Prison slavery. Yeah, it’s a thing. Meaning it’s one of the ways the U.S. government monetizes the inmates in its custody. At the local, state and federal levels, prisoners quietly serve as the government’s own in-house workforce, helping reduce overhead and cut costs across the public sector. Prisoners are also the fodder of institutional labor trafficking, with correctional authorities routinely farming out inmate labor to the private sector. This labor has even come to play a role in the global economy.

What’s the deal with spicy food? How is it hot — and yet also not? And how does it make masochists of so many otherwise non-masochistic people? Spicy food brings an intimate pain that, for some, just hurts so good. The pain of spiciness, a.k.a. piquance, comes from the effects of a little molecule called capsaicin (pronounced “CAP-suh-sin”), found in chili peppers of the genus Capsicum. Capsaicin also explains why spicy foods make you poop, why spicy food is good for you (sometimes), andwhy spicy food is bad for you (othertimes).

Dreams…what are they good for? Our dreams can be a gateway to adventure, wisdom, clarity, the sacred, our inner genius. They can lead us past our fears, to our desires, into fantasy worlds and back out again on a path strewn with the self-organizing debris of the imagination. Dreams clearly rock. But is dreaming a lost art? Some say humanity has finally put its naive faith in the truths and meaningfulness of dreams aside for a more straightlaced, science-based worldview.

OMG 5G Internetis coming and it promises to fulfill all our communication dreams with truly seamless connectivity and practically unlimited data. 5G’s going to make Big Data into Fast Data and Ubiquitous Data, connecting and automating everything. Soon the very idea of an Internet-free space will seem hopelessly antiquated, and tolerance for slow video buffering will drop to historic lows. The way marketers talk about the much-anticipated “5G,” or Fifth Generation, of mobile wireless technologies (scheduled for mass rollouts by 2020), you could be forgiven for thinking there are no drawbacks at all associated with unprecedented data density.

Colorful charity donation bins – you might’ve seen them pop up overnight on a block near you. They are unattended, Redbox-sized depositories placed in parking lots, by fill stations, outside strip malls. You can drive up in your car and load your second-hand clothes and shoes into a large steel drawer on the front of the bin. Presumably, someone will pick the stuff up later. Painted bright green, yellow, blue, or red, the donation boxes are printed with information about the numerous causes and projects your donation will supposedly benefit.

Culture. That thing that makes one person’s beloved treat another’s source of botulism. Of course, some cultures are more daring than others when it comes to sampling life’s ‘exotic’ side. Learning what shocking culinary traditions people around the world have developed in the fullness of time can help shine a light on the fragility of our own assumptions about what’s good, what’s healthy, and even what’s safe to eat — and under what conditions.

One tragic morning in the fall of 1970, 27-year-old Jimi Hendrix choked to death on his own vomit after consuming a fatal combination of alcohol and sleeping pills. Many details of the rock star’s last 24 hours are disputed.Was America’s “Black Elvis” just another druggie swallowed whole by the rock and roll revolution? Or was he the victim of malevolent forces beyond his control? Here’s what we know about the Jimi Hendrix death.

Football has been catching a lot of heat lately due to traumatic brain injuries players have received. However, some sports throughout the ages have proven far more hazardous to one’s health-and life. As the weather gets warmer and thrill seekers answer the call of adventure and glory, let’s take a look at the most dangerous sports of modern and ancient times. 12. Freediving Do Hold Your Breath! This risky water activity involves taking a deep breath, diving as deep as you can go, and exploring underwater with just a mask and wetsuit: no air tank, just the oxygen you are holding in your lungs.

No doubt you can win the giant panda. But how much dough do you want to blow on something that cost about 50 cents to make? The minds behind these games have set them so you’ll pay big for that damn bear. We asked game –booth managers at some of the country’s busiest state fairs, boardwalks, and carnivals just how lousy your odds really are. Balloon darts – 57% Aim at the shiny ballons; they’re reflecting light because they’re most inflated or ready to pop.

What is the longest running TV show? There are a number of ways to approach this question. The first is the most obvious: duration or number of years. Meet the Press is the clear winner here. It premiered in 1947 and is still airing today, which means it’s been around for a staggering 68 years and counting. Even if you define “longest running” in terms of actual minutes on the air, Meet the Press still probably comes out on top.