Futility Closet

In 1972, John Berger published a book called G.

In 1997, Fujio Hanyu edited a book called Hepatopancreatoduodenectomy.

It als...

Anton Pavlis of Guelph, Ontario, devised this monstrous alphametic, which has 41 addends. If each letter consistently stands for a particular digit, what sum does this expression denote?

SO MANY MORE MEN SEEM TO SAY THAT THEY MAY SOON TRY TO STAY AT HOME SO AS TO SEE OR HEAR THE SAME ONE MAN TRY TO MEET THE TEAM ON THE MOON AS HE HAS ...

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Played on an unbounded chessboard, “infinite chess” feels familiar but can lead to some strange situations. In this position White threatens to give checkmate by advancing his rook one squ...

The dwarf reed snake escapes predators by leaping into a continuous cartwheel that’s four times as fast as slithering.

“The acrobatics involved in rolling are a fascinating example of how much snakes can accomplish with their limbless bodies,” Toho University ecologist Yosuke Kojima

A “hymn to science,” by English physician Mark Akenside, from the Gentleman’s Magazine, 1739:

Science! thou fair effusive ray
From the great source of mental day,
...