Our history binds us and defines us. No matter where you’re from, your history has influenced you in one way or another. Egypt is no different. Here are 10 ways that the ancient pharaohs have affected modern-day Egypt.

10 Celebrating Sham El-Nessim

If you ever decide to visit Egypt during Eastern Easter, try not to be stunned by the lingering smell of rotting fish; it’s just the smell of another Sham el-Nessim in Egypt. Originating from ancient Egypt, Sham el-Nessim, which literally means “smelling of the spring,” is a national holiday that is still celebrated in Egypt today. It was created over 4,500 years ago.

It is believed that during pharaonic times, ancient Egyptians would offer salted fish, lettuce, and onions to the gods during harvest season. Today, Egyptians still bring salted fish, lettuce, and onions, but this time, they do so for themselves instead of the gods. People from all around Egypt gather in public gardens, zoos, and family houses, bringing their own share of salted and fermented fish. Everyone then proceeds to sit down and enjoy the taste of this smelly, salty treat, celebrating the centuries-old holiday.

It’s safe to assume that spring in Egypt doesn’t smell very nice, ironically.

9 The Eye Of Horus

“Eye of Horus” isn’t a Lord of the Rings reference, though it might as well be. The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of good health, which was later adapted by modern Egyptians as a symbol of protection from envy, or “the evil eye.”

Egyptians hate envy (hassad in Arabic) and despise anyone who would convey any sort of envy whatsoever. This hate is derived from fear of the evil eye—the eye that looks at what we have and it desires and eventually takes whatever it looks at away from us. This may be the reason that many modern Egyptians have resorted to their ancient ancestors’ symbol of good health as a method of protection from evil.

8 Don’t Flip Your Flip-Flops

Everything seems to bring bad luck in Egypt. One of the most common superstitions in Egypt is that shoes, flip-flops, or basically anything that can be worn on your feet (excluding socks) shouldn’t be flipped upside down. Doing so will bring years of bad luck.

Flipping your shoes in Egypt is a big no-no to the extent that some people may even be offended if a flipped shoe is anywhere within their sight. If a shoe is flipped, the bottom is facing the gods, which is disrespectful. The arguably absurd superstition derives from pharaonic beliefs, and as a result, it’s somewhat of a tradition in Egypt to always have your shoes facing downward, or at least sideways, at all times.

7 Giving Money To The Poor

Sometimes, a dime can save a life, or at least Egyptians thoroughly believe so. Throughout their history, they’ve continually regarded giving to the poor (also known as nadr) as a high priority. In ancient Egypt, it was believed that Maat (the god of harmony and justice) would show everlasting love and kindness to those who give back to the poor.

Modern-day Egypt is heavily influenced by Islam, which also may be a reason why giving back to the poor still exists, but one still cannot rule out the potential influence of ancient Egyptian beliefs. Whatever the reason, Egyptians today still make Maat proud.

6 Honor Killings

Honor, pride, dignity, and reputation are four things that if tainted (or “dirtied” if translated literally from Arabic), might cause someone to be killed, and that’s no exaggeration.

It is viewed by some Egyptians today as their god-given right to seek vengeance upon those who’ve wronged them. This tradition is passed down from ancient Egypt. Murdering someone in Upper Egypt meant that you’d have a “hit” on your head. The head of the victim’s family (or someone along those lines) would track you down and personally kill you instead of involving any kind of law enforcement.

Even though revenge killings later ceased to exist in ancient Egyptian culture, modern Egyptians have adopted the tradition. Although there has been a drop in honor killings, they’re still a gruesome event that occurs yearly, especially in Upper Egypt.

5 Language

The Egyptian Arabic dialect is one of the most tremendously intriguing, unique, and culturally colorful dialects in the world. It is a mixture of words from classical Arabic, a bit of English and French, some Turkish, and of course, ancient Egyptian Coptic.

Words like barrah, which means “go outside,” have no origins from any other language. Other words are still used by modern Egyptians that originate from ancient Egyptian Coptic: Tannesh means “ignore,” shibship means “slipper,” embu means “thirsty,” humm means “to eat,” and tabtab means “patting.”

It’s outstanding to see that parts of the ancient Egyptian language are still being used today and it is something that is hard to tannesh.

4 Eyeliner

Emos wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for ancient Egypt. That might be an overstatement, but they wouldn’t have had dark eyeliner.

Royalty in ancient Egypt used kohl, a dark eyeliner, as part of their makeup. Use of kohl in ancient Egypt is believed to date back to 3100 BC. It was a symbol of royalty in ancient Egypt, so not just anyone could wear it. Kohl was made from a mineral called stibnite and is believed to have initially been made to protect the eyes from the vicious Sun rays.

Usually, the upper part of the eye would be painted black, while the lower part would be painted green. Some believe that kohl was used in ancient times to show whether a woman was married or not, based on how the eyeliner was applied. Today, however, plenty of Egyptian women decorate their eyes with kohl regardless of their marital status.

3 The Seboa

Seven days after a child is born in Egypt, a celebration of sorts ensues. This celebration is called the seboa, which is derived from the Arabic word esboa, which means “week.” The intention of the celebration is to welcome the newborn baby into the world and to celebrate the birth with the mother. Essentially, it’s a baby shower of sorts, except that the baby is already born.

An important part of this celebration is to shake the baby. The aim of this shaking is to drive evil spirits away. This tradition was passed down from ancient Egyptians, as they believed that babies were more vulnerable to evil spirits. The celebrations is seven days after the birth since seven was a lucky number in ancient Egypt.

