans. After the war, he did not achieve his freedom as promised, because he was a spy instead of a soldier, until 1787.  

Mental Floss has a list of "forgotten figures" of the American Revolution. Why were they forgotten? Some of them fought for the British side, and were therefore ignored in American history classes, and this war is barely a side note in British history. Some of them were Black or women. I would argue about Crispus Attucks being a forgotten figure, since we all learned in school that he was the first person killed in the war. But his story and those of seven others are all worth reading as we prepare to celebrate the 249th birthday of the USA.  

Our pet cats would love to communicate with us, but they aren't equipped to speak our language. Mine can understand the English words that are important to them (except for the deaf one, who understands some gestures), and they are very good at telling me what they want with body language. Digit, on the other hand, goes the extra mile to hold conversations using his cat speech the best that he can. Sure, he understands words and obeys well compared to other cats. His human knew he wanted more, so she set him up with speech buttons to express his needs and desires. Digit is very smart, and knows he must take pills every day, but probably doesn't quite understand why. It's difficult enough for people to understand autoimmune disease. You can learn more about Digit's medical history in this video. You can keep up with Digit and his special needs housemates at Instagram. 

On June 30th, 1995, the movie Apollo 13 opened nationwide and was the #1 film for four weeks. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won two. Apollo 13 was based on astronaut Jim Lovell's book Lost Moon, although the movie rights were sought before he even wrote it. Lovell was the commander of the real Apollo 13 mission in 1970, in which an oxygen tank blew up and the crew miraculously made it back to earth. Even though everyone knew how it turned out, the story was made for the big screen. 

Few movies hold up as well as Apollo 13 thirty years later, but it was a period piece based on historical events rendered with astonishing accuracy. For example, scenes of weightlessness were filmed on the KC-135 "Vomit Comet" because it was actually cheaper than recreating the effects on a sound stage. But it wasn't as thoroughly accurate as the memories of some at NASA. Director Ron Howard did take a few liberties with the story, in order to streamline the plot and keep the cast of characters to a manageable level. Read about those liberties, as well as the memories of some of those involved, and learn about the quote that didn't happen and its effects on NASA, at Ars Technica. 

From 1979 through 1985, Americans were captivated by the refined sophisticated drama that was The Dukes of Hazzard. The show consisted primarily of car chases and usually involved at least one jump of the General Lee, a modified 1969 Dodge Charger.

As I've mentioned in the past, the jumps usually destroyed the Chargers. But that's what fans wanted to see. Fans still do, and so at the Somernites Cruise car festival in Somerset, Kentucky, a stunt driver named Raymond Kohn jumped a General Lee replica through the fountain in the center of town.

How close can we actually get to the Sun? Well, we are 93 million miles away now, and the sun burns our skin if we stay outside on a sunny summer day. Any further away, and we'd freeze up, so that's a good distance to keep. However, this question isn't about "we," meaning you and me, but about launching probes to gather data. We've been sending probes to the sun since 1961, and have learned a lot before each probe failed or stopped communication.

The Parker Solar Probe, launched in 2018, has the record for the closest approach while still functioning when it got to 3.8 million miles (6.2 million kilometers) from the sun on June 19, 2025. The probe is nearing the end of its planned mission, but since it's still in good shape, NASA plans to let it continue orbiting the sun until next year when they decide what to do with it next. The TED-Ed lesson explains how we've come this close to touching the sun without melting.  

If I were to tell you about a furry animal that lives high in the rainforest trees of Central and South America, climbing up with its two long claws and sleeping all day, you would assume I'm talking about a sloth. No, the silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) may have borrowed some of its lifestyle from a sloth, but it eats ants. Otherwise, it doesn't much resemble anteaters you've seen before. The smallest species of all the anteaters, it has fluffy golden fur, a relatively short snout, and enters a state of semi-hibernation during the daylight hours. At night, it descends to the ground to browse for ants, in its own ecologically-sustainable way. 

