Why Do Old Mirrors Have Black Spots?

  • Soldier looks in mirror, c. 1950
Soldier looks in mirror, c. 1950
Credit: © Keystone—Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Author Nicole Villeneuve
August 5, 2026

Love it?

If you’ve ever shopped for mirrors in an antique shop, you may have noticed small black spots scattered across the glass. Sometimes these spots appear along the edges, but others seem to float across the surface like little shadows trapped inside the mirror. They’re not scratches in the glass, and cleaning or polishing doesn’t seem to remove them. So what causes them, and why are they so common in old mirrors?

Credit: © brandstaetter images—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

A Mirror Is More Than Just Glass

Although we think of mirrors as shiny pieces of glass, the glass is actually only the surface we look through. The reflection comes from a thin metallic coating applied to the back. When light passes through the glass and reaches this reflective layer, it bounces back to our eyes and creates the image we see.

While people had been using polished metal mirrors since ancient times, producing a mirror that could clearly reflect was a difficult and expensive process. During the Renaissance era, high-quality glass mirrors were luxury items for the wealthy; Venetian glassmakers in particular became known for producing some of Europe’s most revered pieces. At the time, these mirrors were backed with reflective — and toxic — mercury. But that began to change in the 19th century. In 1835, German chemist Justus von Liebig developed a method for applying a thin layer of silver to glass, making mirrors easier and less expensive to produce and, as a result, available to more ordinary homes.

5 Life Lessons From Leonardo da Vinci

  • Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1510
Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1510
Credit: © Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Author Kristina Wright
August 5, 2026

Love it?

Leonardo da Vinci is remembered as one of history’s geniuses, a man whose curiosity seemed to have no limits. Born in 1452 during the Italian Renaissance, he created some of the world’s most celebrated works of art, including the “Mona Lisa” and “The Last Supper,” while filling thousands of notebook pages with observations and ideas about anatomy, engineering, nature, mathematics, and the human mind. To Leonardo, art and science were never separate pursuits — they were different ways of understanding the same world.

Those notebooks remain one of his greatest legacies. Rather than offering a formal philosophy of life, they capture the thoughts of someone constantly asking questions, testing assumptions, and searching for truth. Among sketches of flying machines and scientific studies are reflections on knowledge, character, time, and human nature that still feel remarkably modern. More than 500 years later, Leonardo’s words continue to hold lessons, including the five below.

Credit: © Science & Society Picture Library—SSPL/Getty Images

Never Stop Learning

The quintessential Renaissance man, Leonardo believed the mind was meant to be used, challenged, and continually expanded. He wrote that “the acquisition of any knowledge is always of use to the intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the good.” To him, learning was never wasted — every new skill, observation, or experience strengthened the mind and replaced ignorance with understanding. His own life reflected this belief as he studied everything from anatomy and engineering to botany, astronomy, and geology.

He reinforced this idea with one of his most memorable metaphors: “Iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity and in cold weather becomes frozen, even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.” Leonardo believed that, whether through reading, practicing a skill, or simply asking better questions, curiosity keeps us sharp and engaged with the world.

5 of the Oldest Companies Still in Business

  • The Royal Mint, Llantrisant, Wales
The Royal Mint, Llantrisant, Wales
Credit: © Matt Cardy/Getty Images News
Author Tony Dunnell
August 4, 2026

Love it?

Businesses come and go, and even industry titans are subject to the whims of the market. Just look at Woolworth’s, Circuit City, Blockbuster, Pan Am, Compaq, and Tower Records — all gone. 

But some companies have impressive staying power, surviving wars, economic collapses, and centuries of shifting technology, quietly continuing to operate long after their founders are forgotten. Here are five such businesses, which count among the oldest extant companies in the world.  