The seboa is practiced by Egyptians no matter their religious background. Almost every newborn child will have a seboa. It might sound like a fun party, but please don’t shake your babies.

2 Breaking Pots Behind Enemies

If you’re in Egypt on a vacation, and you hear a pot break behind you, it probably means that the locals don’t like you.

Egyptians are superstitious; it’s part of their culture. One superstition is that some people are simply born evil or have evil spirits around them. So, what do you do around such a person? Break pots behind them.

It sounds ridiculous, but it’s something that still goes on in rural areas in Egypt. Locals believe that breaking a piece of pottery behind someone they don’t like or have a bad feeling about will eradicate all the bad energy and bad spirits that surround them. This is, of course, passed down from the ancient Egyptian belief that breaking a pot behind a person will drive the evil spirits away.

1 The Nile

If you look at Egypt from space, you’ll see a vast, unoccupied desert and a mass of infrastructure, cities, and people around the Nile. That’s because the Nile is the source of life in Egypt. It’s a vein that pumps water instead of blood.

If it wasn’t for the pharaohs of Egypt and their settlement around the Nile, one wonders if modern-day Egypt would exist at all. As ancient Egyptians used the flood of the Nile to water their crops, modern Egypt uses the flood to produce electricity through the Aswan High Dam. The river was a symbol of pride and a blessing from the gods in ancient Egypt. That pride still exists today.

Journalism and Mass Communication Undergrad at the American University in Cairo.

History can prove hard to uncover. When delving back hundreds or even thousands of years into our past, we have to make do with whatever bits and pieces we find, hoping they can provide us with an accurate picture of a time long gone. Sometimes, we get lucky, though. Occasionally, we uncover documents that detail some of the most notable events in history.

10 The Cyrus Cylinder

In 1879, archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam was excavating in Mesopotamia when he uncovered a number of clay tablets which provided us with an unparalleled look at the ancient world. Among them was the Cyrus Cylinder, a document written in cuneiform script which, according to some, represents the oldest charter on human rights.

The cylinder was created around 538 BC, shortly after Persian King Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon. According to the cylinder, Cyrus is portrayed as a liberator. He was chosen by the Babylonian god Marduk to free the city from the reign of Nabonidus, who had perverted the cults of the gods and enslaved his own people through forced labor. Cyrus entered the city without a fight, and the Babylonian people delivered Nabonidus to him and accepted Cyrus’s kingship.

Afterward, the cylinder is written in the first person to represent Cyrus giving an edict. He abolishes the forced labor instituted by his predecessor and promises to bring back the people deported by Nabonidus and restore the religious cults and temples that were previously forbidden.

Although Iran officially recognizes the Cyrus Cylinder as a human rights charter, others claim that it was a standard proclamation made by Mesopotamian kings when taking the throne. Regardless, historians view it as the first written record of how to run a true society filled with people of different faiths and nationalities. Cyrus’s Achaemenid Empire became the largest empire of ancient history, stretching from the Indus Valley in modern-day Pakistan to the Balkans in Europe.

9 The Blood Letter

In late 14th century, the disintegrating Bulgarian Empire was eventually conquered and incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. Around the mid-1870s, a state of national awakening emerged from Bulgarians who sought to live in a sovereign state again. This led to the April Uprising of 1876 in which Bulgarian nationals revolted against the Ottoman government.

One of the main leaders of the uprising was Todor Kableshkov. After he and other revolutionaries defeated the Ottoman presence in the town of Plovdiv, Kableshkov wrote a letter to the insurrectionists in Panagyurishte, urging them to do the same. He signed it with the blood of a murdered mudur (Turkish official), and it became known as the Blood Letter, the symbol of the revolution.

The actual uprising didn’t go very well. The Ottoman government brought in groups of irregular soldiers called bashi-bazouks who crushed all opposition. Kableshkov himself was betrayed and captured by Turkish authorities. He committed suicide in prison.

The bashi-bazouks quickly developed a reputation for incredible cruelty and total lack of discipline. An American war correspondent named Januarius MacGahan described the atrocities of Turkish soldiers burning down entire settlements and killing all inhabitants.

This turned international opinion against the Ottoman Empire. Russia saw an opportunity to minimize the empire’s influence and, after a failed peace conference, declared war in 1877. With the help of several Eastern European nations, Russia won the war. After the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, Bulgaria became an autonomous state once again after almost half a millennium of Ottoman rule.

8 Ryo-no-gige And Ryo-no-shuge

For centuries, Japan was governed by a code of laws known as Ritsuryo that was inspired by Confucianism and the legal system enacted in China during the Tang dynasty. The Omi Code appeared in AD 668 under Emperor Tenji, becoming the first collection of Ritsuryo laws in Japan. It allegedly contained 22 volumes of administrative code, but there are no extant copies and its existence can only be inferred from notes in other documents.

Several years later, the Omi-ryo was refined into the Asuka Kiyomihara Code of AD 689. It offered improvements on the older code such as establishing the Daijo-kan, the Great Council of State that remained Japan’s highest governmental body until it was replaced by the Cabinet in modern times. At least, that’s what we infer as there are no surviving copies of this code, either.

In 701 came the Taiho Code, which was the first revision to contain criminal as well as administrative code. Again, there are no extant copies. Its successor, the Yoro Code, was compiled in 718 but wasn’t promulgated until 757. This time, we have some information due to a book called Ryo-no-gige (“Commentary on the Ryo”). Written by Japanese scholars and published in 833, the book contained almost all the administrative code of the Yoro-ryo.

