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The other day I received an email from a reader with 10 questions she wanted me to answer. No introduction. No small talk. Just a list of questions and “Thanks for your time” at the bottom.

You probably know monosodium glutamate from its link to so-called ‘Chinese Restaurant Syndrome’ — and that’s precisely the problem.

There was a time when the Victorian facade was a prevalent status symbol in the United States.

Why Stanislaw Lem’s futurism deserves attention.

From myths to literature to giant squid, here’s how some of our favorite eerie creatures and legends got their start.

X-rays and other “objective"" instruments influenced controversies about whose pain should be believed.

Don’t feel like cooking dinner? Let the slow cooker do it for you.

Green tea becomes rosy with the addition of a special ingredient.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is an enormous agglomeration of plastic waste floating in the world’s largest ocean, but it’s not the only one. Scientists are trying to work out how to clean them up.

From snow faces to jumbo books.