2+ week, 1+ day ago (407+ words) There have been some outstanding movies from the 1980s, and so many of them had great soundtracks. In fact, there's no doubt that when you listen to songs, you immediately think of iconic moments from the movies. However, how well do you know your soundtracks? We've got a quiz for you to test your knowledge. Some are easy, but what about those more obscure songs? Let's see how many you can get right: So, how did you do? Are you an A+ student when it comes to the iconic "80s movies? Which ones did you struggle with the most? There are always going to be some songs that stand out more than others. "Don't You (Forget About Me)" has to be one of those you'll always connect with the ending to The Breakfast Club. In fact, does anyone else really want to…...

5+ day, 8+ hour ago (332+ words) Mental Floss Brain Brawl from Rizzoli Universe is a trivia game on steroids, with a fun twist where all players are involved with each pull of a card. The game includes 400 mind-bending questions spread across 200 cards and covering eight categories'Animals, Literature, History, TV and Movies, Music, Food, Language, and Knowledge. Each category also has one Brain Buster card with three super-difficult questions worth bonus points. It's perfect for families, college students, or anyone who loves fun facts at any age. It's like your typical trivia night'but from anywhere, with anyone'but we can guess these questions are more unusual than ones you'd hear at your local pub. In typical Mental Floss fashion, Brain Brawl includes quirky, hard-to-believe facts and stories from moments in history, and it's got something for every curious mind. Mental Floss Brain Brawl will be released on March…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago (344+ words) Every year, millions of Americans turn to Google for recipes, pop culture drama, and of course, definitions. And in 2025, our collective vocab curiosity painted quite the picture. The most-searched definitions this year weren't obscure terms. They were words that reveal what's been on everyone's mind: identity, emotion, and the state of the world. According to data from WordsRated, "fascism" topped the list as the most-searched definition in the U.S. this year, with more than 182,000 searches per month (over 2.18 million total). That's a hefty lead over the runner-up, "gaslighting" at 115,000 monthly searches. The rest of the top 10 reads like a mix of political science, psychology, and English class flashcards: That last one? "Barm" refers to the froth on fermenting beer or yeast" so apparently, a few bakers and brewers snuck into the data too. Add Mental Floss as a'preferred news source! When…...

2+ week, 3+ day ago (369+ words) When it comes to the holiday season, embracing nostalgia is one of the quickest ways to get into the festive spirit. No matter how you spent holidays growing up, most people associate warm memories with days like Christmas and Hanukkah, thinking back to when things were easier as kids. When all you cared about were presents and cookies, life was definitely simpler. And on top of gifts and sweets, growing up as a millennial meant watching beloved TV channels like Nickelodeon. This holiday season, test your knowledge on these holiday episodes with our trivia quiz below. That one was difficult, wasn't it? Even if you did grow up watching these shows, it might be hard to remember all the details of episodes you only watched once a year. Some, on the other hand, might be much more memorable. Hey Arnold!...

3+ week, 6+ day ago (603+ words) Parenting has changed drastically across the ages'and with it so has the tried and true advice every parent is inevitably given. While some platitudes and nuggets of wisdom have remained, much of what was once considered commonsense child rearing strikes us as totally absurd today." They were frequently employed as "trappers" or "hurriers" in Industrial Revolution era mines. The kids were exploited for their small size and made to climb into small caverns for opening ventilation." Following the 1842 Children's Employment Commission Report, public support for child labor weakened significantly after testimony from child workers depicting horrid conditions shocked the public. Subsequent legal acts and the expansion of compulsory public schooling largely eliminated child labor in mines by the turn of the century." For much of the Victorian era, parents were discouraged from showing their children any sort of affection. This…...

2+ week, 4+ day ago (666+ words) Statistically, traveling by airplane is by far the safest form of travel. In fact, the figures show that, per journey, air travel is around 95 times safer than driving, while driving is a staggering 137 times more deadly than air travel per mile. And yet, despite the data, perhaps as many as 40% of people are thought to suffer from aviophobia'the fear of flying." That's the thing about phobias, though: facts, statistics, and rational thinking might tell you one thing, but phobias are by definition irrational, so no amount of context will help. And the same thing applies to all the phobias listed below, while'although officially named and commonly cited among people today'arguably made more sense in the past than they do today." Derived from a Greek word for a grave, taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive. Historically, this grim fate…...

6+ day, 17+ hour ago (588+ words) There's a time and place for every read; sometimes we want a 650-page epic that consumes our lives for two weeks, and other times, we want a quick, easy read to forget our responsibilities on a cozy Saturday afternoon. This list is for anyone experiencing the second sort of mood. If you're stuck in a reading slump or looking for something fast that you can start and finish on a single flight, here are 15 short, addictive, fast-paced books across several different (but equally awesome) genres." A blizzard, a rest stop, four strangers, and a kidnapped child locked in a van. Need we go on? This thriller is pure adrenaline, and definitely the kind that you read in one sitting (and then sit and stare at the wall for a while afterward.) Under 200 pages and unsettling in the most delicious way....

3+ week, 4+ day ago (324+ words) Language is ever-evolving, with new words springing up from a variety of places. Some are borrowed from other languages (karaoke), others are two words blended together (doomscrolling), and some are simply shortened (decaf). Given that language is a writer's trade, it should come as no surprise that a number of new words have been born in books. Science fiction is a particularly bountiful genre for the introduction of new words, in large part because authors come up with unique and otherworldly terms to describe their sci-fi worlds. Here are 11 common words that began life in sci-fi books, short stories, and plays. When I, Robot author Isaac Asimov then used the word robotics two decades later in his short story Liar! (1941), he simply assumed that the word was already being used by scientists, akin to linguistics and mathematics. But Asimov later…...

3+ week, 1+ day ago (305+ words) Think you're a true horror buff? Take our King adaptation quiz below to test your knowledge. If you got a perfect score, there's no denying you're a total horror movie expert. For those of us who grew up loving King's stories, we know that his works even transcend the genre, tapping into parts of our hearts and leaving an everlasting impact. There's a reason the author, now 78, is so successful'and still working. From classic adaptations like IT and Pet Sematary to newer favorites such as The Monkey and The Long Walk, we all have our favorites when it comes to King's works being imagined on screen. That translates to critics, too, and it's interesting to see the rankings by Rotten Tomatoes score. Of course, these include non-horror titles, too, which have also gone on to see incredible success. Stand by…...

5+ day, 2+ hour ago (400+ words) Thanksgiving is a holiday with few widespread traditions, yet one that continues to stay popular is watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Think you have what it takes to be a true Thanksgiving Day Parade expert? Find out with this 10-question quiz: While you might consider yourself an expert on the modern parade, it has gone through multiple transformations over the years since its creation. In 2024, approximately 3.5 million people watched the parade in person, with a record-setting 31.3 million viewers watching on television and streaming. That was the highest viewership of any televised event that year, excluding news and sports broadcasts. It's hard to believe that something created so many years ago continues to be that popular today. Thanksgiving continues to be minimized in the rush to start Black Friday sales and Christmas movie marathons, yet millions of people still tune…...