A few centuries later, it was complemented by another book called Ryo-no-shuge which presented a comparative study between the Japanese and Chinese codes. Eventually, historians were able to use the extant Chinese Tang Code to piece together the penal side and compile an almost complete Yoro Code.

7 Deir el-Medina Papyrus

Deir el-Medina has provided us with a wealth of information on ancient Egypt. When the tombs in the Valley of the Kings were being built, this little village housed the many tradesmen, artisans, and other professionals who were employed to work on the monuments. We have already found evidence that showed the workers benefited from a primitive form of healthcare system. But Deir el-Medina was also the site of the first recorded labor strike in history.

The entire event was detailed on a papyrus by a scribe named Amennakhte. It happened around the year 1155 BC during the reign of Ramses III. Craftsmen at Deir el-Medina were complaining that 18 days had passed without receiving their rations. Therefore, they refused to work and instead sat down at the rear of the temple of Menkheperre. This also probably marks the first recorded sit-down protest in history.

The strike continued for several days as the workers urged for their complaints to be taken to the vizier. Eventually, the vizier made his way to Deir el-Medina and successfully negotiated with the strike leaders. The scribe doesn’t note the strike being anything particularly uncommon, which means that it most likely was not the first workers’ strike to occur, just the oldest one of which we have a written record.

6The Braintree Instructions

There were several events that caused the American Revolution, but one of the main issues was the taxes levied by Great Britain on the colonies without their consent—“No taxation without representation.” This concern was exacerbated in 1765 when Parliament passed the Stamp Act. It required many materials printed in the colonies to be made using stamped paper carrying a revenue stamp produced in London.

As the act was mainly an attempt to increase British revenue from the colonies, it proved massively unpopular in America and led to several protests. It also led to one of the first official protests against Parliament’s authority in North America, a document known as the Braintree Instructions.

On September 24, 1765, the town of Braintree, Massachusetts, organized a town meeting where a gathering of about 50 people unanimously signed a document destined for the Massachusetts General Court. The document decried the actions of British Parliament as a violation of the Great Charter (Magna Carta). Eventually, the Braintree Instructions were published in the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston Gazette. Based on the document’s popularity, the reasoning and language used in the Braintree Instructions were adopted by dozens of cities in the state protesting the Stamp Act.

The Braintree Instructions also became notable for the man who wrote them—John Adams. His “career” as a political activist was just getting started, but he would play an important role during the revolution and later become the second president of the United States.

5 The Charter Of Privileges

In 1681, William Penn established the Frame of Government as a constitution for the Province of Pennsylvania. The original constitution was adopted on May 5, 1682. A new Frame of Government was adopted one year later and again in 1696, with the last one, known as the Charter of Privileges, ratified in 1701. This version of the constitution remained in effect until 1776. To celebrate the charter’s 50th anniversary, the Pennsylvania Assembly ordered a new bell for the state house which became one of the country’s most cherished artifacts—the Liberty Bell.

The legacy of Penn’s Frame of Government extends far beyond that, though. It is now regarded as an important step toward true democracy for the many liberties and rights that it provided for different religions. Although William Penn was a Quaker, he was an advocate of religious freedom who also negotiated peaceful deals with Native American tribes. Back in England, he was arrested numerous times for his beliefs and spent his jail time writing more pamphlets to further his cause.

When word of Penn’s new constitution reached Europe, it found support among those who shared his convictions. French philosopher Voltaire said that William Penn “brought down upon Earth a Golden Age” unlike any that has been before.

4 ‘To My Peoples’

On July 29, 1914, a manifesto titled “To my peoples” was widely distributed throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Signed by Emperor Franz Joseph I one day earlier, the manifesto officially announced a declaration of war on Serbia, signaling the start of World War I. In the document, the emperor portrays himself as a man of peace, forced into war by “incessant provocations” from the Kingdom of Serbia to defend the honor and position of his monarchy.

The title “To my people” was a common headline for war manifestos. Franz Joseph used the plural “peoples” to signify that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a multiethnic empire consisting of two equal monarchies plus the autonomous Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Within days, the document had been translated into all languages of the empire and distributed as pamphlets and propaganda posters. It was also published in all the newspapers.

The document was seen as the culmination of the July Crisis. Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, many people realized that war between Serbia and Austria-Hungary was inevitable. The latter made an “attempt” at a peaceful reconciliation by issuing an ultimatum to Serbia that contained unacceptable terms, including Austro-Hungarian government representatives in Serbia, Austro-Hungarian police in Serbia, and the removal from the Serbian government of all military and civil administrators named by Austria-Hungary.

Suffice it to say that the war didn’t go as planned for Austria-Hungary. The end of the Great War brought the demise of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the fall of the Habsburg monarchy.

3 Pope Urban II’s Letter Of Instruction

Around AD 1095, Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus sent a request to Pope Urban II asking for military assistance against Seljuk Turks attacking his lands in Asia Minor. In response, the pope organized the Council at Clermont consisting of hundreds of clerics and nobles. There, Pope Urban gave one of the most significant speeches in history, triggering an event that would have a profound effect on Europe for centuries to come—the Crusades.

The council lasted from November 18 to November 28. Urban gave his speech on November 27, which is now regarded as the starting point for the First Crusade. The pope argued that it was time for Eastern and Western Christianity to unite against the Muslims. The following year, tens of thousands of soldiers marched east. The crusade culminated with the recapture of Jerusalem in 1099, although Pope Urban died a few weeks before word reached Western Europe.

