Cobra effect
The cobra effect is when a solution makes a problem worse because people start working toward the metric instead of the goal.
What Is the Cobra EffectEvery term in one plain sentence. How it works is in the 2-minute article behind it.
C
Cross-writing
Cross-writing is the practice of turning a filled page 90 degrees and writing across the existing lines to avoid paying for a second sheet.
What is cross-writingD
Dancing plague
The dancing plague was an outbreak in Strasbourg in the summer of 1518, when people danced in the streets for weeks and could not stop.
What Was the Dancing Plague?F
Franklin expedition
The Franklin expedition was a voyage of two ships with a crew of 129 that set out to find a passage through the Arctic and never returned.
Where Did the Arctic Icebound Expedition Go?G
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the reformed calendar that dropped 10 days, so October 4 was followed by October 15, and changed the leap year rule.
Why 10 Days Were Removed from the CalendarL
Lost army of Cambyses
The lost army of Cambyses is a Persian army that, according to an ancient historian, was buried by a sandstorm in the Egyptian desert.
Where an Entire Army Vanished in the DesertM
Matilda effect
The Matilda effect is the pattern in which women scientists' work ends up under men's names and their own names drop out of the record.
Why women's names vanished from scienceN
Napoleon's invasion of Russia
Napoleon's invasion of Russia was a campaign meant to win one decisive battle and bring Russia back into the blockade of England.
Why Napoleon Marched on MoscowP
Photo 51
Photo 51 is an X-ray image of DNA taken in May 1952 in Rosalind Franklin's group at King's College London, the clearest pattern of its kind.
Whose photo revealed DNA's structureR
Regency
A regency is rule on behalf of an underage heir, a role that very often fell to the heir's mother.
Who Ruled in Place of KingsRoanoke colony
The Roanoke colony was a settlement of about 115 English people, including women and children, who landed on an island off North America in 1587 and vanished.
Where did an entire settler colony go?S
Segmented sleep
Segmented sleep is the pattern of a first sleep, an hour or two of quiet wakefulness and a second sleep until dawn, common before electricity.
Why People Slept Twice a Night in the Middle AgesStonehenge
Stonehenge is a stone circle built by several generations of Stone Age farmers thousands of years before the Celts.
Who Built StonehengeSumptuary laws
Sumptuary laws dictated who could wear which fabrics and colors, officially to protect morality and in practice to guard class boundaries.
Who Was Legally Barred from Wearing SilkSurvivorship bias
Survivorship bias is the error of drawing conclusions only from those who made it, while those who failed never enter the sample.
What Is Survivorship BiasV
Vasa ship
The Vasa is a Swedish warship that heeled over and sank on its maiden voyage in 1628, about 1300 meters after leaving Stockholm.
Why a brand-new ship sank on its maiden voyageVoynich manuscript
The Voynich manuscript is a 15th-century book written in an unknown script and language and illustrated with plants that do not exist.
Why the Manuscript Has Remained Unread for 600 Years