Credit: © Boltor

Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan

Recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest hotel on Earth, this hot spring inn in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, has welcomed guests for more than a millennium. Founded in 705 CE, it has been run by the same family across 52 generations. In that time, numerous famous figures have walked through its doors, including the Japanese samurai Tokugawa Ieyasu (founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of shoguns in 1603) and the country’s current emperor, Naruhito

The hotel’s longevity reflects a broader pattern in Japan, which is home to a disproportionate number of the world’s oldest companies thanks largely to an emphasis on sustainability and generational family ownership. It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that Japan is also home to the world’s second-oldest hotel, Hoshi Ryokan. And then there’s Kongō Gumi, a construction company purportedly founded in 578 CE, making it the oldest continuously operating independent company in the world — until 2006, when it became a subsidiary of the Takamatsu Construction Group.

The Most Iconic Brand Logos of All Time

  • Coca-cola car in the 1920s
Coca-cola car in the 1920s
Credit: © Sjöberg Bildbyrå—ullstein bild/Getty Images
Author Tony Dunnell
August 4, 2026

Love it?

Paul Rand, the influential art director and graphic designer who created logos for IBM, UPS, and ABC, once said, “Design is the silent ambassador of your brand.” He knew how important a logo could be — more than simply identifying a company, it could become shorthand for an entire feeling, reputation, or experience. 

Here’s a look at 10 iconic brand logos — designs that rank among the most recognized symbols on Earth. 

Credit: © Reg Lancaster—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Nike

Designed in 1971 by graphic design student Carolyn Davidson for a fee of just $35, the Nike swoosh is one of the most simple yet recognizable logos ever created. The single, continuous curve evokes motion and speed, echoing the wing of the Greek goddess Nike. Initially, the logo was accompanied by the word “Nike,” but in 1992 the company dropped its name from the logo and most of its marketing — a testament to the power of the swoosh.

Why Do We Have Bridesmaids and Groomsmen?

  • Queen Victoria’s wedding, 1840
Queen Victoria’s wedding, 1840
Credit: © Universal History Archive—Universal Images Group/Getty Images
Author Kristina Wright
July 30, 2026

Love it?

Bridesmaids and groomsmen are among the most recognizable wedding traditions. These groups of close friends and family members are often a crucial part of celebrations today — a wedding party helps plan events, offers emotional support, and stands beside the couple on their wedding day. 

But where did this tradition start? Were groomsmen warriors who protected the couple from disapproving relatives? Were bridesmaids meant to distract and ward off evil spirits? Myths abound, but the origins of these roles are actually much more practical than fantastical.

Credit: © Florilegius/Alamy

The First Wedding Attendants

The idea of having trusted people participate in a marriage ceremony dates back thousands of years. In many ancient societies, marriage was not only a personal relationship between two people but also a legal, religious, and social agreement involving families and communities. Because weddings represented important social bonds, other people often served as witnesses, helpers, and participants.

Ancient Rome provides some of the earliest surviving written descriptions of wedding attendants. Roman marriage ceremonies included a woman known as the pronuba, typically an older married woman who played an important ceremonial role. During the ritual, she assisted the bride and performed the symbolic joining of the bride and groom’s right hands (dextrarum iunctio). 

Roman weddings also included formal customs and religious traditions involving family members. These participants helped make the ceremony possible and reinforced the idea that marriage was a public event affecting more than just the couple. Over time, wedding customs changed across cultures, but the involvement of trusted companions remained a consistent feature.

How Dangerous Was the Oregon Trail, Really?

  • Oregon Trail Caravan
Oregon Trail Caravan
Credit: © Bettmann Archive/Getty Images
Author Bess Lovejoy
July 29, 2026

Love it?

The Oregon Trail has long occupied a special place in the American imagination — a fascination boosted by the popular Oregon Trail computer game, where players regularly suffered from dysentery, snakebites, and broken wagon axles. The real journey west was every bit as grueling — but not always for the reasons popular culture suggests.

An estimated 350,000 people traveled the Oregon Trail and similar overland routes between the early 1840s and the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. Historians estimate that at least 20,000 of them died along the way, making the route what the National Park Service has called “the nation’s longest graveyard.” 

