I bet you didn’t know it’s National Metric Week, which is celebrated each year during the week containing the 10th of October (see what they did there? 10/10? Because the metric system is all based on 10? Clever!). And the reason you didn’t know about it is that you are either A) using the metric system every day and have no need for National Metric Week, or B) you are an American and will literally use anything other than the metric system. You’ll use feet, stones, grains, football fields, che…

I am a careful driver . The only car accident I was ever involved in was when someone rear-ended me while I was waiting patiently at a red light. The man just didn’t notice the intersection and drove right into my car. It wasn’t my fault in any way. I always drive slowly and carefully, never doing anything that could endanger me or the people around me. The reason for that is because on the very first day I got my driver’s license , I scratched my dad’s car while backing out of the driveway. I…

We love it when smart people invent smart things to make everyone’s lives better. If you think about it, it only takes one person to invent something that can change the lives of countless people throughout history. Think of the person who invented the refrigerator; one brilliant idea to use compressed gas to cool air inside a container, and now we can all store food for longer periods of time. Well, Yup That Exists on Twitter is full of clever and quirky inventions just like that, shared daily…

How come so many great ideas come to us when we are in the bathtub? Like Archimedes coming up with the hydrostatic principle while taking a bath or… Ummm… well, it seems my hypothesis was unfounded since I cannot find another example of a scientific discovery made in the bathtub. But why? It seems like a good place to get sudden realizations about the universe. Lying there, surrounded by warm water, should definitely be a good place for a Eureka moment . I remember having the idea of helium lug…

It's funny because it's peer reviewed!

Anyone else have the same problem of being considered by everyone around you as very intelligent but at the same time not being able to understand the most basic things like taxes, schedules, or basic human interactions? I've had this problem my entire life. I know a lot about everything that I find interesting, but at the same time, I know absolutely nothing about the most basic aspects of life. If you ask me to explain how a computer saves data on a hard drive (SSD or HDD), I could do it , ev…

You know that moment when you clean your house and think, "Welp, that's the best I can make it look. It's not much, but at least it looks acceptable "? Well, for some people (like me), it's the same for life in general—it's not much, but at least it looks acceptable at a glance. Am I good at my job? No, but they haven't fired me. Am I close to getting married? No, but I did go on a date six months ago. Am I able to do my taxes on my own? No, but at least I'm not in jail! (Yet. ) So, to all the…

Anyone else have the same problem of being considered by everyone around you as very intelligent but at the same time not being able to understand the most basic things like taxes, schedules, or basic human interactions? I’ve had this problem my entire life. I know a lot about everything that I find interesting, but at the same time, I know absolutely nothing about the most basic aspects of life. If you ask me to explain how a computer saves data on a hard drive (SSD or HDD), I could do it , ev…

How much coffee is too much coffee? This question has been bothering me ever since I bought my new coffee machine, and I have been, let's say, misusing it. Well, I've asked Google several times, "How much coffee is too much coffee?" and as it turns out—it's a lot! Like, really a lot. You'd probably die from drinking too many fluids before you'd die from the caffeine. To give you another indication of my obsession with coffee: I once worked at a coffee shop, and during my shifts, I would munch o…

Have you tried switching it off and then on again?

You know that moment when you clean your house and think, "Welp, that's the best I can make it look. It’s not much, but at least it looks acceptable "? Well, for some people (like me), it's the same for life in general—it's not much, but at least it looks acceptable at a glance. Am I good at my job? No, but they haven't fired me. Am I close to getting married? No, but I did go on a date six months ago. Am I able to do my taxes on my own? No, but at least I'm not in jail! (Yet. ) So, to all the…

It's normal to be weird

We just bought a new car , and I'm still riding that new car high. Everything about it is fresh and exciting. There's even still a faint trace of that new car smell, and I'm constantly looking for excuses to take it out for a spin ("Oh look, the milk carton is almost halfway empty—better go to the store to get another one"). Our old car, in contrast, had reached the "I'm annoyed with everything about this piece of junk " phase. Don't get me wrong—there was absolutely nothing wrong with the car,…

Memes to Celebrate Our Beautifully Distracted Minds

I would have made a wonderful scientist if I could only do math, understand complex ideas, concentrate for several hours and, in general, just be smarter. This might sound like a joke but I really believe that. I feel like I have a real passion for science, but I lack the actual tools a person needs to be a scientist. It's all nice and well to retain your natural curiosity into your adulthood, which is absolutely one of the requirements for being a scientist, but it's nothing if you cant sit do…

I’ve lost count of the number of nature documentaries I’ve seen in my life, and somehow, they’re always amazing. Every time I sit down to learn something new about the animals that inhabit this planet, I’m blown away by the beauty, ingenuity, and pure weirdness of nature. For instance, did you know there are snakes that live underwater and hunt small fish? Or that there’s a species of worm covered in golden hair? And I mean proper golden hair—not yellow. Gold. In this listicle, lovingly curated…