The sophisticated math jokes of 'The Simpsons'

A 'Simpsons' writer on the show's inadvertent predictions

Some have noted that "The Simpsons" has accurately anticipated a number of events years before they happened. In this interview, showrunner Al Jean explains how these unintentional predictions came about and why he believes the events were not so much visions of the future as educated guesses.

The best episodes of 'The Simpsons,' ranked

In its almost four decades on the air, "The Simpsons" has played a role in shaping the arc of American comedy. This list from The Ringer ranks the show's episodes that played the biggest role in that process, featuring exemplary scripts from Conan O'Brien, Greg Daniels, and more.

2 'Simpsons' producers break down the show's turning points

Longtime director David Silverman and showrunner Matt Selman walk you through some of the show's biggest turning points, from the early days on "The Tracey Ullman Show" through its biggest guest stars and eerily accurate predictions.

Watch every 'Simpsons' couch gag

One of the most recognizable elements of "The Simpsons" opening sequence is the "couch gag," a visual joke (featuring the family sitting on their living room couch) that often changes. This collection compiles every one of them through Season 34.

'The Simpsons' celebrated 800 episodes in 2026

The beloved family from Springfield reached a milestone in 2026, surpassing 800 episodes. In this Associated Press feature, the show's creators and stars reflect on the series' history, from its controversial early days to its present-day status as an elder statesman of comedy.

Browse millions of 'Simpsons' screencaps

"The Simpsons" has become an integral part of internet meme culture, with jokes and images from decades ago still finding their way into online discourse. This searchable database allows you to search for your favorite lines and instantly turn them into memes.

'The Simpsons' show-within-a-show was based on a real cartoon

Most "Simpsons" fans assume "The Itchy and Scratchy Show," the violent cartoon Bart Simpson loves, is a disturbing inversion of "Tom and Jerry." In reality, it's based on "Herman and Katnip," a "Tom and Jerry" knockoff that was similarly grotesque.

Why cartoons are an ideal form for satire

For decades, TV shows like "The Simpsons" and "South Park" have satirized American culture and politics. Satire thrives on hyperbole, and cartoonists' ability to render the world in any way they choose allows for more elevated critiques.

Some 'Simpsons' fans believe the show exposed Jeffrey Epstein's private island

In a 2000 episode, Homer Simpson is captured by a cabal of powerful men and taken to a private island. After escaping, he posts online that "Some crazy creeps on an island somewhere are secretly running the world." Some believe the episode is referencing the private island operated by convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. In 2019, Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre alleged that she gave "Simpsons" creator Matt Groening a foot massage at Epstein's insistence.

A blend of brilliance and humor made Stephen Hawking's cameos unforgettable

Throughout his life, he appeared in numerous pop culture moments—from "The Simpsons" to "The Big Bang Theory"—showing his talent for comedy and his love of science outreach. He was the only person to play himself on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," even writing some of his own lines.

‘SNL’ sketches often follow a uniform structure

Sketch comedy relies on pacing, with scripts that hit certain beats. "SNL" often greenlights sketches that lean into a particular formula that features two "turns," or unexpected events that disrupt the "base reality" of the story.

Mathematicians often solve problems using wordless mental processes

It's a common technique among expert mathematicians, where thinkers rely on intuition, blurry perceptions and subconscious work—no writing, no formulas. The state is distinct from daydreaming, and often relies on sudden illuminations stemming from extended periods of subconscious reflection.

Why Nevada is home to a real-life 'Simpsons' house

The home, a strikingly accurate recreation of the cartoon family's home on Evergreen Terrace, was built for a 1997 promotional contest. Back then, it was painted to look exactly like it did on TV, but the contest winner declined to move in, choosing a $75,000 cash prize instead.

Mathematical breakthroughs influenced Shakespeare’s stories

New ideas in math were transforming Europe at the time Shakespeare penned his plays, including newly popular conceptions of zero via philosophers Descartes and Leibniz.

The most bizarre numbers in the universe

Even for math-y types, some numbers are incomprehensible. This article dives into several kinds of numbers more complicated than even irrational numbers with endless decimals like "pi" or Euler's number: Noncomputable numbers. Read the bizarre...

How math whizzes exploit sportsbooks

Chris Dirkus is a professional sports bettor who approaches the hobby as a math problem, not from a fan's perspective. He focuses on mispriced odds in popular games where many fans are betting for high liquidity. He's one of a rare segment of sports bettors exploiting slow models and human mistakes.

Watch 'I'm Just a Bill' explain how a law gets made

First aired in 1976, "I'm Just a Bill" became a defining civics lesson for generations, using animation and humor to trace the legislative process and cement itself as a lasting piece of US political culture.

Optical illusions were a key component in animating the Muppets

Despite being fairly typical puppets, Jim Henson's Muppets often ventured out into the real world without any apparent humans controlling them. That's thanks to several ingenious optical illusions devised by Henson and his partners, including well-placed mirrors, platformed sets, and remote-controlled puppeting.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

'The $64,000 Question' took the quiz show formula to new levels

Creator Louis G. Cowan upped the potential winnings and had his team scour through contestant applications in search of everyday people with exceptional knowledge in a particular area. When the show premiered in 1955, they made the game appear high-tech by using cutting-edge IBM technology to deliver questions. The gambit worked: At one point, 55 million Americans tuned in.

See which similes appear most often in popular fiction

A joke about mercury in an elevator led to the invention of emoticons

A false message about mercury contamination was posted in response to a physics problem on Carnegie Mellon's discussion board in 1982, which some users took seriously. The need to indicate which messages were jokes led to the creation of facial expressions using special characters.

Why the rich don't pay taxes like you do

The system behind the US income tax isn't as straightforward as it looks. You earn money. Taxes get taken out. Case closed … right? Not exactly. In this episode of "1440 Explores," we break down how the US tax system actually works, from confusing deductions and misunderstood tax brackets to why the wealthiest Americans often end up paying a very different tax than everyone else.

By the mid-1980s, rappers began developing complex techniques

Early hip-hop featured straightforward meter and rhyme, with rappers generally following the beat and using rhyming couplets in the style of nursery rhymes. MCs like Rakim, though, began pushing the limits of the form through varied stresses and dynamic, multisyllabic slant rhymes.

Explore over 30,000 Olympiad-level math problems

Users can browse questions from 47 countries and 17 languages, sorted by topic across categories that include algebra, geometry, discrete mathematics, and number theory. Each problem is accompanied by at least one solution, with both authored in LaTeX that can be copied over to other platforms.

Explore a series of interdisciplinary explainers on climate science

From animations on the quantum mechanics of greenhouse gases to a photo essay on how scientists acquire climate data, this collection provides detailed explorations of how different branches of science have contributed to our understanding of climatology.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

While the sun's gravity keeps the planets in orbit, their gravity also pulls on the sun, causing it and everything else in the solar system to orbit around a mutual balance point called the barycenter—the true center of the solar system.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

Calculate how much of your tax dollars go to each federal program based on your income, filing status, and number of children