While estimates vary, as many as one in every 10 travelers never reached their destination. Pioneers fell victim to all kinds of peril, but most often disease, accidents, and the unforgiving realities of spending several months crossing nearly 2,000 miles of wilderness.

Credit: © Smith Collection/Gado—Archive Photos/Getty Images

The Biggest Danger

By far the deadliest threat on the Oregon Trail was disease. Historians estimate that illness claimed thousands of lives, with cholera killing more emigrants than any other disease.

Cholera was especially terrifying because it struck with astonishing speed. Caused by bacteria spread through water contaminated with human waste, the disease was part of a worldwide pandemic that reached North America in the mid-19th century. As emigrants gathered in crowded outfitting towns and then traveled west, they unknowingly carried the bacteria from one campsite and waterhole to the next. A healthy traveler could develop stomach cramps and violent vomiting after breakfast and be dead from dehydration by nightfall.

The suffering left a lasting impression on those who survived. George Tribble, who traveled west in 1852, later recalled that “for four hundred miles the road was almost a solid graveyard.” Of the 10 members of his family who began the journey, only five reached Oregon.

But cholera was just one of many illnesses that plagued wagon trains. Dysentery, measles, smallpox, pneumonia, typhoid, and scurvy also took their toll. Medical knowledge was limited, and treatments ranged from castor oil and quinine to laudanum, an opium-based tincture that eased pain but did little to cure disease. Poor sanitation, contaminated water, malnutrition, and sheer exhaustion created ideal conditions for sickness to spread.

6 Old Recipes That No One Would Dare Make Today

  • A steamed pudding, 1952
A steamed pudding, 1952
Credit: © Chaloner Woods—Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Author Kristina Wright
July 28, 2026

Love it?

Think back to a favorite dish from childhood — one that appeared at family gatherings, holiday feasts, or Sunday dinners. Maybe it was a casserole or a dessert, or a special family recipe that had been handed down from one generation to the next. Yet somehow, you haven’t tasted it in years.

Food reflects the time in which it’s made. Advances in refrigeration, the rise of convenience foods, changing ideas about nutrition, and evolving home cooking habits have gradually pushed many once-popular recipes into obscurity. The six dishes that follow were all considered perfectly respectable fare in their day. Today, however, most home cooks would hesitate before serving them — a reminder that even the most beloved recipes can fade as culinary traditions evolve.

Credit: © Dave Buresh—The Denver Post/Getty Images

Salmon Mousse

Salmon mousse, often served in a fish-shaped mold, represented the height of 20th-century entertaining. Recipes of this type appeared in American cookbooks such as the Better Homes Recipe Book (1926) and The Silver Palate Cookbook (1982). The dish typically combined salmon, mayonnaise or heavy cream, seasonings, and gelatin before being chilled in a decorative mold.

For decades, molded foods were considered stylish because they looked impressive and could be prepared ahead of time for guests. (The refrigerator helped make these dishes practical for the modern hostess.) By the late 20th century, however, savory gelatin dishes became associated with an earlier era of entertaining. While some retro cooks have revived them, salmon mousse is no longer a common sight at family gatherings.

How Did Sailors Get Drinking Water at Sea?

  • Sailors collecting rainwater
Sailors collecting rainwater
Credit: © Peter Dennis—Dorling Kindersley RF/Getty Images
Author Tony Dunnell
July 22, 2026

Love it?

Today, sailing vessels and naval fleets use reverse-osmosis desalination systems to get drinking water right from the ocean. But before the modern age, sailors had one major preoccupation beyond storms, scurvy, shipwreck, and pirates: the need for fresh water. 

Surrounded by undrinkable seawater on every side, they were perpetually at risk of dehydration. Fresh water was not merely a comfort but a survival necessity, and obtaining it consumed an extraordinary amount of a sailor’s time, planning, and ingenuity. Here’s a look at how ships kept vital fresh water on hand even when they were miles from land. 