We have six sources of information regarding the Pope’s speech at the Council of Clermont. The reliability of five of them is a matter of debate. They offered varying details on certain issues such as what kind of pardons would be granted to crusaders and whether the primary goal was helping the Byzantine Empire or retaking the Holy Land.

The sixth source is a letter of instruction written by the Pope himself in December 1095 to crusaders rallying in Flanders. It covers the Council of Clermont and remains the best source for one of the most important events in the history of medieval Europe.

2 The Mayflower Compact

Plymouth was one of the most notable early English colonies in North America. Some of its aspects are now deeply ingrained in American culture, particularly the Pilgrims and the Thanksgiving celebration. Back then, Pilgrims were typically referred to as Separatists—devout people who had fled England for a new place where they could practice their religion as they saw fit. Their iconic 1620 trip aboard the Mayflower is another essential tale of America folklore.

What’s usually forgotten is that the Pilgrims were actually a minority aboard the Mayflower. Over half of the more than 100 passengers plus the 25 crew members were “strangers” or non-Separatists. Originally headed for Virginia, the Mayflower had to settle for new land due to dangerous storms and a shortage of supplies. Worryingly, the Separatist leaders realized that most strangers had no interest in following Pilgrim rules once a settlement was established. In the words of a stranger, they were free to “use their own liberty.”

This resulted in the drafting of the Mayflower Compact, the first frame of government written and enacted in the United States. All men had to sign it before going ashore. The document granted authority to a “Civil Body Politic” to enact just and equal laws, but as the governing body consisted mostly of Separatists, it ensured that they stayed in power. Although the Mayflower Compact was not a constitution, it formed the basis for Plymouth’s government and remained in force until 1691 when the whole colony was absorbed into Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1 De Lome Letter

On April 25, 1898, war broke out between the United States and Spain, lasting for over three months and ending with an American victory. It was followed by the Treaty of Paris, which was heavily in America’s favor. Spain was forced to relinquish Cuba, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, thus losing all of its overseas territories except for a few in Northern Africa. Many see this as the end of the Spanish Empire, once known as the “empire on which the Sun never sets.”

Before the war, people in America were divided on the issue. Yellow journalism pioneers William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were in favor of war and were accused of using the media to incite the public. In this regard, Hearst hit pay dirt in February 1898 when he acquired the De Lome letter.

Enrique Dupuy De Lome was the Spanish ambassador to the United States. He wrote an unflattering letter to Spain’s foreign minister about America’s involvement in Cuba. It described McKinley as weak and a low politician. However, Cuban revolutionaries intercepted the letter. Eventually, Hearst found out and published it in the New York Journal with the headline “The Worst Insult to the United States in Its History.” The scandal outraged the American public, and they demanded action. Two months later, they got their wish.

On the Spanish side, the war cost Spain international power and prestige, but the country did experience an intellectual rebirth due to a new wave of writers, poets, and philosophers known as the Generation of ’98.

Radu is into science and weird history. Share the knowledge on Twitter, or check out his website.

When we experience something, there’s a variety of different factors which determine how well we’ll remember it—and how we’ll feel about it later on. Science has tasked itself with exploring the things which make our memory tick. Here are ten ways you can manipulate this fundamental part of your mind:

Scientists have found that memories associated with sound can be reinforced by playing those sounds softly to people while they sleep. In one study, participants played a Guitar Hero-like game. They learned two tunes, then had a nap. While they were in deep sleep, one of the tunes played softly in their ears. And when the participants awoke, the tune that they’d heard while sleeping was the one they were better at playing from memory.

In a similar study by the same researchers, participants were asked to remember random locations of images on a screen, each of which was associated with a sound. When one particular sound was played to them during sleep, they were more likely to remember the original location of the matching object.

The scientists involved believe that we use our sleep to process and consolidate our memories. By associating a memory with a sound, we encourage our brain to absorb this particular memory while we’re asleep, rather than losing it among the countless other minor events from the day.

The jury’s out on what practical use this might have—but it at least suggests that we may be able to influence what we remember, with the help of a carefully chosen sound track.

As we get older, we tend to become more forgetful. Scientists have found that a distraction related to what you want to remember can be extremely helpful for older people. They conducted an experiment in which they asked two groups of people—one of them aged seventeen to twenty-seven, and the other aged sixty to seventy-eight—to study and recall a list of words. They sprung a surprise second test on each group after an unrelated picture exercise.

During the dummy picture exercise, some people in each group were exposed to background reminders of some of the words from the first test. There was a thirty percent memory improvement in those who had been prey to these —but remarkably, only among the older group. There was no difference at all in the younger group. This suggests that keeping ourselves surrounded by reminders—even if we don’t take them in consciously—can help with recall in old age.

Research by psychologist Gerd Thomas Waldhauser has shown that humans can train themselves to deliberately forget information. Using EEG scans, he has shown that the same part of the brain we would use to restrain a motor impulse—such as to stop ourselves from catching an object—is also activated when people suppress a memory. His studies show that we can learn how to control this natural suppression—allowing us, theoretically, to forget whatever we want to forget.

Waldhauser is keen to point out, however, that only neutral memories have so far been forgotten in this way. But he speculates that—were the technique to be developed further—it may be possible to forget even our worst memories. This would be immensely helpful to trauma victims, and those with chronic mental health issues such as depression.