Silky anteaters are tiny and cute, but what's really mind blowing is the method of camouflage they have developed to fool predators while they are sleeping. Read about the silky anteater and see plenty of pictures at The Ark In Space. 

(Image credit: Sylvère corre) 

(Image credit: Chris Coman)

A staircase is a way for people to walk to a different height. They can be pretty, but they don't need to be clever, cool, or artful. They need to be safe! Just ask anyone who's ever fallen down a flight. The stairs above are carpeted, but there was no need to use a striped pattern that changes direction randomly. You can't just shut your eyes and hold the handrail, either, since the stairs themselves change direction close to the landing. Or do they? A staircase is the last place you want optical illusions. Other stairs can be dangerous because they lack handrails for the sake of style, or they won't accommodate your feet. Then there are ancient staircases that were built to access places that are just too steep.

(Image credit: Felipe Muniz)

Sure, the angle probably makes these look worse than they really are, but I would be holding onto the chain rail for dear life. Bored Panda has a ranked list of 50 such confusing, scary, wacky, and/or dangerous stairs. Nice to look at, but you don't want to use them.  

This music video mashup is silly and completely generated by artificial intelligence, but it's also intriguing. Miami Vice introduced the rest of the country to stylish cops in pastel suits who clubbed along the coast of Miami. Here we have familiar Star Wars characters doing the same thing without even a thought of overthrowing the Empire. They're not only young, but most of them are quite hot. Not Yoda, of course, he's just cool. When you recall the saturated neon colors and glowing skin of the real Miami Vice series, the AI sheen makes sense here. The algorithm's abilities to render familiar faces out of pure fantasy is a bit unnerving. There's one scene at about 3:06 where I couldn't decide whether the man was Mark Hamill or Hayden Christiansen. The face is a blend of both, which makes sense in the Star Wars universe. It's only a matter of time before this kind of thing takes over feature films. 

America has had women doctors since Elizabeth Blackwell got her medical degree in 1849. Yet by 1910, women made up only 6% of medical doctors, and were mostly limited to serving women and children. In 1917, America was dealing with two supposedly unrelated forces: World War I and the women's suffrage movement. The National American Woman Suffrage Association organized group of American doctors under the title Women’s Oversea Hospitals (WOH), who brought those two forces together when they went to Europe to help in the war effort. Neither the US Army nor the Red Cross would sponsor such a trip, but the French were desperate for medical help and invited them. 

These doctors wanted to serve their country and help those suffering from the war, but they also wanted to prove that women should have the right to vote. They also wanted experience in surgery, which was largely restricted at home. The French doctors had little respect for the WOH, and wanted them to only treat women and children. But soon after the first group arrived, the local hospital was inundated with war wounded, and WOH doctors quickly learned how to amputate limbs and dress horrific wounds. They were eventually commissioned into the French military. Even after the Armistice, WOH stayed to care for POWs, refugees, and the wounded. Read about the doctors of WOH, their wartime experience, and their legacy at Smithsonian.  

We post a lot about endangered species and how we should protect them and their habitats. We've also posted a lot about invasive species that cause us problems. Coyotes are neither of those. They are native to the US, and they are thriving. Actually, the coyote population is exploding. These wiley canines have expanded their range and have adapted to life around humans. Killing a coyote is actually liable to produce more coyotes! This is because of a quirk in coyote culture (which is more than just ordering from an ACME catalog) and biology. Wildlife biologist Cameron Duke of Minute Earth explains how that happens. The upshot is that it is impossible to exterminate coyotes. Not that we'd really want to, but we'd like to keep them under some control before they outnumber us. This video is only 2:16, since they get right to the point, and the rest is advertising. 

Those who compare American English and British English will tell you that a pound is unit of weight in America and a unit of money in Britain. Those are not completely separate, though. The British pound is short for pound sterling, in which a sterling was a penny, and 240 of them weighed a pound. That doesn't apply today, however. Before the revolution, Americans were often using the Spanish pieces of eight, or pesos, as local currency while trading with the British in pounds. After the revolution, Americans wanted to inaugurate a truly new form of currency, and that's why we have the dollar. But where did the word "dollar" come from? 

