Ever wondered why traditional ballpoint pens are capped with a vent? If you search online, you'll find several theories as to why, from the outrageous being that it prevents suffocation if a child were to inhale it, to the possibility that the company made it purposefully to dry out the ink and make the user buy a new pen.

Others have even suggested a greater science behind it, saying that the hole either creates the same level of air pressure inside and outside of the pen, allowing the ink to flow into the point, or to make it easier to remove the cap.

It turns out that one of these claims is actually true, can you guess which one?

According to the website of the ballpoint pen inventor, BIC writes that "all our BIC caps comply with internati ...

Here's what Venus would look with water, and without its thick CO2 atmosphere

When we think of Venus, we envision a planet that'd make a great place for hell - fiery red, extremely hot, and toxic. However, a new study makes an argument that Venus may have once been able to support life, until a mysterious resurfacing event took all that away about 700 million years ago.

According to planetary scientist Michael Way from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Venus may have had a stable climate for billions of years.

"It is possible that the near-global resurfacing event is responsible for its transformation from an Earth-like climate to the hellish hot-house we see today."

The research – presented last week at the EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 201 ...