US lenders weigh a firm's credit, age and revenue
Before a US lender offers a business credit line, it reads credit reports, asks how long the firm has traded and tests revenue. Minimums vary widely.
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A diamond cutter engraves a sound wave into a spiral groove
The groove's width and depth copy a sound's pitch and volume. A needle then turns those wiggles back into a weak electrical signal.
Glacier ice keeps a year's snow and air in every layer
Each ice layer holds a year of snow and its trapped air, which reveal past temperature and carbon dioxide. Meltwater is now washing that record away.
What the Rana Plaza accord changed in Bangladesh's factories
After Rana Plaza killed more than 1,100 people, brands signed a binding safety accord. It brought tens of thousands of inspections, but most brands kept out.
Cambodia's 1993 election was the UN's biggest peacekeeping bet
In May 1993 the UN staged Cambodia's election under a 22,000-strong force. The royalists won 58 seats to 51, and the coalition that followed broke up in 1997.
Set designers build the whole stage in miniature first
A model box is a scale version of a theatre set. It shows the director, builders and actors the stage before construction, and the RSC now has a digital one.
Russia's Kaliningrad exclave relies on transit through Lithuania
Some goods for Kaliningrad cross EU land under sealed transit rules. In 2022 Lithuania banned transit of sanctioned steel and iron-ore goods, angering Moscow.
England's compulsory purchase fight is about hope value
Planning permission can lift farmland's price 275 times. In 2023 the government planned to let a minister drop that hope value from an order, case by case.
Britain and the US make big firms publish CEO pay ratios
UK firms with over 250 staff set CEO pay against workers at the 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles. US public firms divide it by the median worker's pay.
US Four Corners marker is at most 1,800 feet off, not 2.5 miles
A surveyor fixed the Four Corners point in 1875 on the law's line from Washington, not Greenwich. That explains why a claimed 2.5-mile error never existed.
A 1945 magazine feature set off the Skinner baby-box myth
B. F. Skinner built a heated crib for his daughter Deborah. A 1945 magazine feature and a confusion with the Skinner box turned it into a false legend.
Big British employers must publish their gender pay gap
Employers in Britain with 250 or more staff must file and publish their gender pay gap each year. From 2027 they must also publish an action plan.
UNESCO stopped updating its atlas of endangered languages
UNESCO's atlas of endangered languages stopped updating in 2017, and the broader atlas meant to replace it is still not live.
Africa's free trade area was first tested with batteries and tea
The African Union launched the AfCFTA in 2018. It took effect in 2021, and its first pilot trades in 2022 showed how slowly a single market gets built.
Norway owns Svalbard, but a 1920 treaty lets others mine it
The 1920 Svalbard Treaty gave Norway sovereignty over the Arctic islands while letting citizens of every signatory live, fish and mine there on equal terms.
NBC asked up to $10m for 30 seconds of the US Super Bowl
NBC sold out every 2026 Super Bowl ad slot months early. Semafor and MediaPost put 30 seconds at $7m to $10m, and one drugmaker bought 90.
Philae touched comet 67P three times before it stayed put
In November 2014 the Philae lander reached comet 67P, but its harpoons failed and it bounced twice. How the first soft landing on a comet actually happened.
Offa's Dyke still shadows the border between England and Wales
A Mercian king raised an 80-mile bank and ditch after Welsh raids. The border still crosses it, and a 2022 survey found only 8.7% in good condition.
A self-taught US engineer built truck refrigeration from scrap
Frederick McKinley Jones left school at 12, then designed a truck cooling unit from junkyard parts. It closed the last gap in the cold chain.
Who decides what goes on a book cover?
Publishers' design and marketing teams usually decide, working from what editors tell them. At Harlequin, it starts with a form the author fills in.
Hundreds of thousands of brass fans fill a small Serbian village
Guča, a Serbian village of a few thousand, hosts what the BBC called the world's biggest trumpet festival. It began as a contest under Tito.
Bangladesh's Grameen Bank grew from loans made in a famine
Muhammad Yunus lent his own money to villagers in the 1974 famine. By 2013 his borrowers owned 97 percent of the bank, the New York Times reported.
What Greenland's 1979 home rule gave it, and what Denmark kept
A 1979 referendum gave Greenland its own parliament for internal affairs. Denmark kept defence, foreign policy and the constitution, and still does.
A lunchtime joke about flying saucers became the Fermi paradox
In 1950 Enrico Fermi asked 'Where is everybody?' over lunch at Los Alamos. How a talk about a New Yorker cartoon became a puzzle SETI still argues over.