Believe it or not, it comes from the Kingdom of Bohemia, or more precisely, the Saint Joachim Valley in a part of Bohemia that is now Czechia, with a history that goes back to the year 1500. The word didn't travel to the United States in a straight line, though. Read the history and the reasoning behind the word "dollar" at The Saturday Evening Post. -via Damn Interesting 

(Image credit: National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History) 

My parents, who didn't forbid soda pop but never had it in the house either, used to call Yoo-hoo "chocolate water." They said if you want chocolate milk, we'll mix up some. They didn't understand the pull of a branded cold glass bottle in the grocery store. Or maybe they did. Anyway, I don't recall ever drinking a Yoo-hoo, despite the fact that it's very popular where I am from. Or at least it was until Mountain Dew was crowned as the top drink. 

The main idea behind Yoo-hoo was that it resembled chocolate milk without having to be refrigerated. Sure, stores put it in the cold drink section, but that was right before you bought it. That eliminated the possibility of making it with fresh milk. Yet people loved it- from baseball players to the pope. Weird History Food goes through the history of Yoo-hoo and reveals what's really in that bottle. -via Geeks Are Sexy 

There are millions of different species of fungi (or funguses; both are correct), but only a small fraction of those have been identified, described, and named. The naming seems to be the most hilarious part of identifying a fungus. Scientists give them proper Latin species names, but mushrooms, the kind of fungus we are most familiar with, are given common names by regular people that usually have something to do with the way they look. That's how we got funguses that are named black witch's butter, bleeding tooth, dung cannon, octopus stinkhorn, chicken of the woods, and the lovely gem-studded puffball. My mistake- chicken of the woods is named for the way it tastes. Guess which of these is pictured above. 

The name of the dung cannon fungus (Pilobolus crystallinus) is intriguing. It's called cannon because it launches its spores at an astonishing speed, but why dung? A little digging reveals that the spores are ingested by animals who eat plants, and the fungus grows in their digestive systems, soon to be expelled. It's just one of 15 really strange funguses you can read about at Mental Floss. 

(Image credit: Bernypisa) 

The development of language gave early societies a whole new layer of reality apart from just what we saw around us. That is clearer than ever with the internet, since we now fling words around the world that are completely separated from our actual bodies and environments. So its no wonder that we have imbued words with magical powers ever since words were a new thing. 

Spells, incantations, and magic words are all used for storytelling, religion, and a lot of entertainment, as well as everyday communication. The fact that we have words to communicate with is fairly astonishing in itself, so it's no wonder that words can be thought of as supernatural. After all, they do affect reality. Words can inspire, charm, or hurt people, and they can't be taken back. Words make up vows, testimony, propaganda, education, memories, laws, and history, and all those are pretty important. Dr. Erica Brozovsky of Other Words (previously at Neatorama) goes through the history of magic words, and then explains how words are still used for their power to change reality.

A hundred years ago, silent movies in America included intertitle cards to help the audience keep up with what was going on. In Japan, movies had live narrators that stood at the side of the stage and described the action and dialogue in real time. These performers were called benshi, and they were more than just narrators. Some become quite famous for bringing movies to life with their clear and emotional voices. The art of benshi was a direct descendant of narration that Japane had been using for kabuki theater and puppet shows for hundreds of years. Benshi didn't always narrate a film as it was intended, and sometimes embellished or downright changed the story to please the audience. When sound came to cinema, most professional benshi were out of a job, but the best continued as translators of foreign films. Subtitles spelled the end of the golden age of benshi. But there are still practitioners who learned from the best and keep the art of benshi alive in theaters that show the few remaining Japanese silent film classics. Read the story of benshi at Atlas Obscura.  

The image above is from the 1926 art film A Page of Madness, which figures heavily in the article. You can see the full movie at YouTube. 

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)