One hour outside the ISS costs seven hours in a pool
Astronauts rehearse a spacewalk underwater for about seven hours per hour outside, then spend the night before in an airlock adjusting to suit pressure.
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Frederick Taylor's stopwatch built US scientific management
Frederick Taylor timed factory tasks to fractions of a minute and turned the results into scientific management, a system that made him famous and hated.
New York rewrote factory fire safety after the Triangle fire
A locked stairwell door trapped ninth-floor workers in New York's 1911 Triangle fire, and the state answered with 38 new safety laws.
Andy Ruiz Jr loses his comeback fight to Damian Knyba
Andy Ruiz Jr lost a unanimous decision to Poland's Damian Knyba in Newark, his first fight in two years, and says he wants a rematch.
Cyrus Field failed three times before the cable held
Cyrus Field spent nine years and three failed cable attempts trying to link Europe and America by telegraph, before a fourth attempt in 1866 finally held.
A Wimbledon broadcast named Emma Navarro's hypothyroidism
An ESPN commentator named Emma Navarro's hypothyroidism live at Wimbledon in July, months after unexplained absences derailed her season.
Sabalenka reaches the US Open last 16 after a rocky summer
Aryna Sabalenka is into the US Open fourth round and chasing a third straight title, after a summer in which her Grand Slam form collapsed.
Carl Sagan's committee raced to choose Earth's sounds
Carl Sagan's committee had six weeks to choose the sounds, images and music that speak for Earth on Voyager's Golden Record.
Timing decides what a Las Vegas flight costs
Which? found a £433 Las Vegas return by flying on New Year's Eve, against a £709 average, and KAYAK lists one-way fares to Vegas from $44.
A Broadway show earns back its investors, one week at a time
A Broadway show recoups its backers only once weekly earnings beat its running costs, a bar few recent musicals have cleared.
Most who fled US slavery began the Underground Railroad alone
The Underground Railroad was no one system. Most freedom seekers set out alone. Where help existed, it came from Black communities, churches and river crews.
The first known state hack began with a 75-cent error
In 1986 astronomer Cliff Stoll chased a 75-cent gap in a lab's computer bill and found German hackers who had sold their access to the KGB.
In a California lab, a wooden block became the mouse
Douglas Engelbart's team at Stanford Research Institute tested a cannonball trackball, a joystick and a light panel. A wooden box on wheels beat them all.
Dolly Parton was a songwriter first
Dolly Parton, who died aged 80, came to Nashville to write songs. Jolene, I Will Always Love You and 9 to 5 turned that trade into a career.
A design student sketched Nike's swoosh for $35
Carolyn Davidson billed Nike $2 an hour for 17.5 hours of work on its new logo in 1971. Phil Knight's first reaction was that he didn't love it.
New York traded taller towers for public plazas
Since 1961, New York has let developers add floor space in return for plazas open to all, but a 2000 study found 41% of them had no real public use.
UK and US mortgage rates climb again as war unsettles markets
Mortgage rates rose again on both sides of the Atlantic in 2026, with US 30-year fixes past 7% and UK two-year fixes averaging 5.63%.
Lane Kiffin's $91m move to LSU divides US college football
Lane Kiffin left a playoff-bound Ole Miss for LSU's $91 million deal, and student season tickets sold out in five hours.
Wheel of Fortune fires announcer Jim Thornton
Sony Pictures Television fired Wheel of Fortune announcer Jim Thornton after a passenger complaint on a May flight and photos said to show a lewd chat room.
Why a heat dome set all-time records in Montana and Utah
Billings reached 111F and Salt Lake City 109F in July 2026. A heat dome is high pressure that stalls for days, pushing air down until it warms.
Heat kills bed bugs. So can cold.
Heat above 45C, or a few days in a freezer, kills bed bugs. Look for brown spots on the sheets, and call a pest controller once an infestation is established.
One cost of living figure never fits every household
A cost of living figure prices a fixed basket, and whose basket it is decides the answer. UK private renters saw 3.0% inflation to June 2026, retirees 2.5%.
Judith Jarvis Thomson named the trolley problem, then doubted it
The philosopher who named the trolley problem later said you may not pull the switch unless you would steer it into yourself. West Point still teaches it.
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.