brooke, Author at Interesting Facts

Original photo by Annika Treial/ Unsplash

Horses share a long and storied history with humans. They’re thought to have been domesticated as many as 6,000 years ago on the vast plains of Central Asia (near modern-day Kazakhstan), beginning a partnership that transformed human advancements in transportation, agriculture, and warfare.

But beyond their historical importance, horses’ strength, speed, intelligence, and surprisingly social personalities still fascinate us. These animals — from the loyal barnyard companions to the elite athletes — are far from being one-trick ponies. Here are seven fascinating facts about horses.

The Earliest Horses Were the Size of Dogs

The earliest known ancestor of the modern horse first lived around 56 million years ago during the Eocene Epoch. Known as Hyracotherium, this small mammal was roughly the size of a modern small- or medium-sized dog. Standing at around 12 to 24 inches at the shoulder, these early horses were only about the height of a French bulldog, while bigger ones were roughly as big as a border collie.

Unlike the prominent single-hoofed feet that horses have today, Hyracotherium had four toes on its front feet and three on its back feet. It also had a short neck and snout, and its teeth were suited for soft leaves rather than grazing tough grass. Over millions of years, changing climates transformed forested landscapes into open grasslands, and horse ancestors evolved to suit their changing environments, gradually growing larger and developing stronger legs better suited for running long distances.

Modern horses may still carry tiny reminders of their ancient ancestors on their legs: Chestnuts, the rough patches found on the inside of their knees and hocks, are thought by equine researchers to be remnants of the foot pads that once helped their ancestors walk on multiple toes.

Horses Can Sleep Standing Up

Thanks to an anatomical feature called the stay apparatus, horses are able to sleep while standing. That system of tendons and ligaments acts like a series of tension bands, locking the shoulder, knee, and ankle joints in place and allowing the lumbering mammal to relax its muscles without collapsing.

Horses are polyphasic sleepers, meaning they have multiple sleeping periods throughout the day, with the majority occurring at night. If you do see them sleeping while standing, they’re just lightly dozing — they still need to lie down for that all-important REM sleep.

Sleeping while standing is an evolutionary trick used by other large herbivores such as zebras and elephants, allowing them to rest while still remaining prepared to make a quick getaway from predators.

Their Teeth Keep Growing for Years

Horse teeth, similar to those of rabbits or rodents such as beavers and rats, continuously grow to keep up with the constant wear caused by their eating habits. A typical horse’s diet is plentiful in tough, dusty grasses that can erode enamel quite quickly.

Throughout much of its life, a horse’s teeth slowly erupt upward from the jaw. For centuries, experienced horse handlers could even estimate a horse’s age just by examining its teeth, a useful skill when birth records were rare.

However, that growth doesn’t last forever. Their teeth eventually reach their full potential and stop growing around age 12 (horses typically live about 25 to 30 years).

Horses Can’t Breathe Through Their Mouths

Horses are what’s known as obligate nasal breathers, meaning they can only breathe through their noses, not their mouths. A long soft palate forms a tight seal between the airway and the mouth so horses don’t inhale food while eating, but it also means they can’t switch to mouth breathing when it could be useful, such as during a high-speed gallop.

Instead, a horse’s breathing locks into a 1:1 rhythm with their stride — one breath for every step — allowing them to take in the amount of oxygen needed to maintain speed over long distances. That clever breathing system comes with its own quirky side effect: Horses can’t burp or vomit. Still, this seems like a decent tradeoff for an elite respiratory system.

They Have Amazing Memories

Like many social mammals, horses are known for their impressive long-term memories, especially when it comes to people, places, and past experiences. Research has found that they not only recognize familiar humans after long periods apart, but also that subtle emotional cues leave a lasting impression on them.

Leanne Proops, an associate professor in animal behavior and welfare at England’s University of Portsmouth, found that horses can remember previously unfamiliar people for hours after seeing them in a photo. They also reacted to the person differently in real life afterward depending on whether they’d seen them look happy or angry in the photo.

While this sounds sentimental, that memory is actually an evolutionary survival tool. It once helped the horse’s ancestors avoid predators and find food; today, it’s useful for navigating social bonds and training with humans.

Their Body Language Is Complex

Horses are constantly communicating through subtle cues in their ears, eyes, tail, posture, and even nostrils. Pinned-back ears, swishing tails, or tense muscles can mean irritation or stress, while relaxed ears and soft eyes show calm and trust. Flared nostrils are more nuanced; horses naturally flare them to breathe while running, but quivering or flaring when they’re standing still could signal nervousness.

Researchers have found that horses also have an impressively rich facial vocabulary: They can make 17 distinct facial movements, more than chimpanzees (15) and fewer than humans, who have somewhere around 46. Scientists at the University of Sussex identified equine facial movements similar to a human smile, upper eyelid raises, and eye-white increases, and linked each to emotions such as submission, fear, or stress. And those signals aren’t just for other horses — they’re used to communicate with humans, too.

They’re Very Attuned To Human Emotions

Posture and tone of voice are fairly straightforward ways for humans to convey emotions, but horses are able to pick up on our emotional states in multiple subtler ways as well. Not only can they read our body language, but horses can also hear a human heartbeat from as far as 4 feet away and use that data to suss out the person’s emotional state. Studies on heart-rate variability have found horses can even synchronize their heartbeats with our own.

Research has also found that horses can detect emotional odors in human sweat — to put it in simpler terms, they can literally smell our fear. When exposed to sweat collected from people in fear‑inducing situations, horses showed stronger stress responses than when presented with odors from people who had been in joyful situations, even without visual or vocal cues.

It’s no wonder horses have become trusted partners in therapeutic practices, just as they have been partners to humans in many other ways for millennia.

Nicole Villeneuve

Writer

Nicole is a writer, thrift store lover, and group-chat meme spammer based in Ontario, Canada.

Original photo by master1305/ iStock

Everyday life is filled with familiar noises we rarely stop to question: the hum of a dial tone, the chime of a computer, or the beep of a microwave to let us know our food is ready. From the earliest telephones and centuries-old clock towers to modern computers and electric vehicles, the chirps and chimes we’ve grown used to hearing didn’t happen by accident — they were carefully created to convey a message. Here are some of their stories.

Phone Dial Tones

In the early days of telephones, dial tones weren’t necessary because people couldn’t call each other directly. Instead, phones relied on human operators, who answered calls and connected them at a central switchboard.

That changed in 1919 when the Bell System adopted automatic dialing, becoming the first U.S. commercial company to do so. But with no operator on the line, callers needed a clear signal that the system was ready to dial; if you began dialing too soon, the first digits of the number wouldn’t register. The solution was a dial tone, an audible clue that you could start dialing.

The U.S. wasn’t the first country to use automatic dialing. One of the earliest adopters was Germany, where the dial tone was invented in 1909 by engineer August Kruckow in Hildesheim. The sound was known as the “Amtston” (German for “office tone” or “exchange tone”), and it was designed to emulate the sound of the letter “A” in Morse code, repeated.

