Awesome Learning

Apparently, US troops sometimes use “Tootsie Roll” as code for mortar ammunition. At the Battle of Chosin during the Korean War, that code led to a darkly comedic mix-up that ended up being a serendipitous mistake.

When you encounter “classical architecture”, that design is most likely inspired by the work of 16th century architect Andrea Palladio. The School of Life breaks down how Palladio revived ancient Roman principles to create stately structures.

CGP Grey looks at one of the most desired and elusive pieces of technology from the Star Trek universe, and explains how even if transporter beams did exist, we’d have to die and be reincarnated every time we used them.

Did you know that on average, you’ll lose half of your friends every 7 years? But don’t worry, because you’re also bound to gain the same number of new buddies. All that and more in Mental Floss’ episode about the science of friendship.

Asap Science breaks down how the human body breaks down upon death. These processes help coroners and investigators determine a person’s time of death. TL;DW: compounds and microorganisms decompose us from the inside out. Boy, that was depressing.

The so-called war on drugs is about short term gains and check marks for politicians. It goes after suppliers, but drugs are addictive. Users are willing to pay high prices for drugs, which encourages suppliers. The solution is to alleviate the demand for these substances.

CGP Grey follows up his fascinating Americapox essay with a look at why we domesticate and farm some animals and not others. Bottom line is that the critters we leave in the wild are either too dangerous, hard to train, too independent, or too expensive to feed and keep captive.

Vox and 99% Invisible spoke to human-centered design advocate Don Norman about poorly designed everyday objects such as doors. In summary, we should all be able to tell how a commonly used object works through its form, not through an instruction or a sign.

(PG-13) “There is a fine line between being natural about things, and being bothersome to others.” The School of Life looks at some in the milestones of the Western world’s continuously evolving rules of propriety. We hope they do one from the Eastern perspective as well.

You might think you know how to eat ramen, but this lesson from noodle expert Ivan Orkin of New York’s Ivan Ramen will set you straight on the truth. Bottom line: Don’t delay, slurp away, and have fun, folks!

Many people derided Avatar‘s use of “Unobtainium” as a name for a rare mineral. But the word actually exists in real life, a humorous term coined by engineers for rare or non-existent materials. Which means the movie actually made good use of it.

“I am you right now, if I wanted to be.” Fusion writer Kevin Roose asked white hat hackers and computer security professionals to hack him. For common folk like us, the simplest of tricks – pretending to be someone or something else – is the one thing we should all look out for.

When the Sherlock Holmes stories were first published, the detective’s address – 221B Baker Street, London – did not actually exist. But in 1930s, the street numbers were reallocated and the address fell to a bank, which was quickly inundated with fan mail. The Game was afoot.

Kevin Lieber of Vsauce2 looks at the complex connection between humans and animals, from the way we treat pets as family members, to the respect paid by ancient cultures to animals that were hunted for sustenance, to how we breed dogs to our liking.

Veritasium explores our ability to sync up images with sounds, even if they arrive at different times. Along the way, we learn how there’s a brief window of time that that we think of as the present, during which our brains can instantaneously alter our perceptions.

If It Were My Home is a website that compares the living conditions of two countries based on data from the CIA, the WHO and the UN. It’s far from perfect – it reduces citizens into statistical averages and its definition of good healthcare is flawed, but it’s still educational.

Aside from being nearly impossible, SciShow explains that eradicating mosquitoes would be overkill, because most species of mosquitoes don’t bite or infect us. Thankfully, scientists have been looking at ways of destroying only those harmful species.

Ahoy looks back at 1982 to 1983, some of the darkest days of the video game industry, born from over-saturation of the market, low quality games, and competition for shelf space. Fortunately, things turned around by 1985, but the cycle could repeat itself.

Did you know that hockey was not invented in Canada? Or that the black belt is not always the highest rank in martial arts? All that in more in Mental Floss’ final Misconceptions episode. Boooo!

LEGO built a toy empire with its snap-on bricks, but it’s far from the first company that thought of making such a toy. In fact, as YouTuber JANGBRiCKS explains, the first LEGO bricks were straight up copycats, down to the machine that was used to make the toy.

Nerdwriter1 wonderfully breaks down Howard Shore’s The Fellowship theme from the first The Lord of the Rings movie, showing how Shore varies the track to accentuate, foreshadow and familiarize the audience with the characters.

Today I Found Out shares a theory about the continued existence of male nipples. In short, men and women both have them because they start out as the same fetus. Since nipples don’t have any drawback, evolution isn’t favoring nipple-less males.

While that title might sound like hyperbole, it is the truth. If concrete truly did dry out, it could be reconstituted with water like dry pasta, and couldn’t be used to build things. MinutePhysics explains the not so subtle differences between something being “dry” and “set.”