Inverse - 🎃 Why do we eat candy on Halloween?

Monday

Oct 31 2022

Everyone has their own opinion of Halloween's best candy. Mine would be Sour Patch Kids. No comparison. But for those who don't like to burn the top layer or their tongues, there are innumerable candy choices to pick from.

Halloween wasn't always about the candy, though. In honor of spooky season, Inverse science writer Elana Spivack took a deep dive into the origins of gorging on candy to celebrate the last day in October. As it turns out, at the height of The Great Depression, Halloween became so destructive that some cities considered banning the holiday all together. Instead they settled on a new plan: Swapping out destruction for popcorn balls, candied apples, and donuts. The sweetness seems to have stuck. Read on, and don't worry it won't spoil your appetite.

What's New

Spooooky

Science

Why do we eat candy on Halloween?

The second-best day of the year to buy candy is Halloween; the best day is November 1 (tied with February 15). But why do we eat candy on Halloween in the first place? What does candy have to do with being scared or seeing ghosts?

Halloween historian and writer Lisa Morton indulges in the history behind the tradition.

Learn more

Inverse Interview

Television

Morfydd Clark talks Rings of Power Season 2 and getting ‘shipped with Sauron

The hardest scene for Morfydd Clark to shoot wasn’t her confrontation with Sauron. It was what happened right after it.

In the season finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Clark’s elf maiden Galadriel plunges into the Sundering Seas after learning the true identity of Halbrand, played by Charlie Vickers.

Clark, who was dropped into a large pool built on a studio set, dreaded the scene ahead of time. But when it finally happened, she was pleasantly surprised.

“I thought I was gonna really hate it. But I loved it,” she tells Inverse. “I felt so relaxed.”

Read the full interview

Review

Gear

Reviewing Microsoft's Surface Laptop 5

Microsoft has really embraced the “if it ain’t broke” mentality when it comes to the Surface Laptop 5 — and I'm not complaining.

The Surface Laptop 5, available in 13.5- and 15-inch models, is a refreshed version of one of Microsoft’s most popular Surface devices, updated with the latest 12th Gen Intel chips and a Thunderbolt 4 port.

In the week I have been using the Surface Laptop 5 as my daily laptop, it felt like a seamless transition away from my 13-inch MacBook Pro. The Surface Laptop 5’s battery did a great job keeping up with the deluge of Firefox tabs I usually have open while working, as well as lasting through some long photo editing sessions in Lightroom.

Read our review

Feature

Entertainment

Captain America: New World Order could challenge the morality of Marvel’s greatest hero

Follow the Leader.

Should you oblige that request and take a trip through the character’s comic book history, you may gain a glimpse into what’s in store for audiences when Captain America: New World Order hits screens in May 2024. But tread lightly because the Leader’s plans rarely leave those around him unchanged.

As revealed at D23, Samuel Sterns (aka, The Leader) will be the villain of Marvel’s new Captain America film, with Tim Blake Nelson reprising his role for the first time since 2008’s The Incredible Hulk.

Best known as a Hulk villain in the comics, the announcement of the return of the Leader in Captain America 4 came as a surprise. But given what little we know of Sterns in the MCU and his interest in re-creating the super soldier serum, he makes perfect since for a film that will follow The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and find new ways to challenge the newest Captain America — and the ethics of super-soldiers in general.

Detox

Mind and Body

A cannabis expert explains the difference between indica vs. sativa

Peruse the products at any cannabis dispensary in America, and you’ll see two words over and over again: Indica and sativa. Cannabis indica, your local budtender will tell you, refers to one type of cannabis plant; Cannabis sativa refers to another. The theory goes that products containing sativa are more likely to make you feel social, energetic, and creative, while products containing indica are more likely to make you feel drowsy, relaxed, and hungry.

But is that true? “Indica and sativa used to be a much more significant distinction than it is now,” Peter Grinspoon, a professor at Harvard Medical School and author of the forthcoming book, Seeing through the Smoke: A Cannabis Specialist Untangles the Truth about Marijuana, tells Inverse.

Here’s why we associate distinctive effects with indica and sativa, how that changed over time, and how we should think about the labels in your local dispensary.

Inverse - 🎃 Why do we eat candy on Halloween?

Older messages

🧠 Let’s talk about pumpkin seeds

🌐 The best of both (virtual) worlds

🦠 Microbial astronauts

⚔️ What's next for 'Rings of Power' Season 2

🎮 Reviewing 2022's best action game

You Might Also Like

☕ Great chains

Pete Hegseth's confirmation hearing.

Honourable Roulette

📬 No. 62 | What I learned about newsletters in 2024

⚡️ ‘Skeleton Crew’ Answers Its Biggest Mystery

I Tried All The New Eye-Shadow Sticks

How To Stop Worrying And Learn To Love Lynn's National IQ Estimates

☕ Olympic recycling

Ozempic has entered the chat

How a major bank cheated its customers out of $2 billion, according to a new federal lawsuit