Audible Morse code consists of two sounds: “dits” and “dahs.” Each letter corresponds to a series of “dits” (dots), which are short tones, and “dahs” (dashes), which are long tones. The letter “A,” for instance, looks like “.-” and sounds like “Di-Dah” (the “T” is dropped when followed by another sound).

The Amtston, however, didn’t become universal, and dial tones instead evolved differently across regions. Dial tones came in various sounds until the system became standardized in the 1960s. Today, modern landlines, such as those in offices and hotels, use standard dial tones that vary by country or continent.

In North America, the Precise Tone Plan specifies the dial tone must be a combination of two simultaneous frequencies at 350 Hz and 440 Hz, which were chosen because they don’t interfere with the dialing system’s frequency and are audible above background noise, such as human voices. This results in one steady, recognizable tone, which is very different from Kruckow’s original “Di-Dah” tone. Other regions have different standard tones, such as Europe’s 425 Hz.

Microwave Beeps

You may have noticed that most microwaves produce a very similar “beeping” tone, regardless of the brand. That’s because the same sound technology is employed across much of the industry — it’s known as the “piezoelectric buzzer.”

The piezoelectric effect was discovered in 1880 by French physicists Pierre Curie (husband of Marie Curie) and his brother Jacques. They found that applying pressure to specific materials, such as crystals and ceramics, generates an electric charge. The effect’s name comes from the Greek word “piezein,” meaning “to squeeze.”

Nearly a century later, during the 1970s and ’80s, this electricity was harnessed by various Japanese manufacturers and used to make buzzers that were placed in many household gadgets, from microwaves to smoke detectors. Piezoelectric buzzers became the standard because they’re inexpensive, energy-efficient, and they work across a wide range of voltages. While some high-end microwaves now use digital sound chips that allow for more varied tones, piezoelectric buzzers are still the norm.

However, piezoelectric buzzers do have limitations, including the sound they produce. The frequency and length of the tone can be adjusted, but the buzzer’s general “beep” noise remains consistent. That’s why most microwaves sound so similar, even decades after the appliance’s debut. Because the sharp, simple tone is widely recognizable and easily cuts through background noise, microwave manufacturers have little incentive to change it.

Computer Startup Tones

Computers come with an array of distinct sounds: email swooshes, keyboard clicks, and startup tones. One of the most recognizable is Apple’s Mac startup sound, a bright C-major chord.

It was designed by audio engineer Jim Reekes, who wanted a pleasant sound during boot-up, especially at a time when computers crashed (and therefore restarted) fairly regularly. Rather than startling users, the chime was meant to signal that everything was working correctly.

Reekes’ inspiration for the sound was the Beatles song “A Day in the Life.” He recorded the new sound in his living room, replacing an earlier (and mostly forgotten) Apple startup sound, which had been a jarring tri-tone. The new Beatles-inspired tone was introduced on the original Quadra computer in 1991 and has been used off and on with various modifications ever since.

By contrast, Microsoft has cycled through various startup tones over the decades, with at least 10 distinct sounds. One of the most memorable — the “ta-da” sound from Windows 3.1 computers — was created as a celebratory noise to signify the debut of the Windows Sound System, released in 1992. Before that, most PC sounds were restricted to basic beeps.

Another distinctive Microsoft startup sound is that of the Windows 95, created by celebrated British ambient music composer Brian Eno. Microsoft sought to create a musical piece with emotional depth, which led to a longer, more complex audio piece. Funnily enough, Eno composed the piece using a Mac.

Electric Vehicle Hums

Electric car motors are nearly silent, a quality many customers appreciate. But this poses a safety risk: Pedestrians and cyclists can’t hear them. To address that, electric vehicles must comply with rules set by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which requires EVs and hybrids to emit artificial sounds when traveling at low speeds below 18.6 mph.

Those almost angelic sounds, often heard as whirs, hums, or soft beeps, are designed to communicate movement. They play when the vehicle is reversing, traveling slowly, or stationary but still on. The goal is to make the vehicle’s presence and direction obvious, allowing drivers and pedestrians within earshot to remain aware of the car and its proximity to them.

The noises are designed with minimum audibility and recognizability in mind, meaning the sounds must be intense enough to be picked up by the human ear, and they must be recognizable enough to be perceived as an automobile. This allows us to react to them as we would to the noises of a gas-powered vehicle. Due to the NHTSA regulations, we can distinguish EV noise from other road noise.

Within those requirements, automakers still have room for creativity. For example, General Motors’ electric Cadillacs used an Australian wind instrument called a didgeridoo to create the brand’s sounds, which were also inspired by NASA recordings of noises made by the sun. BMW took a more cinematic approach, collaborating with Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer to craft custom sounds for the i4 and iX EVs.

Clock Chimes

Clock chimes are sharp tones and melodic sounds that indicate the passage of time in 15-minute intervals on analog clocks. Typically, they play a short tune at the intervals and strike a specific number of times at the hour mark to indicate the time.

Those melodies and strikes are made by hammers that strike rods or gongs inside the clock. This mechanism isa holdover from the time before digital clocks, timers, and alarms when the sounds were used to announce the time without the need for a visual. While their practical purpose has faded, their nostalgic appeal remains today, serving mainly decorative purposes.

The most familiar clock melody in English-speaking countries is the Westminster Quarters. The tune originated in 1793 at Great St. Mary’s, the church at the University of Cambridge in England. It was composed by organ student William Crotch with the help of university staff and was inspired by Handel’s “Messiah.”

Originally known as the “Cambridge Quarters,” the chimes use the notes E, D, C, and G in various combinations. The melody was adopted by London’s Houses of Parliament in 1859, with distinct melodies for the quarter, half, three-quarter, and hour mark. Today, London’s Great Clock of Westminster — home to Big Ben — still plays the Westminster Quarters using four smaller bells alongside the famous hour bell.

Rachel Gresh

Writer

Rachel is a writer and period drama devotee who's probably hanging out at a local coffee shop somewhere in Washington, D.C.

Original photo by GlobalP/ iStock

Secret spaces have a certain allure: They carry a sense of mystery or whimsy, feeding our fascination for the fantastical and strange. It’s no surprise, then, that they appear in many works of fiction, whether it’s Frances Hodgson Burnett’s secret garden, Harry Potter’s Chamber of Secrets, or Batman’s clandestine batcave.

But concealed places aren’t limited to the fictional realm. Some of the world’s most iconic structures harbor secret rooms, cleverly hidden or tucked away in forgotten corners.

Here are six hidden chambers found in some of the world’s famous buildings, reminding us that even the most visited and photographed landmarks can still have a few secrets to share.

