Surprising Science — March 7, 2014

How High Can We Build?

The Eiffel Tower once shocked the world for being the tallest building in the world. Of course, it was surpassed by other structures. But how high can we build?

Our friends at VSauce explore this question and give a history of the “tallest structure built by man” competition:

Image credit: House of Hall/Flickr

Starts With A Bang

Is theoretical physics broken? Or is it just hard?

When you don’t have enough clues to bring your detective story to a close, you should expect that your educated guesses will all be wrong.

Neuropsych

The U-shaped happiness curve is wrong: many people do not get happier as they get older

The idea that we’re happier at the beginning and end of our lives is really just a comforting myth.

Neuropsych

How the brain’s vagus nerve tastes sugar in the gut

The key to curbing sugar intake may lie in the gut rather than our tastebuds.

Health

Are “green” cleaners really less toxic than traditional products?

Based on product labeling claims, scientists hypothesized that green cleaners were less toxic. They were wrong.

Hard Science

10 paradoxes that will stretch your mind

From time-traveling billiard balls to information-destroying black holes, the world’s got plenty of puzzles that are hard to wrap your head around.

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