As if we needed another reason to eat healthy food, science has found one. It turns out that a diet high in fructose or saturated fat can hamper our ability to learn and retain information. A poor diet can reduce the levels of a chemical known as DHA in your brain; and it just so happens that DHA is very important in forming memories.

High levels of saturated fat have also been linked to brain inflammation, which can cause memory loss. Increasing your intake of Omega 3 seems to be one of the best ways to counteract that, since it replenishes DHA—but reducing the amount of fatty foods in your diet will benefit the rest of your organs as well.

It might not be necessary to cut out all sweets just yet, however; some research has suggested that chocolate may be good for your brain, and your ability to remember things.

Learning a second language, especially as a child, has been shown to have benefits which last a lifetime. Speaking two or more languages can delay the onset of dementia by an average of four years.

Scientists have also discovered that “working memory”—the kind of memory that acts like RAM in a computer—functions more successfully in children who have learned a second language. Studies have shown that bilingual children performed better in working memory tasks than their monolingual counterparts—and the more complex these tasks were, the better the bilingual students would perform in relation to their peers.

Being bilingual does more than just enhance and protect our memory; it also helps us with focusing, and shutting out distractions.

“Washing your hands of guilt” is a popular phrase—but science has shown that the act of washing can actually have a deep impact on how we catalogue our memories. For a start, general cleanliness can impact how we feel about other people—and not necessarily because they’re dirty themselves. We’re more likely to harshly judge someone else’s moral misdeeds if we’re in a smelly room, for example.

And in relation to our own memories, washing ourselves really can help us feel less guilty about whatever evil deeds we’ve committed. It’s been found that gamblers who wash after a bad streak are likely to start making higher bets, as if they’ve washed away their bad luck.

If you make a difficult decision, wiping your hands afterwards can make you feel less doubt about it, since you’ve effectively wiped away your worries. But it goes both ways: if we wash after thinking about a positive experience, our happy memories can seem less satisfying.

Writing something down is an intuitive way to help you remember it. Scientists from Ohio State University, however, found that the way you treat the piece of paper afterwards can have an enormous impact on memory retention. They found that if people wrote down their thoughts, and then scrunched up the paper and threw it away, they were less likely to use those thoughts when making a decision. If, on the other hand, they folded the paper neatly and put it into a pocket to protect it, the thoughts would stay with them and influence them later on. Keeping thoughts on a desk instead of throwing them away had a similar impact.

As with washing, it seems our brains are influenced by metaphors in the physical world when it comes to controlling our memories.

Scientists have found that inflicting pain on ourselves can lessen the guilt we feel about a bad deed we remember having committed. In one experiment, researchers asked people to write about a time they had rejected or excluded someone. They divided them into two groups; the members of group one were asked to plunge their arms elbow-deep into ice-cold water, while the members of group two submerged their arms in luke-warm water. And when the participants rated the morality of their past actions, those who had experienced the pain of the cold water gave themselves a more forgiving score.

A third group of people were asked to write about an everyday interaction, with no guilt involved, and then to plunge their hand into the cold water. Interestingly, the people who had written about doing something bad actually kept their hands in the water longer, and reported more pain, than the control group. The scientists speculate that they subjected themselves to extra pain, as they felt the need for penance.

When you study, you’re more likely to remember information when it is presented in an unusual or difficult-to-read font. Scientists from Princeton University and Indiana University have conducted two different experiments to test the effect of fonts on learning. In one experiment, they gave participants some information to read for ninety seconds, either in Arial or Comic Sans. It was found that those who absorbed the information via the more difficult font had better recall fifteen minutes later.

To see if this result could have a real-world impact, the researchers designed another experiment. This time, they tampered with the fonts of learning materials used by high school students. Students who were given a difficult-to-read font performed better in tests than those who were given a simple font. So when you write your blog in comic sans, you are not only devoid of aesthetic taste, but also prevent your readers from remembering whatever it is you’re saying.

People suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder are often debilitated by horrific memories. Scientists have been working on a number of drugs that could be used to lessen, or even erase, memories. These drugs work because when we recall memories, we’re not just playing a tape—we’re actually recreating the memory in a different part of our brain. Some drugs can block the biochemistry involved in this process, and thereby cause the awful memories to fade, or even disappear.

Many people take issue with use of such drugs, however, arguing that artificially erasing our memories can have a fundamental impact on who we are. Proponents counter this argument by saying that millions of people debilitated by memories of terrible experiences could regain their lives—and their true selves—with the help these drugs can provide.

Alan is an aspiring writer trying to kick-start his career with an awesome beard and an addiction to coffee. You can hear his bad jokes by reading them aloud to yourself from Twitter where he is @SkepticalNumber, or you can email him at [email protected].

Some people will try to dismiss their poor behavior by insisting whatever they did was just a joke. True or not, the idea is that if something’s a joke you can’t take it seriously because who would ever take a joke seriously? That’s the whole point of a joke. As it happens, some jokes do get taken seriously and have some serious repercussions as well. 

10. A Stegosaurus’ Tail Spikes Were Named Thanks to a Far Side Joke

Dinosaurs have long fascinated people and movies like Jurassic Park made them all the more interesting to everyday people. There’s an entire NBA franchise named after a dinosaur arguably because Jurassic Park made raptors famous. And while interest was high, it didn’t mean everyone knew everything there was to know about dinosaurs. For instance, what do you call the end of a stegosaurus’s tail?