Credit: Science History Images/ Alamy Stock Photo

Mount Rushmore’s Hall of Records

Behind Abraham Lincoln’s carved head lies an unfinished chamber that many visitors to Mount Rushmore don’t even know exists. Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor behind the colossal presidential faces, originally wanted to carve written descriptions of important U.S. historical events into the rockface, but the plan was scrapped because the letters would have to be impossibly large to be read from the ground.

Instead, Borglum decided to build a Hall of Records in the mountain — an 80-by-100-foot chamber behind the faces that would hold the most important documents from American history, such as the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence . Construction of the hall began in 1938, when workers blasted out a 70-foot tunnel behind Lincoln’s head. But the combination of Borglum’s death in 1941 and U.S. involvement in World War II caused work at Rushmore to come to a halt.

Borglum’s son, Lincoln Borglum, later finished work on the monumental heads, d, but the rough-cut chamber sat empty for decades. Then, in 1998, the hidden space was finally outfitted with a repository of records placed on the floor just inside the hall’s entrance.

The repository includes a titanium vault containing 16 porcelain enamel panels with descriptions of the monument’s construction, the four presidents depicted at Rushmore, and a short history of the United States. The repository was never meant for public viewing, instead serving more as a time capsule.

No public trail was ever built to the unfinished Hall of Records, and the room, which occupies a space that roughly aligns with Lincoln’s forehead, remains closed to the public (people are occasionally granted access, but only in special circumstances and they must be accompanied by park rangers).

The Eiffel Tower’s Private Apartment

When Gustave Eiffel finished the construction of his iconic iron tower for the 1889 World’s Fair, there was one element he kept largely secret: a private apartment near the top. While millions climbed the tower to admire its views, only Eiffel and his occasional guests could enjoy the small but cozy space he’d created for himself on the tower’s third level.

The apartment featured wooden furniture, oil paintings, and even a grand piano. When word got out about Eiffel’s private chamber, many wealthy Parisians offered large sums to rent it for a single night, but Eiffel always refused. The space was reserved only for him and a handful of very special guests, most notably Thomas Edison.

Today, the interior of the once-secret apartment — complete with wax figures of Eiffel and Edison in conversation — can be viewed through a series of windows.

Radio City Music Hall’s Secret Apartment

In 1932, architect Edward Durrell Stone and interior designer Donald Deskey finished work on a new art deco masterpiece in New York City: Radio City Music Hall. Members of the public immediately began visiting the venue, blissfully unaware of a spectacular hidden space.

Stone and Deskey had built a lavish secret apartment on the building’s fifth floor, with 20-foot ceilings, custom wooden furniture, marble fixtures, and plenty of gold leaf. The recipient of this extravagant space was the legendary theater impresario Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel, who had organized the opening of Radio City.

Rothafel used the apartment as a private place to entertain his special guests, including Judy Garland, Walt Disney, and Alfred Hitchcock. When he died in 1936, the apartment was sealed off and abandoned, after which it sat unused for decades. Today, the untouched apartment remains closed to the general public but can be explored through special private tours.

The Brooklyn Bridge’s Cold War Bunker

In 2006, maintenance workers entered a sealed chamber in the massive stone anchorage of Brooklyn Bridge. Much to their surprise, they stumbled upon a long-forgotten Cold War-era fallout shelter. Inside the secret bunker was a cache — including medical kits, water drums, blankets, and ration packs with high-calorie crackers — designed to aid in survival efforts in the event of nuclear attack.

No one is entirely sure who built the bunker, for what precise purpose it was built, and who exactly it was meant to protect, but it was likely part of the vast civil defense network created during the height of America’s nuclear panic. Today, the chamber remains closed to the public, a secret space hidden beneath a bridge crossed by tens of thousands of people every single day.

Credit: Roberto Serra – Iguana Press/ Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images

Michelangelo’s Secret Room in Medici Chapel

Beneath the Medici Chapel in Florence’s Basilica of San Lorenzo lies a tiny chamber where one of history’s greatest artists once hid in fear for his life. In 1527, Michelangelo supported a revolt against his longtime patrons, the powerful Medici family. When the Medicis retook Florence in 1530, the artist went into hiding in this secret chamber for at least two months.

The hidden room was eventually forgotten about, until its rediscovery in 1975. The chamber measures just 33 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 8 feet high — but the decor more than makes up for its restricted space.

During his time in hiding, Michelangelo didn’t sit idle. He covered the walls of the chamber with sketches and studies in charcoal and chalk, offering an intimate glimpse into the artist’s creative process during one of the most harrowing periods of his life.

Tony Dunnell

Writer

Tony is an English writer of nonfiction and fiction living on the edge of the Amazon jungle.

Original photo by Brebca/ Adobe Stock

Hungry humans have long been captivated by the alluring aroma of a batch of freshly baked pastries. These buttery, flaky, golden-brown treats can be sweet or savory, and many of them have fascinating backstories to boot.

For example, you may be surprised to discover that croissants originated outside France or that baklava contains hidden iconography literally baked into the recipe. Treat yourself to these seven indulgent facts about popular pastries.

Some Baklavas Have Religious Symbolism

Baklava is a traditional Mediterranean pastry served in bakeries across North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Depending on the baker and style of cuisine, the pastry features anywhere from several layers to dozens of layers of flaky phyllo dough. And in some cases, the number of layers isn’t random.

In the Greek tradition, it’s typical to use 33 layers of phyllo dough, symbolizing the 33 years in the life of Jesus Christ. In a similar vein, Armenian Christians include 40 layers of phyllo dough in their baklava to represent the 40 days of Lent.

Baklava has significance in other religions, too. In a tradition that dates to the Ottoman Empire of the 15th century, Muslims often eat baklava to break their fasts during Ramadan. Sephardic Jews also serve baklava on the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Purim. In those cases, the sweetness of the baklava is said to symbolize the faith of true believers in addition to signifying other positive concepts such as goodwill, happiness, and good fortune.

There’s a Shop That Sells Tens of Thousands of Churros Daily

Chocolatería San Ginés is a 24-hour shop in Madrid founded in 1894, firmly placing it among the city’s oldest churrerías, a Spanish term for an eatery that sells churros. The shop is renowned for being a historic staple of the city center and is so widely talked about in guidebooks and travel vlogs that it’s earned a must-visit reputation among the millions of locals and tourists who patronize it each year.

Given the shop’s status as such a popular attraction, churro sales are sky-high compared to the lesser-known churrerías throughout the city. This shop reportedly sells as many as 80,000 to 90,000 churros each day, which works out to roughly 60 churros sold per minute or 30 million churros sold per year.

It’s worth pointing out that Spanish-style churros are baked differently than the Mexican-style counterparts that are more common in the Americas. While Mexican churros are usually long, thick, and coated in cinnamon-sugar, Spanish churros are short, thin, and never sugar-coated; instead, they are served alongside cups of hot chocolate or coffee for dipping.

Credit: Peter Blottman Photography/ iStock

Pop-Tarts Exist Because of a Rival Company’s Delay

In the early 1960s, corporate rivals Kellogg’s and Post were competing to dominate the breakfast space. More specifically, both companies were in the process of developing a toastable, portable, and shelf-stable pastry.

