You brush. You floss. You swish some burning mint-laced liquid around in your mouth until it hurts. You go to bed with an oral hygiene gold star, and you wake up with white gloop connecting your lips and some vile odour emanating from it. What the hell happens in our mouths while we sleep? Read More >>

You think your beach towel is just some colourful barrier between your ass and the sand? Wrong. That water-wicking blanket is actually an intricately designed instrument, fine-tuned to provide you with the best possible poolside experience. And here's the thing: It's entirely possible that you've been using it wrong all along. Read More >>

Snow blindness, arc eye, welder's flash, bake eyes—these all describe the common effects of staring at an intensely bright light source. But what actually happens to your eyes when you try to hold a staring contest with our closest star? It's not pleasant, that's for sure. Read More >>

We've been sitting on the same kind of crapper for centuries. Sure, the plumbing has gotten more tucked away and seats are now fashioned out of all sorts of materials and styles (including plush vinyl embroidered with cats), but as far as the toilets themselves go, hundreds of years after they were invented, they're still largely porcelain. Read More >>

We learn to lie around age two or three. By the time we're adults, we do it a lot -- at least once a day, and perhaps more like 2.92 lies in 10 minutes, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Basic and Applied Psychology. It's no wonder we've been chasing after an accurate lie detector for so long. Read More >>

It's summer, and you're (hopefully) going to get some game. It starts at a bar or a BBQ or your living room—wherever you go to meet a private dance-partner. You get ready to get sweaty, and then, the grab for contraception: "Honey/dude/whatsyourname, can you grab the fish bladder?" Or maybe it's: "Got your reusable sheep intestine?" Read More >>

Ever wonder why the ice lollies you make at home don't taste quite as uniformly delicious as the ones in the freezer? Well, you may have been perfecting your popsicle-making technique for years, but the ones in the store have a hundred years of science and innovation in their corner. It all started with one particularly brilliant 11-year-old boy... Read More >>

Here's something that might just blow your mind: ketchup—the national condiment of 1896, according to the New York Tribune—wasn't always tomato based. In fact, if it had remained in its early form, we might be spreading fish paste on our burgers (gulp) instead of the tangy tomato-y goodness we presently rely on. Read More >>

You've heard the warnings: If you swallow gum, it will stay in your digestive system for nearly a decade. Which would mean there's a decent chance you've got some hanging out in your gut right now. Read More >>

Trimming your nails sucks, and it's not your digits' fault. Technology is to blame. Nail clippers. Blech. With a one size fits all design, it's impossible to get your whole nail in one clip. And curling over the bathroom bin doesn't make us any more likely to keep the floor clean of our cast offs. Read More >>

Yeah, you can buy those blue Bic pens in bulk if you want—a boatload costs about as much as your morning coffee. And all pens are pretty much the same, right? Of course not. Cheapo pens are much more likely to leave ink smeared across your nose, bleeding through your trouser pocket, or glopping up your page. Read More >>

If pop culture is any indication, bows and arrows are the weapon of the future. Weird, right? But also delightful: The Hunger Games stars an arrow-slinging heroine. Hawkeye will defend the Earth using a bow and arrow in The Avengers. The summer Olympics will have awesome archery competitions to ogle. And the TV's newest superhero will pull back a bow on Green Arrow. Read More >>

The smell of a new car is intoxicating. It reminds us of money and shiny objects. It evokes that golden period before repeat coffee stains, moldy Tupperware, and our boot's transformation into a Good Will depository change the way we feel about our car. Read More >>

Using an automated teller machine is inherently risky. You stand there, your back turned, signaling to everyone around that you're about to have a wad of tens in your pocket. If you're lucky, there's a security guard on duty. But usually it's just you and whoever is lurking in that little convex mirror. Read More >>

Some say that printers were sent from hell to make us miserable. We cowtow to a machine's anodyne griping about paper jams and ink levels, and still, after reloading the sheets and replacing the blue cartridge, the obstinate piece of machinery refuses to carry out its orders. Read More >>