The library

100 rabbit holes in 18 areas. New ones every week.

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New in the library

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PeopleThe forger who painted the missing picturesWolfgang Beltracchi didn't copy famous paintings. He painted the ones that were missing: lost Max Ernsts, unknown Campendonks, each with an invented collection behind it. One sold for $7 million. A single tube of white paint brought it all down.4 stages · 57 min
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Nature & AnimalsThe fungus that turns ants into zombiesAn ant leaves its colony, climbs to a very particular height, bites into a leaf and never lets go. A stalk grows out of its head. This is Ophiocordyceps, and it is very real.4 stages · 56 min
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MoviesThe scream you’ve heard a hundred timesA man is dragged under water by an alligator in a 1951 western and lets out a short, strange scream. The recording goes into a studio sound library. Decades later it turns up in Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Toy Story and hundreds of other films. Once you hear it, you can’t stop hearing it.3 stages · 37 min
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PsychologyOne marshmallow now, or two later?A child sits alone with a marshmallow. Wait a few minutes and you get two. Follow-ups suggested the children who waited did better in life. The test became a parenting legend. Then a bigger study asked what else might explain the waiting.2 stages · 14 min
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PhilosophyAn emperor’s private notebookMarcus Aurelius ruled the Roman Empire at the height of its power. Often on campaign, he wrote notes to himself in Greek: reminders to stay calm, to be fair, to remember that everything passes. They were never meant to be read. Today they are a bestseller.4 stages · 1 h 15 min
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HistoryThe Christmas truce of 1914Christmas Eve, 1914, on the Western Front. German soldiers put candles on their trenches and sing. British soldiers sing back. The next morning, men who had been shooting at each other meet in no man’s land to shake hands, swap cigarettes and bury their dead.3 stages · 24 min
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PeopleThe forger who fooled GöringA bitter, overlooked Dutch painter fakes Vermeers so well that museums celebrate them. Then Hermann Göring buys one, and the only way to escape a treason charge is to prove you're a fraud.4 stages · 56 min
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MoviesThe best worst movie ever madeIn 2003 a mysterious man named Tommy Wiseau wrote, directed, financed and starred in a drama called The Room. It played to almost empty cinemas. Then people started coming back, again and again, shouting the lines and throwing plastic spoons at the screen.3 stages · 30 min
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PsychologyHow far would you go?Yale, 1961. Volunteers are told to give electric shocks to a man in the next room whenever he gets an answer wrong, up to 450 volts. He screams, then falls silent. In Stanley Milgram’s best-known version, about two thirds keep going to the end.3 stages · 27 min
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PhilosophyAre we living in a simulation?In 2003 the Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom published a short argument: if civilisations can run detailed simulations of their ancestors, and some want to, simulated minds would vastly outnumber real ones. So which are you more likely to be?3 stages · 47 min

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Culture & money