On February 16, 1964, Post seemed to beat Kellogg’s to the punch, unveiling a new culinary concept called “Country Squares.” While the response was extremely positive, there was one big issue: Country Squares weren’t ready to hit shelves, as Post was still tinkering with the recipe in its labs to get it just right. Kellogg’s seized the opportunity to beat Post to market, stole the idea, and began rapidly manufacturing a similar product of its own.

By September, Kellogg’s had created what was originally called the Fruit Scone and eventually renamed the Pop-Tart after Andy Warhol’s Pop Art style that was popular at the time. Kellogg’s ran a TV ad blitz and marketed its Pop-Tarts in newspapers, attracting widespread public attention. The combination of a successful ad campaign coupled with a fun name and bright colors transformed Pop-Tarts into an overnight sensation.

The World’s Largest Kolache Festival Is Held in Prague… Oklahoma

Kolaches are a popular pastry that originated in Czechia around the 1700s. The sweet rolls are traditionally topped with plum jam, cheese, or poppy seeds. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, a wave of Czech immigrants came to the United States (especially Texas) and brought with them recipes such as kolaches, thus creating a unique style of cuisine colloquially referred to as “Czech-Tex” today.

While Texas may have seen the largest influx of European-born kolache-lovers, other Czech immigrant communities were established nearby. That includes the city of Prague, Oklahoma, which was founded in 1902 and named for the Czech capital. The American Prague now hosts the largest kolache festival anywhere in the world. The event, which dates back to 1951, welcomes 25,000 to 30,000 annual attendees — numbers far exceeding Prague’s 2,300 full-time local residents.

Kolaches are also widely beloved in the similarly named village of Prague, Nebraska. For the town’s centennial celebration in 1987, locals created the largest kolache in the world at the time, which weighed in at 2,605 pounds. In 1992, they doubled their previous feat, whipping up a mighty kolache weighing 5,200 pounds.

You Can Only Buy Fried McDonald’s Apple Pie in Two States

Fried apple pies were a beloved fast-food dessert from their introduction to McDonald’s menus in 1968 up until 1992, when the company pivoted from fried to baked pies for health reasons. (Ironically, though, the fried pie has only 10 fewer calories than the baked pie.) McDonald’s fried apple pies have largely disappeared since then, but it’s still possible to order them in two U.S. states.

The only McDonald’s location in the continental U.S. that still sells fried apple pies is located at 10207 Lakewood Boulevard in Downey, California. McDonald’s also sells fried apple pies in Hawaii, where customers resisted the original shift from fried to baked. In turn, local franchisees reverted to the original fried recipe, which continues to be sold there today.

A New Cronut Flavor Debuts Each Month — And Old Flavors Disappear Forever

In 2013, the New York City bakery Dominique Ansel created a viral sensation that’s since been emulated by bakeries around the globe: the cronut. Combining croissant-like dough with the shape of a donut, cronuts debuted with a rose vanilla flavor, which was achieved using a vanilla ganache and rose glaze.

Since then, chef Dominique Ansel, the bakery’s namesake, and his team of talented bakers have never once repeated a flavor for authentic cronuts.At the end of each month, the bakery unveils a new flavor, and the previous one is permanently discontinued.

Ansel estimates that he and his team have created more than 600 cronut varieties since the pastry’s debut, though they no longer keep count. Ansel admits it’s challenging to come up with new flavors so regularly without recycling old flavors, especially after more than a decade of continuous operation.

In addition to the rose vanilla, other past flavors include sweet clementine and ricotta, rhubarb brown sugar with lemon thyme, and raspberry jam and stracciatella. “Plain” or “regular” cronut varieties, on the other hand, have never been offered at any Dominique Ansel establishment.

Croissants Didn’t Originate in France

Culinary historians typically agree that croissants were inspired by crescent-shaped Austrian pastries called “Kipferl” — German for “crescent” — which were mentioned in Austrian texts as early as the 12th century. Though similar in shape, the two foods are quite different in texture; Kipferl are much breadier and denser than the flakier croissants we eat today.

The connection between the two pastries dates back to 1838, when Austrian entrepreneur August Zang founded a Viennese-style bakery in Paris. The store proved so popular that by 1840, there were more than a dozen imitators selling Viennese-style pastries across the city.

The French began experimenting with new baking techniques for Kipferl, including swapping out its dense brioche dough for a laminated yeast dough, thus giving it a flakier texture. That experimentation culminated in the first recorded recipe for the croissant as we know it today, which dates to 1915 and is attributed to French chef Sylvain Claudius Goy.

Bennett Kleinman

Staff Writer

Bennett Kleinman is a New York City-based staff writer for Inbox Studio, and previously contributed to television programs such as "Late Show With David Letterman" and "Impractical Jokers." Bennett is also a devoted New York Yankees and New Jersey Devils fan, and thinks plain seltzer is the best drink ever invented.

Original photo by Thomas Park/ Unsplash

Each year, more than a million rowdy revelers take to the streets of New Orleans for one of the most vibrant, debaucherous, and flat-out fun celebrations of the year: Mardi Gras. But this festive event isn’t confined to just the Big Easy. Festivities are held across the U.S. and around the world, typically featuring mask-wearing revelers, colorful parade floats, and the excessive consumption of fatty foods, booze, and other indulgent treats.

Beyond the bead throwing, lively jazz music, and at times excessive libations, this event also carries a deeper history and lore. Here are five festive facts you might now know about Mardi Gras.

The Official Colors Have Deeper Meanings

The three official colors of Mardi Gras are purple, gold, and green. The origin of these colors goes back to the first Rex parade, one of the oldest and most popular Mardi Gras parades, which was held in New Orleans in 1872.

Carnival historian Errol Laborde believes the colors were selected in keeping with the laws of heraldry, a medieval custom that dictates the design of flags, coats of arms, and other heraldic symbols. According to those laws, flags should contain three fields consisting of colors and metals (such as gold and silver), though the exact hues are left up to personal preference from there.

The Rex Organization — the group that founded the eponymous parade — has never publicly stated why purple, gold, and green in particular were chosen as the color of Mardis Gras. But we do know the colors were assigned specific meanings at the Rex parade held on Mardi Gras in 1892.

The theme of the parade was “Symbolism of Colors,” and each float displayed a color and its associated theme. At that event, the purple float represented justice, the gold float represented power, and the green float represented faith.

The First U.S. Celebration Was Held in Alabama

Before Mardi Gras came to the Americas, it was a popular celebration in Europe, especially among French Catholics, who brought the holiday with them to the United States. And although most Americans associate Mardi Gras with New Orleans, the first official recorded celebration in the United States took place in Mobile, Alabama.

On March 2, 1699, French Canadian explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville and a team of explorers arrived 60 miles south of New Orleans on the eve of Mardi Gras. Given the timing of their arrival, they named the spot where they landed “Pointe du Mardi Gras.”