The distinctive spikes that we’re pretty sure served as a defensive weapon on the dino’s tail never actually had a name, scientifically speaking. But in 1982, cartoonist Gary Larson published a Far Side comic in which a caveman is teaching a group of cavemen dinosaur anatomy and labels the tail a Thagomizer, in honor of the late Thag Simmons. The joke, of course, is that a caveman named Thag got a little too close to the tail and met his end.

Fast forward to 1993 and a paleontology conference in which a paleontologist is discussing a newly found fossil of the tail, and evidence that it was used as a weapon and then grew new bone later. The scientist in question, lacking a proper name but remembering the cartoon, called it a Thagomizer in front of his peers. 

The name spread from there and is now in published, scientific works as the generally accepted name of a stegosaurus tail.

9. The FBI Wasted Two Years Investigating a Joke

Part of the work done by the FBI includes investigating cults and hate groups. In 2005, they opened a file on a group called God Hates Goths that they’d discovered on the internet. Based on their research, God Hates Goths was a religious extremist group with ties to the hateful Westboro Baptist Church.

Writings found on the internet from the group called for violence against those who defied God, but especially people who were part of the goth subculture. As their investigation continued, the FBI came to believe the group may have committed several acts of arson as well as poisoning mentally handicapped children. But their investigation was hard to manage because finding witnesses was proving impossible. 

For two years the FBI kept hitting roadblocks in trying to find any concrete evidence of the crimes committed by the hate group. Then, two years after the investigation started, someone actually read the God Hates Goths website which included a disclaimer that the entire site was a joke. The FBI then shut down their investigation.

8. Babe Ruth’s Nickname Started as a Joke

Babe Ruth played baseball over 100 years ago and to this day remains one of the most famous players in the game. Born George Herman Ruth, his nickname didn’t come around until 1914 when he caught the attention of Jack Dunn, the owner of the minor league Baltimore Orioles team. 

Ruth was only 19 when Dunn wanted to sign him to the team, but that was still considered underage at the time, which meant he needed a legal guardian’s permission. In order to skirt the rules a little, Dunn actually became Ruth’s legal guardian and thus gave himself permission to sign the young man.

The arrangement was vaguely shady, but it also caused people to make the joke that Ruth was “Dunn’s babe.” The name stuck and spread and thus the legend of Babe Ruth was born. 

7. A Canadian Company Started Selling Canned Air as a Joke

Once upon a time people thought bottled water was a silly idea but now over 350 billion liters are sold every year. Some people still think it’s silly when tap water in most parts of the world is fine, but it’s unlikely bottled water is ever going away.

Two Canadians took the idea of a product no one needs to have packaged one step further when they started selling Canadian fresh air as a joke. They ended up getting $122 US dollars for a bag of it on eBay and so they sold another and that’s when inspiration struck. 

The two began a business selling canned air to China. Places like Beijing are known for their terrible air quality and so, in 2015, the pair were selling hundreds of bottles of air on the Chinese market for between $10 and $20 a piece. Back then they had cleared a shipment of 500 bottles and were moving towards selling 700 more. Small potatoes, relatively speaking.

By 2019, the company was making over $300,000 per year. They were getting most of their sales online and in shops in South Korea. They source their air from different locations in Canada and each bottle has a mask included and enough air for 160 breaths.

6. Newman’s Own Salad Dressing Began As a Joke

One of the most recognizable salad dressing brands in any supermarket is Newman’s Own, named for Hollywood legend Paul Newman. By 2021 the company had made over $200 million selling salad dressing making it an unequivocal success. Remarkably, Newman was inspired to start the company based on a joke between himself and a friend.

According to writer A. E. Hotchner, who was Newman’s neighbor, he’d gone to visit his friend one evening in 1980 just before Christmas. He found Newman in the garage with all the ingredients to make a massive batch of salad dressing but no way to stir it. He ended up using a paddle for a canoe and the two of them filled a bunch of wine bottles with the homemade dressing that Newman planned to give away to friend’s as Christmas presents. 

Newman had never really intended to get into the business, it was just something for fun that one night. But the dressing must have been good, because within two years the men founded Newman’s Own.

5. Frosted Light Bulbs Were a Prank Assignment From GE Until Someone Made One

Sometimes when you start work at a new company, the established employees will haze you a little by giving you an awful job to do as a joke. Marvin Pipkin had to endure this when he started work at GE back in 1919. At the time it was an established joke that new employees were assigned the task of producing a frosted glass bulb. The joke was that the company had been trying for years to make a reliable frosted glass light bulb but had never created one that wouldn’t fall apart. They were so brittle they’d even break during installation.

When Pipkin came on board as an engineer, the older employees played their usual prank. Pipkin took it seriously and ended up solving the puzzle of frosting a bulb while allowing it to stay strong thanks to a phone call interrupting him and causing him to spill some acid out of the bulb. What had eluded engineers for years was solved by Pipkin in a few weeks.

4. Comedian Hamish Blake Won a Bodybuilding Competition Despite Not Being a Bodybuilder

Every so often someone decides to do something as a joke because they have no business doing it. Often this involves trying to perform a task they don’t have the skill to perform, just to see how it’ll play out. That’s how comedian Hamish Blake ended up in a New York State bodybuilding competition.

Blake was by no means a bodybuilder, and not even in good shape, really. But he entered the 2011 competition and, because of his size, he was actually the only competitor in the heavyweight weight class. And while that makes for a good joke it also put the competition judges in a bind. Blake was not competing against anyone which meant, by default, he was the best contender. So he ended up winning the competition.

