Eels, orts, and Wordle! Sweden awarded its most prestigious literary award to a book about…eels. The Book of Eels reveals the mysterious life cycle of this sea creature and its significance for famous figures from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud. Plus...
Some college students are using the word loyalty as a synonym for monogamy. Are the meanings of these words now shifting? Plus, a biologist discovers a new species of bat, then names it after a poet he admires. Also, warm memories of how a childhood...
Bonnie in Jacksonville, Florida, is in search of a term that has to do with rain adhering under the eaves. She’s sure she once heard such an expression. There’s water adhesion and surface tension, as well as the Coanda effect, but none of those...
Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha’s savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of nature and predicted the effects of human activity on...
Carmen in Jacksonville, Florida, was told she was pretty as a speck of puff. The more common simile is pretty as a speckled pup or cute as a speckled pup. This is part of a complete episode.
When an international team of scientists traveled to a research station in Antarctica for six months, the language they all shared was English. After six months together, their accents changed ever so slightly — a miniature version of how language...