By 1702, Bienville had made his way east down the Gulf and established Fort Louis de la Louisiane along the Mobile River. That settlement came to be known as Mobile, and in 1703, a local Frenchman named Nicholas Langlois helped organize the first recorded Mardi Gras celebration in the United States.

Details of the festivities are sparse, but we do know that inaugural celebration predated the founding of New Orleans by 15 years, and Mardi Gras events didn’t become common in NOLA until the 1730s. Mardi Gras continues to be a beloved and well-attended tradition in Mobile today, attracting an estimated 1 million annual attendees (compared to the 1.4 million revelers who visit New Orleans).

Credit: Ninette Maumus/ Alamy Stock Photo

Parades Are Organized by “Krewes”

In many parts of the U.S. where Mardi Gras is celebrated, official festivities are orchestrated by social clubs called “krewes.” Krewes are inspired by the Cowbellion de Rakin Society, a mystic society founded in Mobile in 1830. But the term didn’t exist until several decades later, when celebrants in New Orleans emulated their neighbors in Alabama and founded secretive societies of their own.

“Krewe” is an old-fashioned spelling of “crew,” and the term was coined no later than 1857 in New Orleans. Krewes are private clubs that primarily exist for the purpose of celebrating the Carnival season, especially Mardi Gras. Each year, those krewes work behind the scenes to plan parades and other festivities.

That work involves making colorful floats, designing elaborate costumes, and hosting various parades or balls in the two-week period leading up to Mardi Gras. Krewes are also tasked with electing the Rex (king) each year, whose lavish parade serves as the climactic event that caps off the year’s Mardi Gras festivities.

The oldest recorded krewe is the Mistick Krewe of Comus, whose origins in New Orleans date back to 1857. That year, the group paraded through the streets wearing costumes, establishing a new standard that other krewes adopted. Today, the oldest and largest of NOLA’s truck float krewes is the Krewe of Elks Orleans. Founded in 1935, they roll out 50 individually designed truck floats and 4,600 riders for their annual parade.

Credit: Michael DeMocker/ Getty Images News via Getty Images

There Are Strict Parade Rules

While everyday attendees are welcome to celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans however they please, parade participants must abide by a strict set of rules. During Mardi Gras, float riders are mandated to wear festive masks during parades. In Jefferson Parish (located in the Greater New Orleans area), anyone who removes their mask may be banned from the parade and is subjet to fines of up to $500.

New Orleans also prohibits the commercialization of any krewe-organized Mardi Gras parades. Displaying corporate logos on the float and throwing advertisements into the crowd are some of the more common violations the city has cracked down on. This rule exists to maintain the parade’s artistic integrity and annual theme.

More recently, there’s been a push to remove plastic beads from celebrations in the name of environmental sustainability. In 2025, the Krewe of Freret became the first New Orleans krewe to ban plastic beads from events, with the goal of eliminating the 200,000 sets of beads estimated to end up in trees, storm drains, and landfills each year.

It’s Just One Part of the Carnival Celebration

Mardi Gras marks the end of a weeks-long period of revelry known as Carnival. This festive season begins on the Christian holiday Twelfth Night, which traditionally falls on January 6. It runs all the way until Mardi Gras — which can fall as early as February 3 or late as March 9 — meaning Carnival can be as short as 29 days and as long as 64 days (on leap years).

Mardi Gras, which means “Fat Tuesday” in French, falls on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, the Christian holiday that marks the end of the celebrations and the start of Lent, a 40-day period of fasting and prayer.

In the days before the Mardi Gras parades begin, people in New Orleans and other areas that observe Carnival celebrate in other ways. Local organizations in the Big Easy are known for their streetcar parades, and the Krewe of Joan of Arc parades through town donning medieval garb on January 6 in honor of the French heroine’s birthday.

There are generally dozens of themed parades and fancy balls, as well as the copious consumption of King Cake, a colorful treat served at bakeries throughout New Orleans, with similar variations also served in Latin America and parts of Europe. In the U.S. and Latin American traditions, each cake contains a tiny plastic baby concealed inside to honor the birth of Jesus Christ.

In France, cakes typically contain a bean or coin, and the Portuguese hide a dried fava bean inside. Whoever finds the hidden item in their slice of cake is typically responsible for buying the next King Cake or hosting the next celebration.

Bennett Kleinman

Staff Writer

Original photo by Julia Bogdanova/ Unsplash+

You probably know someone who’s afraid of spiders, small spaces, or public speaking — maybe it’s even yourself. Those fears are relatively common, and likely to make people squirm at least a little. A phobia, however, goes well beyond ordinary discomfort; rather, it’s an extreme fear of a particular object or situation.

About 10% of the U.S. population has a specific phobia, and common culprits include snakes, heights, germs, and needles. There are some fears, however, that are much more surprising. Here are seven unusual phobias you’ve probably never heard of.

Koumpounophobia: Fear of Buttons

If you find yourself reaching for a zippered sweater instead of a button-up shirt or buttoned cardigan out of terror, you may have koumpounophobia — aka the fear of buttons, particularly on clothing. Koumpounophobia can indeed cause quite a bit of distress beyond simply preferring clothing or objects without buttons: People report feeling discomfort, anxiety, or even downright disgust when seeing, touching, or wearing clothing with buttons.

The fear is thought to stem from childhood experiences. One documented case of an extreme button phobia points to an incident in which a young boy experienced embarrassment after slipping and spilling a bowl of buttons during a kindergarten art lesson; another regards a woman who was repeatedly warned against putting buttons in her mouth when she was a child for fear of choking.

In 2007, the Wall Street Journal published a story about Apple co-founder CEO Steve Job’s dislike of buttons, hinting that his peculiar aversion was the reason he wore his famous black turtlenecks and may even have led to the revolutionary iPhone touchscreen as a replacement for tactile buttons.

Arachibutyrophobia: Fear of Peanut Butter Sticking to the Roof of Your Mouth

Peanut butter is a pantry staple in many homes, but for some people, it’s a source of genuine distress (and not just because of nut allergies). Arachibutyrophobia is a fear not just of peanut butter itself, but specifically of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth.

The cause of arachibutyrophobia isn’t clear: Most phobias are thought to stem from a combination of past negative experiences, genetics, anxiety, and/or the way the brain processes fear. Since arachibutyrophobia is based more so on the sensation itself — the feeling of being unable to swallow or breathe properly — it’s thought to originate from a past episode of choking or a moment of panic while eating.

Arachibutyrophobia’s introduction into general culture is often attributed to lexicographer Robert Hendrickson, who included it in the 1975 People’s Almanac, a reference book for curious facts. It also appeared in a 1982 Peanuts comic strip in which Sally Brown can be seen reading a school report about the phobia.

