How does a free-to-play game actually make money?
Free-to-play games earn nothing on download. Ads, loot boxes and cosmetics, seen at Warframe, Space Ape and EA, are how they still turn a profit.
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Every explainer in the edition.
An owl's feathers break up sound at three points
A comb along the leading edge, a velvet nap on top and a soft fringe at the back break up the noise an owl's wing would otherwise make.
Minecraft's best diamond level is Y -59, not Y 11
Mine at Y -59 for diamonds in current Minecraft, not the old Y 11. Trusted guides agree on where ore peaks, though not on the safest depth to dig it.
TV Licensing knocks on 2m UK doors, and fewer answer
UK licence fee dodgers face a doorstep visit and, at worst, prosecution. Visits rose by half in 2024 while prosecutions fell, MPs found.
In Morocco's souks, banter comes before the better price
In a Moroccan souk nearly everything is negotiable. The price a shopper pays turns on banter, patience, and whether a guide on commission is standing there.
A style guide settles a newsroom's arguments before they start
A newsroom's style guide fixes spelling, capitals and terms in advance, so writers stop arguing mid-deadline and readers see one voice.
How a VPN works, and who still gets to watch you
A VPN encrypts your traffic and routes it through a company's server, so the question is which watcher you trust more, not whether one exists.
Creatine near a workout might help. The evidence is still thin
A 2022 review found no settled answer on when to take creatine. The case for dosing near a workout rests on blood flow and timing theory, not trials.
Europe's only banned theatre company still performs, from exile
Belarus Free Theatre is the only company in Europe prohibited on political grounds. Its members left Minsk for London, and kept staging work from there.
Newsrooms take bystander video apart to test rival accounts
Newsrooms sync bystander clips frame by frame. In Minneapolis that showed the car turned away from the ICE agent. On Gaza, teams reached clashing verdicts.
The two kinds of hyperhidrosis, and what causes each
Most heavy sweating is a normal response to heat or stress. Primary hyperhidrosis has no known cause. The secondary kind is a symptom of another illness.
Passive house is a measured standard, not a style
Passive house caps air leakage at 0.6 changes an hour, tested by fan. It costs 5 to 10% more to build. A Los Angeles house on its lines outlasted a wildfire.
The body shuts down in stages before death
Doctors can describe dying stage by stage, from appetite loss to the last breath. Christians and Muslims expect judgement, and Hindus and Buddhists rebirth.
Montessori classrooms let the child choose the work
A Montessori classroom drops the timetable, the blackboard and the teacher's desk. A South Carolina study found its public pupils ahead in English and maths.
Air conditioning harms the climate through power and gas
Air conditioning warms the planet twice, through the power it draws and the gas inside it. The UN's Mark Radka puts cooling at 7% of global emissions.
Kelp forests slow waves and cut coastal erosion
Kelp forests drag on currents, calm the waves that reach the shore and shelter young fish. Urchins, warming seas and pollution can strip a forest bare.
What a duvet's tog rating actually measures
A duvet's tog number measures heat trapped, not thickness. Labs heat one side and compare temperatures. A 4.5 tog suits hot weather and 13.5 tog midwinter.
England caps contingency fees in injury cases at 25%
A contingency fee lawyer takes a share of a client's win and nothing if the case fails. England caps injury fees at 25%, and a Canadian judge cut one by 90%.
Anthropic's alignment lead puts AI extinction risk above 10%
In a 2024 survey of nearly 3,000 AI researchers, over half put the odds of AI causing human extinction or disempowerment at 10 per cent or more.
A single ruling can bind courts that never heard the case
Under stare decisis, a lower court must follow a higher court's rulings. A court can overturn one of its own past rulings, but only for a compelling reason.
How a Smithsonian curator chooses US campaign objects to keep
A Smithsonian curator prizes the signs and pins supporters make themselves over campaign handouts. His team drops duplicates and keeps the sturdiest copy.
A student designed the recycling symbol for $2,500
Gary Anderson was 23 when he won a 1970 contest to design a recycling logo. The EPA now says his arrows mislead on plastics that are hard to recycle.
Certificate authorities check who owns a site before signing
Your browser trusts over 100 certificate authorities. CISA warns they vary in how strictly they check, and only a fingerprint check by phone is certain.
A UK power of attorney passes your decisions to someone you trust
A power of attorney lets a chosen person act for you if illness or injury stops you deciding. Scotland lets you grant one at 16, the rest of the UK at 18.