3. Wristwatches Were Considered Silly When They First Appeared

Fashion fads come and go and some are much more regrettable than others. You rarely see Hammer pants or men in jumpsuits anymore. But there is one fad that caught on so well most people have no idea it was ever a fad at all – wristwatches.

Once upon a time your watch was on a chain and you kept it in your pocket. This changed during WWI when soldiers found that having a watch on their wrist was a lot easier to deal with. 

In 1916, the New York Times noted that “bracelets with clocks in them” were something of a joke and it was a curious European trend. The actual quote was “silly ass fad.”

Soldiers in the war needed ready access to the time for precision communication and movements and the only way they could manage this was with a wristwatch. Civilians were quick to appreciate the convenience of a wristwatch as well and the joke fad from Europe soon became the standard around the world. 

2. The Habeas Corpus Act Allegedly Passed Based on a Joke

Habeas Corpus protects against unlawful imprisonment. It’s one of the basic rights laid out in the Constitution. It’s part of the foundation of law in many nations, not just the US. But how the act came to be written has long been alleged to be partially based on a joke.

Now, keep in mind, there’s not a lot of evidence this is true, but it’s also one of those “this can’t be true, can it?” situations where there isn’t a lot of detail refuting it either. But it does make for a good and often repeated story.

According to legend, when the act was signed into English law in 1679, it barely passed the vote. In fact, so the story goes, because it was so close that the assembled lords joked that one of the votes in favor, which came from a man they considered quite fat, should be counted as 10, and so it was. This allowed the bill to pass by four or five votes. 

The story probably doesn’t hold up too well under scrutiny but has been accepted as fact in many circles.

1. Susanna Salter Was Nominated for Mayor as a Joke 

There’s a popular term on the internet that’s abbreviated “FAFO” with the latter two letters meaning “find out.” You can Google the first two if you’re unfamiliar. But the gist of this little acronym is that sometime, if you push too far, you’ll end up regretting it. That happened in 1887 in Kansas.

Women had just attained the right to vote that year and so, in the town of Argonia, a group of women came together as part of a temperance movement with the goal of prohibiting alcohol. Now that they had voting rights they felt they could make a difference. Among those women was Susanna Salter.

One evening the women were looking to choose a candidate who they could get behind but several men, who were anti-prohibition, attended the meeting. They mocked the women and then secretly held their own meeting later.

They made up ballots and put Salter’s name on them to run for mayor. The women had never considered fielding a female candidate; they were looking to support men who shared their values. But these men, looking to insult Salter and her group, added her name to ballots they printed as a joke with the expectation anyone seeing a woman running for mayor would think she was a complete fool. Back then you could print up ballots because elections were pretty disorganized and no one really cared.

The plan backfired horribly when the joke candidate ended up getting massive support from the community, winning the election with 60% of the vote. She became the first female mayor in America.

Sounds can elicit specific emotions in our bodies and minds. A baby’s laughter can spark joy, and a dog barking can bubble up fear. Some people take it a step further by using noises to influence their own emotions—or to manipulate emotions in others.

On YouTube, you may find a variety of content called “ASMR.” ASMR is a complicated emotional state that some people experience when they hear specific triggers. And you’ll notice that they use just about any sound imaginable. Some of them may have a surprising effect on you, while others may have no impact at all. Here are ten sounds that people utilize to impact feelings.

Related: Top 10 Incredible Sound Phenomena

10 A Little Light Laughter

Have you ever heard of background laughter? Seinfeld wouldn’t be nearly as funny without it. TV shows often play laugh tracks when there is no live audience on set to encourage viewers to laugh at the right time.

Laughter is a nonverbal emotional expression, and the noises we make when we feel intense emotions are more akin to animal calls than human speech. We create them in straightforward ways (unlike speech), and they are regulated by an evolutionarily “older” brain system, which is also in charge of vocalization in other mammals.

As a non-verbal expression, laughter is commonly related to emotional reactions. It’s difficult not to laugh when someone else does. The brain may contain “mirror neurons,” which are active both when you are executing a task and watching someone else complete it. Mirror neurons don’t just involve laughter, though; when we hear someone talking while crying, for example, it’s tough not to feel sorry.

9 Let It Rain

One of the most prevalent noises used in ASMR content is rain sound effects. Rain-related sounds can evoke powerful emotional memories, both positive and negative. The sounds of rain can conjure up images of a relaxing day at home, while the sounds of thunder can give you a feeling of emotional release. You may be one of those folks who like to sit near a window and listen to the rain patter on the panes.

While some people find rain calming, others don’t. According to one study, over 9% of people are “rain haters”—angrier or more depressed on days with more precipitation. Tecsia Evans, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who claims certain people are more likely to feel lonely or down when it gets dark and dismal outside. When it’s raining outdoors, it’s not uncommon to notice a shift in moods, such as depression or poor self-esteem. Do you feel the same?

8 Mother Nature’s Voice

Sounds we hear in nature can help us relax, and there’s a good reason for this belief. According to Trever Cox, an acoustics professor at Salford University, these sounds are usually connected with associations we’ve evolved to make. For instance, when the birds stop chirping, you may become instinctively aware that something is wrong.

Also, in prehistoric times, hearing the sound of nature meant that the area had water, food, and other necessities for survival. Quiet, barren locations, on the other hand, indicate that survival may be difficult. All of these are natural responses for humans trying to survive. Wouldn’t you feel safer if you heard the birds chirping, the high-pitched buzzing of cicadas, and river water flowing?