Turophobia: Fear of Cheese

Lactose intolerance is an obvious explanation for some people avoiding cheese. Less common, however, is turophobia, an extreme fear of cheese that can result in reactions as severe as nausea, trouble breathing, and lightheadedness brought on by the mere sight or smell of the food. In some cases, the aversion can even extend to other white, creamy substances that resemble the dairy staple.

In one documented case of turophobia, Atlantic magazine editor Scott Stossel explained the origin of his fear to USA Today. He described a childhood scene in which his sister ate a piece of cheese off the floor at an airport. In addition to being reprimanded by their mother, she came down with a stomach virus, and Stossel believes this kickstarted his cheese phobia; he hasn’t been able to stomach or even touch the stuff since.

Chromophobia: Fear of Colors

A pop of color can brighten a room or even your mood, but for someone with chromophobia, it can trigger real anxiety. This fear typically centers around a single shade or a few bright colors, but some people react to just about every bold hue. There are even specific phobia names for specific colors: chrysophobia for orange or gold, cyanophobia for blue, rhodophobia for pink, and xanthophobia for yellow, to name a few.

In his book Chromophobia, author David Batchelor describes the fear as a larger cultural unease with color. He argues that, throughout Western history, color has often been dismissed as excessive or superficial, decorative rather than substantive; sculptors and architects, for example, have often opted for more minimalistic neutral hues instead.

Batchelor doesn’t suggest those traditions have directly created phobias, but it could help explain why intense hues can cause discomfort — something fans of the millennial gray aesthetic most likely wouldn’t argue with.

Erythrophobia: Fear of Blushing

If you’ve ever experienced the sensation of blushing, you’ll know it can cause you to feel self-conscious. The involuntary bodily response is certainly nothing to be ashamed of, but for those with erythrophobia, blushing is a source of intense anxiety.

The fear of your cheeks and face turning red in public can make ordinary interactions feel impossible to navigate, and as a result, people with erythrophobia may avoid social interactions altogether. Research suggests that people who regularly focus closely on themselves are more likely to fear blushing and be prone to it — a cruel bit of irony, since the more you worry about turning red, the more likely it is to happen.

Lachanophobia: Fear of Vegetables

It’s not uncommon to dislike certain vegetables — especially for kids — but to people with lachanophobia, the sight, smell, or texture of the foods triggers a distinct sense of disgust and dread.

For some, the fear is tied to where vegetables come from: They’re grown in soil and therefore exposed to insects or contamination. In other cases, the reaction is to specific types of vegetables. Mycophobia, for example, is the fear of mushrooms, which is most often linked to concerns about their potential toxicity.

One documented case of lachanophobia involved a 22-year-old university student from Portsmouth, England, whose fear of vegetables caused her to have panic attacks. Like other specific phobias, lachanophobia is often treated through gradual exposure or anxiety management.

Phobophobia: Fear of Fear

In his inaugural address in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Though his intention was to give the U.S. courage in the midst of the Great Depression, he also inadvertently mentioned phobophobia: the fear of fear itself, a meta type of anxiety.

People with phobophobia may be frightened about experiencing the physical sensations that come with fear, such as sweaty palms or shortness of breath, or they may worry about the lasting harm those symptoms may cause. Chronic stress, for instance, can contribute to high blood pressure and a weakened immune system.

Others feel an intense fear regarding the possibility of developing other specific phobias. By anticipating their own anxiety, they create more of it, creating a feedback loop known as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Phobias aren’t always based in logic, but that doesn’t make the scared feeling any less real. The good news is that with the right support, people can often learn to manage their symptoms and navigate daily life without being ruled by their fear.

Nicole Villeneuve

Writer

Nicole is a writer, thrift store lover, and group-chat meme spammer based in Ontario, Canada.

Original photo by Africa Studio/ Adobe Stock

If you’ve ever woken up to find the kitchen lights inexplicably on or been told you held a full conversation in the middle of the night with no memory of it, you’re not alone. Sleepwalking — also known as somnambulism — has fascinated and frightened people for generations.

To anyone watching, this phenomenon can seem unsettling or even supernatural. But sleepwalking is simply a glitch in the brain’s normal sleep controls. Even at rest, the brain manages multiple systems at once. Every so often those systems fall slightly out of sync, and the body takes a nighttime stroll while the mind remains deeply asleep.

Although it’s most common in children, sleepwalking can happen at any age. Researchers have spent decades trying to understand why the sleeping brain sometimes allows the body to move around without conscious awareness. The answer lies in how sleep works, how the brain transitions between stages, and what can interrupt those transitions in subtle ways.

It Happens During Deep Sleep

Many people assume sleepwalking is caused by acting out dreams, but sleepwalking occurs during non-REM sleep, the deepest and most restorative phase of the sleep cycle, usually within the first couple of hours after falling asleep. Most of your dreaming, especially your vivid, narrative-driven dreams, take place during REM sleep.

In non-REM sleep, brain waves slow dramatically. The body is meant to be still, breathing is steady, and awareness of the outside world is almost completely shut down. The brain uses that time to repair tissues, consolidate memory, and restore energy.

Sleepwalking happens when the brain partially wakes from this deep state but doesn’t fully transition into alertness. The motor centers switch “on” before the thinking and reasoning parts of the brain catch up. As a result, a person can move, walk, or perform routine actions without conscious control.

The Brain Is Stuck Between Sleep and Wakefulness

Scientists describe sleepwalking as a disorder of arousal; the brain attempts to wake but gets trapped halfway. The parts responsible for movement become active while the areas governing judgment, awareness, and memory remain asleep. That explains both the wandering behavior and why sleepwalkers almost never remember what happened during their sleepwalking episodes — the brain never fully “records” the event.

Brain imaging shows that during episodes, the frontal lobe (the areas that manage decision-making and self-control) remain largely inactive. Meanwhile, deeper brain regions tied to habit and motion are active enough to get the body moving. It’s like a computer booting only halfway: The system is running, but critical controls haven’t loaded.

Because the conscious brain is still offline, trying to wake a sleepwalker suddenly can be confusing or even startling for them. They may look disoriented or frightened because their frontal lobe is being abruptly activated, forcing the brain into wakefulness before its decision-making and self-control systems have fully come online.

Genetics Plays a Role

Sleepwalking often runs (or walks?) in families. If one parent has a history of sleepwalking, their child is far more likely to do so. If both parents have a history, the odds increase even more dramatically.

Researchers believe certain inherited traits affect how easily the brain shifts between sleep stages. Some people, for example, simply have a higher threshold for waking: their brains resist full arousal, which makes partial awakenings more likely. Instead of fully waking or staying asleep, they drift into that curious middle ground.

Genetics also affects how deeply a person sleeps. Those prone to sleepwalking tend to spend more time in slow-wave sleep — the stage where episodes originate. For many sleepwalkers, this tendency is built right into their neurological wiring.

