A photograph supposedly showing "millions" of colorful buttons littering a dilapidated staircase has been circulating on social media for several years, attached to the claim that the image was taken ...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Have a jar full of spare buttons you are wondering what to do with?

Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at www ...