Hearing noises from natural settings calms us down and makes us feel secure. A 2017 study at Brighton and Sussex Medical School observed reactions to artificial and natural noises while participants completed an attention-based assignment.

When the volunteers were exposed to natural noises, their reaction times were significantly faster. They saw a decrease in the sympathetic response (which starts the body’s automatic reaction to dangerous or stressful conditions) and increased parasympathetic response (which helps the body rest and function normally).

7 Just a Whisper

You may see whispering as an odd choice for a sound that can affect emotion. And you’re not wrong. But believe it or not, some people find whispering a soothing sound. Does the delicate stillness provide an escape from the noisiness of the real and virtual world? Or could it just be the familiarity of someone else’s voice?

No matter the reason, the sound of someone whispering is the most prevalent ASMR trigger. Some argue that whispering has a comparable effect to listening to relaxing music or natural noises such as running water or waves at the beach. Many people still doubt the effectiveness and authenticity of whispering and ASMR in general. Still, it’s being used to treat insomnia and anxiety.

6 Tapping Sounds

Tapping sounds, like whispers, can act as auditory triggers, causing significant emotional or physiological reactions, including a pleasant ASMR sensation.

It’s not always positive, though, especially for people who suffer from misophonia, a condition in which certain noises cause physiological or emotional responses that may seem irrational in the moment.

Have you ever had an emotional response to a sound that’s so intense that you want to run away, cover your ears, or punch somebody simply making slurping noises, tapping their fingers, or humming? That’s how misophonia works. It could be a tap, a tick, or even a drip. Maybe people whistling drive you to near violence. Like they say in Encanto, “Pressure like a drip, drip, drip, that’ll never stop.”

5 White Noise

White noise is that continuous “sh” sound—similar to the sound of a waterfall or TV and radio static. The color white really has nothing to do with it, except that it’s a noise that can blend in easily and go unnoticed by many. At least, until it’s not there anymore.

Depending on the person, white noise can either be relaxing or drive you totally insane.

See, these sounds are a mix of sound frequencies detectable to the human ear, and it turns out that this noise provides a variety of health benefits. White noise helps babies fall asleep faster, according to a study published in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood. It’s also been shown to help people with tinnitus (ringing in the ears).

White noise can also help you sleep by disguising more irritating sounds. It keeps noise pollution from disrupting your sleep, which has adverse health effects on our biological systems. They can help you fall asleep and stay asleep, and they may even train your brain to recognize when it’s time for bed. So, every time your TV antenna is broken, maybe you should leave it on and let the static noise lull you to sleep. Or just download a white noise app if you don’t know what a TV antenna is.

4 Pink Noise

Pink noise works the same way as white noise in that it filters out distracting sounds so you can sleep. The difference is that pink noise has deeper noises and lower sound waves, making it a little friendlier and more calming.

White noise like a fan or a vacuum can be loud and high-pitched. Pink noise employs a continuous frequency, or pitch, like with steady rain, wind rustling through trees, or waves on the beach. It creates a more even, balanced sound. The extra depth and lower waves filter out higher sounds. As a result, you hear lower-frequency noises that are more calming.

Pink noise, like white noise, isn’t going to work for everyone. You won’t know if pink noise will help you unless you try it.

3 The Sound of Music

From our ancestors’ drum beats to today’s limitless streaming services, music has always been a part of the human experience. It can positively influence your mood and emotions, increasing happiness and decreasing worry and anxiety.

Heck, even sad music can improve your mood.

When people are grieving a loss, like the end of a long relationship, they choose sad music. Why? You can use sad music to replace a lost connection. Most people need an empathic friend who understands what they’re going through, right? But when your friend is busy, you can turn on that Taylor Swift album instead. *Copium intensifies*

It’s easy to see why people find that listening to music helps them unwind. Our muscles relax, our respiration slows down, and our stress levels drop when listening to music. So turn up the volume and jam out—you’ll feel better.

2 Grandma, Is That You?

It may sound corny, but hearing your family’s voices might significantly affect your mental health. If you haven’t heard someone’s voice in a long time, it can spark something in you—good or bad.

When you listen to a tape of your grandma’s voice who passed away last year, your emotional response could come from remembering the feeling of her hugs or the taste of her chocolate chip cookies. On the flip side, a voicemail from your crazy sister can send you into an emotional spiral.

These sounds can be recorded, but they can also be something you experience in person. You can get that ASMR satisfaction by spending more time with your family, creating unforgettable moments you can laugh about and remember for the rest of your life. Even the memory of their voice can be soothing. It might help you relax more during difficult times.

1 Baby, You’re a Firework

There’s no denying that we love our fireworks—even though many have lost fingers or experienced significant burns to their hands while attempting to set them off in the backyard on the 4th of July. But it looks like that danger is part of the fun. The euphoria of listening to firework explosions actually stems from the fact that they scare us. How come?

Fireworks cause the amygdala, a little ball of nerves in the brain that perceives fear, to activate. It triggers a surge release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that regulates pleasure. So how can something we fear be pleasurable to us? Fireworks-induced fear is regulated, unlike sounds with an uncontrolled or unexpected volume level.

But not everyone loves this sound. Fireworks can be tough for people with PTSD, and they make it difficult to fall or remain asleep, especially if they induce anxiety that lasts a long time. Because of the lack of sleep induced by fireworks, you may experience tension, worry, or anger when waking up. There’s nothing wrong with chilling out to the sound of a Roman Candle; just make sure you can handle it.