Certain Triggers Can Spark Episodes

Even in people who are genetically predisposed, sleepwalking usually needs a trigger. Anything that disrupts deep sleep or causes sudden arousal can increase the chances of an episode. Common triggers include sleep deprivation, stress, anxiety, fever or illness, irregular sleep schedules, certain medications, alcohol before bed, or sleep disturbances.

When the brain is pushed into deeper-than-normal sleep — often after exhaustion — it can struggle to wake cleanly. Instead, it can misfire and activate the body while awareness lags behind.

Sleep disorders such as sleep apnea can also increase episodes of sleepwalking. Repeated interruptions in breathing jolt the brain out of deep sleep again and again, creating more opportunities for incomplete awakenings.

Sleepwalking Is Common — And Usually Benign

About one in three children will sleepwalk at least once, and most outgrow it as the brain matures and sleep patterns become more stable. It’s less common in adults, though it still affects millions worldwide. Many episodes are mild — sitting up, mumbling, or briefly wandering — though some people are able to carry out surprisingly complex behaviors.

Sleepwalking is part of a larger group of sleep-related behaviors called parasomnias, conditions in which elements of sleep and wakefulness overlap. Non-REM parasomnias include talking in your sleep, night terrors, and confusional arousals (brief partial awakenings from deep sleep in which a person appears awake but feels confused or disoriented before falling back to sleep).

Nightmares are also classified as parasomnias, though they occur during REM sleep and involve vivid dreaming rather than physical movement. Together, those disorders show how the brain can become active in unusual ways while the body is still technically asleep.

Occasional sleepwalking is usually harmless and demonstrates how complex sleep really is. So if you’ve ever found signs of a nighttime adventure you can’t recall, it typically isn’t something to fear. It’s simply the brain at work, juggling rest, repair, and awareness — and sometimes those systems can fall slightly out of sync.

Kristina Wright

Writer

Kristina is a coffee-fueled writer living happily ever after with her family in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia.

Original photo by pavlofox/ Adobe Stock

The Heinz ketchup bottle is an iconic piece of packaging and design. Whether large or small, made of glass or plastic, the bottle is instantly recognizable on tables and shelves throughout much of the world. And if you’ve ever looked closely at one of those bottles, you’ll likely have noticed a certain number prominently embossed on the glass or printed on the label: 57.

You may have sat there, waiting for your burger to arrive, wondering about the significance of that particular number. Does Heinz make exactly 57 products and is ketchup the 57th? Does the ketchup contain 57 secret ingredients? Or do the digits refer to something else entirely?

The truth behind this peculiar number is an intriguing combination of creative inspiration, savvy marketing, and numerical superstition. Let’s uncap this mystery together.

Credit: Heritage Images/ Hulton Archive via Getty Images

A Magic Number

The history of Heinz began in earnest in 1869, when 25-year-old Henry J. Heinz created his first product, a high-quality grated horseradish based on his mother’s recipe. The business expanded, eventually leading to the birth of what became the company’s flagship product: Heinz tomato ketchup.

The now-legendary sauce first appeared on U.S. shelves in 1876 — but those early bottles didn’t feature the number 57. According to the Heinz History Center (an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution), the origins of the Heinz 57 trademark go back to 1896, when H.J. Heinz saw a sign advertising “21 styles of shoes” while riding an elevated train in New York City. The intriguing effect of the advertisement struck Heinz immediately.

He realized advertising a specific number of product varieties gave weight to a brand; it sounded substantial and impressive, giving customers a sense of abundance and expertise. At that moment, Heinz decided his company needed its own magic number — and “57 varieties” was born.

Why 57?

At the time Heinz had his numerical eureka moment, his company was producing more than 60 products, ranging from plum pudding to olive oil and peanut butter. He could have tallied up the total number of Heinz varieties and chosen the actual, literal number of products, but he went with 57 instead — partly because he liked the way it looked and sounded. There was also a certain amount of superstition involved: He later revealed that five was his lucky number and seven was his wife’s.

Firmly set on 57, Heinz didn’t hesitate to fully incorporate the number into the brand. He put “57” and “57 varieties” everywhere: on bottles, delivery wagons, buildings, and billboards across the country. The number even appeared in large numerals etched into hillsides.

Having originally started as an idea plucked from almost nowhere during a routine train ride, 57 went on to dominate the company’s labels and advertising strategy for decades. Even as Heinz expanded to hundreds of products, the company never abandoned its signature number and the mythical yet sweet-sounding “57 varieties” tagline that can still be found on Heinz bottles today.

Tony Dunnell

Writer

Tony is an English writer of nonfiction and fiction living on the edge of the Amazon jungle.

Original photo by kanonsky/ iStock

Standing proudly on one end of Washington, D.C.’s National Mall, the Lincoln Memorial honors its namesake Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, who’s known for leading the nation through the Civil War and for helping put an end to slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation.

The memorial is among the most historically significant and recognizable sites in the United States, serving as the backdrop for major moments such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and appearing in popular films including Forrest Gump and National Treasure. Yet despite its prominence, the monument has plenty of secrets to share. Here are five fascinating facts about this famous landmark.

It Was Inspired by the Parthenon

The architectural style of the Lincoln Memorial, which was completed in 1922, is notably different from the typical style of the early 20th century. New York architect Henry Bacon took a unique yet meaningful approach to the monument’s design, modeling it after the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.

Bacon believed the design should reflect Lincoln’s values. According to the National Park Service (NPS), Lincoln’s lifelong passion for and defense of democracy inspired Bacon to draw from the architecture of ancient Greece, the birthplace of democratic ideals.

All told, the memorial measures 190 feet long, 120 feet wide, and 99 feet tall. Bacon chose to use various types of stone for his design. The exterior and upper stairs are constructed from Colorado marble, while the accents were sourced from other states; the terrace is made from Massachusetts granite and the chamber floor uses Tennessee pink marble.

There Was a Typo in the Inscription

The inside of the Lincoln Memorial features several important inscriptions, but the one on the north interior wall is particularly interesting. Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address from 1865 is carved into the chamber’s limestone —and if you look closely you can see that one of the words was originally misspelled..

While speaking of national reconciliation after the Civil War, Lincoln said, “With high hope for the future no prediction in regard to it is ventured.” But the engraver made an error when translating this sentiment to the wall. When engraving the word “FUTURE,” artist Ernest C. Bairstow — who expertly completed all the other lettering and small details on the memorial — inadvertently carved a capital “E” at the beginning of the word, resulting in “EUTURE.”

According to the NPS, the mistake was likely the result of using an “E” stencil rather than an “F.” Though the error has since been corrected by filling in the bottom line of the letter to revert it to an “F,” the shadow of the “E” is still visible if you look for it.

Its 36 Columns Have a Special Meaning

The most prominent exterior feature of the Lincoln Memorial are the 36 towering Doric columns, each standing 44 feet tall with a base diameter of more than 7 feet. And the number of columns is no coincidence — it’s symbolic. Architect Henry Bacon chose to surround the memorial with 36 columns to represent the 36 states in the U.S. at the time of Lincoln’s death on April 14, 1865.

