It's National Candy Day, and the day after Election Day, so let's visit the back row of the U.S. Senate chamber, where, for over half a century, senators have kept a desk drawer filled with candy to share with colleagues. Plus: in Japan, candy is also fine art, thanks to the practice of amezaiku, or sculpting molten sugar syrup.
In some areas, Halloween festivities actually start the night before October 31, on a night that goes by a few very unusual names. Plus: how about an unusual lollipop that's far off the beaten trick-or-treating path?
It's hard to believe we're saying goodbye to guitar great Eddie Van Halen. His band won millions of fans on record and offstage, and won a reputation for offstage excess. But one of their most infamous stories - that they banned brown M&Ms from backstage - wasn't quite what it seemed. Plus: a Gloria Estefan hit gets a heavy metal treatment on YouTube.
We don’t have the Olympic Games right now, but we can still mark a big Olympic moment that happened on this day in 1948: the day Alice Coachman became the first Black woman to win Olympic gold. Plus: a chocolate company and an engineer say they've redesigned the chocolate chip. Is it more efficient? I don't know, but I'll be happy to test it out.
On this day in 1988, the Ostry family of Bruno, Nebraska got 328 people to lift a barn - a real, actual barn - and moved it 110 feet by hand. That's some impressive crowdsourcing.
A team at King’s College London has found evidence that, with help from a prescription treatment, teeth may be able to repair themselves! Plus: parades are off this St. Patrick's Day, but we've still got Irish Potato Candies. (Don't worry, they only look like potatoes.)
Oh man, this day.
Researchers in Switzerland say they’ve found a way to change the color of chocolate, and without adding any colors or dyes to it. Instead, they use a special imprint to give it a glowing, rainbow-y patina. Plus: the annual PeepsFest is getting underway, and they're going to do a ball drop for New Year's with a giant Peep!
It’s National Candy Corn Day, and while no candy gets more hassle around this time of year than candy corn, it also has its fans. I mean, someone's eating those 9 billion pieces produced each year. Plus: a haunted house in Utah with an unforgettably creepy name.
Languages change over time; Merriam-Webster said it added over 500 new words to the dictionary last month. But you can also see those new additions over time through the Time Traveler feature on Merriam-Webster's website. Plus: a piece on Mental Floss explains how some of the most beloved Halloween candies got their names.
