The squeegee kids of Baltimore

Reflections from Ben Giles, history's greatest stain remover

Starting out as a freelance window cleaner, the British cleaning legend started taking on jobs cleaning out people's garages and shacks. He soon realized people would pay top-dollar to have their worst messes cleaned up by someone else.

A solar-powered device with googly eyes is pulling trash from Baltimore's harbor

Mr. Trash Wheel uses a conveyor belt to scoop debris from the surface of Baltimore's Inner Harbor before it reaches the Chesapeake Bay, and it runs on a combination of water current and solar power.

Feds crack down on sassy highway signs

Digital signs warning drivers to make good decisions have taken on some sass in recent years. No more, says the Federal Highway Administration.

In the '70s, graffiti moved to subway cars

Unlike static walls, the silver cars moved throughout the city, like a canvas in perpetual motion. That made them highly desired by graffiti artists, especially because tagging them was considerably more difficult and, in turn, more impressive than a simple tag in an alley.

Thousands of quarters and huge water bills: the economics of laundromats

There are approximately 30,000 laundromats in the US, serving the roughly 50% of apartment dwellers who do not have a washer or dryer. Shops profit when they can get their machines—roughly 30 to 40 per location, on average—to wash eight to 10 loads a day. Connections with commercial vendors help.

After the owner fell into a Ponzi scheme, one braiding shop in suburban Maryland began making $130K a day by staying open for 24-hours

Because braiding often takes a long time, the salon prioritizes fast, efficient styles, with two braiders often working together on a client, which increases revenue by increasing turnover. The salon has 120 seats and more than 400 contracted braiders across its 10,000-square-foot space.

How congestion pricing is trying to fix downtowns

Billions of gallons of gas are wasted each year as US drivers sit in traffic losing billions of hours of time. The congestion problems big downtowns face has led to innovative interventions to try to stop the traffic, including congestion pricing, a...

In defense of the advertisement economy

Advertising is frequently reviled for how it clutters up public spaces and our everyday experiences. Nonetheless, it allows for vast amounts of goods and services to be rendered free to millions of users—and gives users the option to pay with money or time and attention.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

People are making careers out of playing claw machines

As it turns out, winning at a claw machine arcade game over and over again makes for great social media content. Influencers like Erik Kane are taking advantage of this—and making money off of it, too.

Offering support to others linked to cognitive and physical health improvements

The Baltimore Experience Corps Trial, which was a large study evaluating the health benefits of volunteering among older adults, concluded that seniors spending about 15 hours weekly offering kids tutoring and mentoring was associated with improvements including better memory and increased mobility and strength.

Bed Bath and Beyond’s 20% off coupon had a cult following

The home goods store’s most fervent fans loved these coupons so much that some bought them in batches on eBay. The FBI even reportedly found one of these big blue coupons in famous mobster Whitey Bulger’s junk drawer. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

A video showing how drug dealing really works

What motivates people to sell drugs? The “News on Drugs” series asks how people get drawn into the drug trade, unpacking the different goals and aims involved in dealing drugs. While there is a lot of focus on cartels, traffickers, and gangs...

How a Philadelphia soup kitchen taught business students about ethical decision-making

As the St. Francis Inn—a Philadelphia soup kitchen—struggled with decisions about moving its operations to serve more people, a management professor at St. Joseph's University realized his students might have been able to help. Business students used ethical decision-making frameworks to help the soup kitchen serve more people and attract more volunteers.

According to Kurt Cobain, Wipers invented grunge

Wipers began in Portland, Oregon in 1977, playing a form of punk rock that sounded darker and heavier than their contemporaries in New York, California, and England. The band remained an underground secret for years, influencing countless artists, including Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. "What more can I say about them?" he said in an interview. "They started Seattle grunge rock in Portland, 1977."

Mister Softee started as two brothers in a Chevy van

The company began on St. Patrick's Day in 1956, when James and William Conway made their way across Philadelphia, selling green-hued ice cream. They weren't the first to sell ice cream from a truck, but they perfected it—thanks to the know-how they acquired working for the Sweden Freezer Manufacturing Company.

Some tourist hotspots are shunning tourists

Locals in Barcelona sprayed tourists with water guns while protestors in Mexico City demanded politicians work against gentrification. Despite the economic boost tourism provides, protestors believe tourism has contributed to housing shortages and rising costs.

Dishonest brokers called ‘curbstoners’ once competed by placing signs on properties

In the 1910s, yards would be littered with dozens of signs representing competing and potentially dishonest salesmen. The concept of the “open house” developed during this period, as real estate agents would occupy a single home all day for what they called “open inspections.”

Some argue that advance payday apps aren't markedly different from payday loans

Some apps, like EarnIn, allow users to get money from their paycheck in advance. These apps access users' banking information, allowing the company to immediately take back any borrowed money and track users' financial situations to evaluate their risk. Unlike traditional payday lenders, these apps often waive the right to sue users who don't pay back the initial principal and don't charge interest, but rather ask users for a tip. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

'Vox Pop' gave ordinary contestants the chance to win quick cash

The radio show began in 1932 with man-on-the-street interviews in Houston, but soon began traveling to different locations around the country. The show became known for its quiz feature, which offered $1 for each question randomly picked people answered correctly. The show was a hit, not only because audiences could imagine themselves in the contestants’ shoes, but also because it was relatively inexpensive for the network to produce.

The incredible story of Bishop Sycamore

Bishop Sycamore is facing scrutiny after its ugly loss in a nationally televised football game, but this is not new to many of the people involved.

The oddest shots captured on Google Street View

Ever wondered what you could see on Google Street View if you looked hard enough? With this delightful site, you can now explore the weird and wonderful things captured since the service debuted in 2007.

Q-tips, invented in the 1920s, were first called 'Baby Gays'

After an immigrant from Poland observed his wife's method of wrapping a wad of cotton around a toothpick to clean their newborn daughter Betty's eyes, ears, and elsewhere during bathing he marketed the product in the mid-1920s as "Baby Gays." The later "Q-tip" name has competing origin stories—with the "q" standing for "quality" or, alternatively, it's a play on "Cutie-Tips" reportedly because Betty was a cute baby.

Even medieval teachers sometimes complained about their students

Although it's tempting to assume that the youngest generation has gone astray, it's important to remember that older generations throughout history have been annoyed, and even dismayed, by the behavior of the youth. Look no further than this collection of medieval teachers complaining about their students, including one father who complains that his son prefers "license to restraint and play to work and strumming a guitar while the others are at their studies."

Stranger pays for a family's breakfast tab and writes heartfelt note praising the father of three kids

In Fort Worth, Texas, an Emergency Room doctor wearing scrubs was enjoying a meal with his wife and three children. While getting ready to pay, the family learned that their $85 bill had already been settled, with a kind note left behind. The message was signed by "a retired Army Medic" who thanks the man for being a good father.

Jeep culture, explained

Jeeps originated as all-purpose vehicles in World War II and have since become the most common off-road vehicle. Owners greet each other with a wave, but there's a pecking order. Drivers of younger, less-modified models are expected to initiate the wave to older, vintage Jeeps. Also, all those rubber ducks are tokens left on that particular Jeep from admirers.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

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

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

The history of many kitchen appliances involves unexpected discoveries and applications, including wartime radar turned hamster defroster and replacing an 'ice king' with heat-stealing boxes.

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.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

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.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

Poison ivy can cause rashes year-round since all parts of the plant contain urushiol, the oil that triggers our allergic response.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real