Credit: © Photo 12—UIG/Getty Images

Stocking Up in Port

The most fundamental solution was the simplest: Carry as much fresh water as possible from shore before setting out. During the golden age of sail — roughly the 16th to 19th centuries — ships stored their water in large wooden casks or barrels — typically oak — stacked in the hold. 

Deciding how much water was needed before setting sail was a key logistical decision, especially given the space constraints on board. The amount depended on the number of crew members on the ship, the length of the voyage, and how much time there was between stops (if there were any). Once the ship set sail, water had to be strictly rationed — each sailor typically received around half a gallon per day — and running short before the next landfall was a constant and very real danger.

Limited space for provisions wasn’t the only problem — the wooden casks were also imperfect containers. Water stored in them quickly became stale, developed algae, and could be contaminated by wood decay, turning the precious fresh water into a foul-smelling liquid that could pose a severe health risk to anyone who drank it. On longer voyages, therefore, prestored water alone was rarely enough to keep sailors healthy and hydrated. 

7 Modern Symbols That Have Ancient Origins

  • Newgrange, Ireland spiral stones
Newgrange, Ireland spiral stones
Credit: © DEA / G. DAGLI ORTI—De Agostini/Getty Images
Author Bess Lovejoy
July 22, 2026

Love it?

The icons and symbols we use every day can feel like products of the modern world. Your phone connects via Bluetooth, your doctor’s office displays a snake-wrapped staff, and your computer is covered in tiny pictograms that tell you where to plug things in. 

But many familiar symbols are far older than they appear. Some date back to the earliest civilizations, while others preserve the memory of Viking kings, ancient healers, or prehistoric artists. 

Here are seven everyday symbols whose stories stretch back hundreds or even thousands of years.

Credit: © Yui Mok—PA Images/Getty Images

Zero

Somehow, Western mathematics got along without a symbol for zero for a very long time. While placeholder symbols for the absence of a value existed in ancient Mesopotamia and other cultures, the idea of zero as a number in its own right emerged in India before spreading to the Islamic world and, eventually, Europe. (The Greeks and Romans had no symbol for zero; apparently Aristotle thought it was a waste of time.)

While it’s not clear exactly when the zero emerged in India, the earliest known example appears in what’s called the Bakhshali manuscript, discovered by a farmer in modern-day Pakistan in 1881. In 2017, researchers at Oxford’s Bodleian Library, where the manuscript is now kept, applied radiocarbon dating techniques to the birch bark material and discovered that at least parts of the manuscript date to the third or fourth century CE. Not all scholars agree on that early date, however.

The origins of the rest of the so-called Arabic numerals (1-9), which also come from India, are similarly debated, but evidence for their earliest forms goes back to about 250 BCE.

The 5 Most Important Years in History

  • V-E Day celebration, 1945
V-E Day celebration, 1945
Credit: © R. J. Salmon/Fox Photos—Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Author Tony Dunnell
July 16, 2026

Love it?

“History is, in its essentials, the science of change.” So wrote the French historian Marc Bloch in 1949, and it’s true: History is indeed inextricably linked with change, and in some cases, the change is so fast and so monumental that just a single year can alter the trajectory of human civilization. 

Certain years from the past stand apart for their impact on the course of history. The five years below (along with some honorable mentions) share a common quality: They did not merely change what was happening in the world at the time, but created the conditions that would shape the centuries to come.

Credit: © Sepia Times—Universal Images Group/Getty Images 

509 BCE

Though the traditional founding date of the city of Rome is 753 BCE, the year 509 BCE — when the Roman Republic was founded — is arguably a more consequential date. It was the Roman Republic — with its consuls, Senate, separation of powers, written laws, and concept of citizenship — that created the political and legal innovations that shaped much of Western civilization. The U.S. Founding Fathers, for example, used the Roman Republic as a model for their new nation and the U.S. Constitution. Parliamentary democracy, the Senate, the veto, and habeas corpus all trace back to republican Rome.