By the time the memorial was completed in 1922, there were 48 states in the nation. (Alaska and Hawaii weren’t granted statehood until 1959.) And the newer states aren’t overlooked by the design. Inscribed at the top of the memorial, above the exterior columns, are the names of the 48 contiguous U.S. states, and in 1976, a plaque honoring Alaska and Hawaii was added to the plaza as well.

Credit: National Photo Company Collection/ Library of Congress

The Current Site Was Once in the Potomac River

The site of the Lincoln Memorial and much of the surrounding area were once buried beneath the Potomac River and its marshy shores. The site was called Kidwell Flats — an especially muddy portion of the river.

The original plans for the National Mall were drawn up in 1791 and ended at the Washington Monument, at the edge of the Potomac’s original shoreline. To the west was swampy marshland, known for being buggy, musty, and unpleasant. However, city planners wanted to add more land to the National Mall’s total area, so a plan was devised to make that marshland more hospitable.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged the Potomac during the 1880s and ’90s, dumping soil west and south of the Washington Monument. Today, that area is not only home to the Lincoln Memorial but also to the World War II Memorial, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial, among other landmarks.

The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was also built atop this dredged soil. Constructed during the 1920s, the original pool lacked pilings to support it, so it sank about a foot into the marshy land below. That slow sinking caused cracks and leakage, subsequently requiring about 30 million gallons of water each year to refill.

Since its construction, the landmark has undergone several renovations. In 2012, it received a complete overhaul, featuring a restored bottom and a new sustainable water system.

Credit: 1946- Carol M. Highsmith Archive/ Library of Congress

There’s Going To Be a Museum Underneath the Memorial

It’s a question NPS guides get all the time: “What’s underneath the Lincoln Memorial?” For the last century, the answer has been quite boring: an empty basement.

Despite a widely held myth that the late president is buried beneath his memorial (he was actually laid to rest in Springfield, Illinois), the monument’s so-called “undercroft” is relatively empty. The cavernous, bunker-like structure features massive concrete columns and graffiti left behind by its original builders.

But that’s all about to change: An immersive museum featuring 15,000 square feet of public exhibit space is set to open in July 2026. The exhibits will illuminate the monument’s history, its construction, and its role in civil rights demonstrations.

The undercroft spans 43,800 square feet in total, meaning only part of it will become museum space. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls will allow visitors to view the undeveloped section of the monument’s concrete foundations, offering a rare behind-the-scenes look at one of America’s most enduring symbols.

Rachel Gresh

Writer

Rachel is a writer and period drama devotee who's probably hanging out at a local coffee shop somewhere in Washington, D.C.

Original photo by Pixel-Shot/ Adobe Stock

Though some people view rodents as unwelcome pests, to others they’re beloved members of the family. Critters such as guinea pigs, hamsters, and even rats are popular pets thanks to their small size, playful demeanor, and intelligent nature.

But as common as these pint-sized pets are, there’s still a lot you may not know about them. Here are five facts about rodent pets for you to nibble on.

Chinchillas Bathe in Dust

Rather than soaking in water, chinchillas take dust baths to keep their fur looking lush and their skin free from irritation. Chinchillas have some of the densest fur of any land mammal, with up to 80 hairs growing out of a single follicle. That density makes it tough for chinchilla fur to dry efficiently after getting wet, and the trapped moisture can lead to matted fur and skin problems.

As a solution, chinchillas rely on the alternative bathing method of rolling around in fine dust, which clears away debris and distributes their body’s natural oils. It’s typically best for the animals to use dust made from absorbent compounds such as volcanic ash or pumice that help draw out excess moisture.

While wild chinchillas take dust baths as they please, it’s recommended that pet owners offer two to four dust baths a week, ranging from three to five minutes each time. That routine keeps a chinchilla’s fur soft, helps prevent irritation and fungal growth, and also ensures the animal’s mental wellness.

Theodore Roosevelt Owned Dozens of Guinea Pigs

Teddy Roosevelt and his family owned dozens of guinea pigs, including during their time in the White House. At one point in 1900, the Roosevelts cared for a whopping 22 guinea pigs simultaneously. The Theodore Roosevelt Center adds that there’s evidence of an additional eight guinea pigs owned by the Roosevelts at some point, bringing the known total of those family pets over the years to 30.

While not all those pet guinea pigs were named, we know of at least five that lived in the White House: Admiral Dewey, Dr. Johnson, Bishop Doane, Fighting Bob Evans, and Father O’Grady. The Roosevelts also owned a particularly large guinea pig they named “The Prodigal Son,” as well as guinea pigs named Harvard, Princeton, and Mr. and Mrs. Longworth.

Some rodents are highly social creatures best kept in pairs, while others thrive when left alone in solo enclosures. Gerbils are part of the first category, as they live in packs of two to 15 in the wild. It’s recommended to keep domesticated gerbils in same-sex pairs to avoid unwanted breeding and to introduce the pairs at a young age so they can forge bonds early in life. That social interaction keeps pet gerbils happy and prevents them from feeling lonely or stressed.

Hamsters, on the other hand, are solitary animals that prefer to live alone, though many pet owners make the mistake of keeping them in pairs or near other animals. Typical hamsters are highly territorial and may become aggressive toward other hamsters, who they’re likely to view as threats rather than companions.

Mice Can Fit Through Holes the Width of a Pencil

Whether you’re trying to keep a pet mouse in its enclosure or stop wild mice from entering your home, it’s important to be aware that mice can fit through the tiniest of spaces. In fact, mice can squeeze through holes as narrow as a quarter inch — roughly equivalent to the diameter of a standard No. 2 pencil.

Though a mouse’s skull is its largest bony feature, the shape is long and narrow, which allows the animal to fit their heads through teeny tiny holes. What’s more, mice have sloping clavicles that are angled in a way that doesn’t impede their movement, and their ribcages can compress inward. Rats, meanwhile, have a similarly flexible bone structure, and can squeeze into holes as small as a quarter.

A Rat’s Teeth Never Stop Growing

Rats have two types of teeth: molars that stop growing when fully formed and incisors that grow endlessly. Those four fang-like incisors are located in the front of the mouth, two on top and two on the bottom. If they get too long, they can make it difficult for a rat to eat, potentially causing a slew of health complications, which is why it’s vital for rats to keep their incisors ground down to a manageable length.

It’s recommended that rat owners feed the creatures a proper diet and provide them chew toys to grind their teeth on. You may also notice your pet rat performing an action called “bruxing,” in which the critter softly grinds its incisors against each other to wear them down.

During particularly intense bruxing sessions, it’s common for a rat’s eyes to bulge and rapidly vibrate as its jaw muscle presses against its eyeballs and pushes them outward. This is known as “eye-boggling,” and it’s normal behavior indicative of a happy rat.

Bennett Kleinman

Staff Writer

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