Feeling like you might be underpaid can be one of the most disheartening aspects of work.

"It stands to reason, because for many, compensation is a concrete litmus test of how well you're performing and progressing on the job — and how highly you're valued," says Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of "Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job."

According to a 2014 survey from Glassdoor.com, a whopping 39% of employees believed that they were not receiving fair pay in their current job.

But it's hard for them to be sure.

"The topic of employees' salaries is well guarded by most companies, so it's not always easy to figure out how your pay compares to your colleagues'," says Taylor. "If you're willing to invest the time and research or look for the signs, however, you'll be better informed as to whether you should ask for a raise or walk."

Here are 14 signs you're paid less than you should be:

SEE ALSO: 21 signs you're about to be fired

DON'T MISS: The 27 jobs that are most damaging to your health

A similar job listing on your company website offers higher pay

"If there are multiple positions like yours at the company, the job description closely resembles yours, and the salary is higher, that's one of the most obvious signs," says Taylor.

Stay on top of this by searching your own company's job postings every now and then to monitor what new employees are being paid, "and to see if that feels reasonable given your current level of experience and role in the company," adds Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of "The Humor Advantage."

Your firm's revenue has taken off, but your salary has barely budged

If your company is private, it's harder to measure revenue growth vs. a public company.

"But you're likely having discussions about corporate growth with managers in your normal course of business," Taylor says. "This is an opportunity to dig deeper. If you're armed with the fact that the firm has seen 20% growth in one year, but your salary is under par, you'll strengthen your argument for a raise."

Research tells you you're underpaid

This is a pretty solid sign.

"You must stay on top of the current salaries for your type of position," Taylor says. "There are many online sources for this, including PayScale.com, Glassdoor.com, Indeed.com and Salary.com."

Kerr says using an online salary calculator to see where average wages are or should be, for someone in your role and with your level of education and years of experience, can be a good starting point and may indicate if there's a discrepancy between your wage and the going rate.

For the first time ever, scientists have looked at all 1,154 birds native to North America to see just how much trouble they're in — and the results aren't very reassuring.

The new report, compiled by the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, examined each bird's population size, range, and the threats it faces. It pulled all of these factors into a total score.

Overall, the group concluded that 37% of North (and Central) American birds are in need of "urgent conservation action."

Ocean and tropical forest birds are particularly at risk.

Scroll through to see a small sampling of what we might lose — the scientists gave all of these species a ranking of high conservation concern, which means if we don't act soon, their populations could dwindle to nothing.

Yellow-headed parrot

The yellow-headed parrot lives in Mexico and northern Central America, where it has a reputation for munching on corn growing in fields. They're particularly in trouble because of people capturing them to sell as pets.

Pink-headed warbler

Found in western Guatemala, the pink-headed warbler likes to live in high-altitude forests, but a large volcanic eruption in 1982 destroyed many of its favorite spots.

California condor

The California condor is one of the biggest success stories in species recovery. Only 22 of these vultures remained in the 1980s; a careful captive breeding program means there are now 235 birds living in the wild. But they still die from eating animals killed with lead bullets and from flying into electrical wires.

Are you wondering what the tiny blue dot means in your Snapchat messages? Or why it sometimes turns into a smiley face emoji for seemingly no reason?

Don't worry. We've got you covered.

Since Snapchat changed its chat interface about a month ago, you may have been wondering what's up with the tiny blue dot that occasionally appears at the end of a conversation.

RAW Embed

It looks like this:

Sometimes a smiley face emoji appears instead of the blue dot.

Last month, Amazon announced that it's turning an old hotel it bought in downtown Seattle into a temporary shelter for homeless people.

It's only going to be open through 2017. Amazon bought the land to turn it into part of its ever expanding campus.

But for now, Amazon has partnered with nonprofit organization Mary's Place and the Seattle Mayor's office to run the shelter. 

Here's what it's like inside:

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

SEE ALSO: Take a tour of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s Seattle-area home, which just sold for $2.8 million

The building is a former Travelodge hotel in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle, near Amazon's headquarters.

Amazon took care of all the interior improvements, but it reached out to a local nonprofit called Mary's Place to run the facility. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also donated $1 million to Mary's Place as part of the project.

Source: Mynorthwest.com

The building has 60 guest rooms. It can house up to 200 people.

In January, I completed the Elon Musk Challenge, spending just $60 on food for the month.

More recently, I simulated the lives of millions of Americans who earn minimum or nearly minimum wage and lived on an $8.15-an-hour salary for 30 days.

After completing these challenges in one of the most expensive US cities — New York — I've learned a thing or two about how to effectively stretch a limited amount of money. While both of these scenarios were extreme, many of the strategies I used can be applied to my everyday life — and perhaps yours.

If you're looking to save more and spend less, here are my 10 best tips.

SEE ALSO: A Yelp employee publicly complained to the CEO that she couldn't afford to buy groceries — and I tried living on her salary to see how true that is

Use cash

When you have to stick to a tight budget, ditching your plastic cards for cash can make a world of difference. Simply withdraw a predetermined amount of money for the week and commit to spending just that amount. (Leave your credit cards at home if you'll be tempted to swipe them.)

The cash-only diet forces you to stay at or below budget — once your wallet is empty, you're done spending for the week (or however long you planned your cash to last). It also gives you a better idea of exactly how much money you're spending and how much you have remaining in your budget. Plus, there's something about physically handing over bills — watching your money disappear right before your eyes — that causes you to value it more.

Track your expenses every day

I take five minutes at the end of each day to record everything I bought in an Excel spreadsheet. I've found that this habit is just as effective as it is effortless, for a few reasons:

1. It allows me to notice how easily expenses can add up. You don't quite realize how quickly you can blow through cash until you start writing down each purchase. The action of recording everything provides a new awareness that keeps me in check when shopping and has helped me become more deliberate with every purchase.

2. It holds me accountable. The last thing I want to do at the end of each day is have to record unnecessary or silly expenditures.

3.It challenges me to lower my costs each day, week, and month. Recording expenses becomes a game, and you start to see how many days in a row you can spend $0, or under $5.

Where you grocery shop (and what you buy) matters

Your grocery bill is entirely under your control — you're not locked into a contract like you are with your cellphone or internet — and chances are, you can find ways to cut back.

I stayed away from luxury or organic grocery stores and did all of my shopping at the famously affordable Trader Joe's. I also stuck with the basics, quite literally: During the Elon Musk Challenge, I purchased nine items, such as peanut butter, pasta, and oats.

The Elon Musk Challenge was extreme (and not entirely healthy), but it is possible to eat healthy on the cheap. You just have to know what to look for. Check out the healthiest foods at the grocery store for the least amount of money and 19 ways to eat healthy on a budget.

Within seconds of meeting you, people decide whether you're smart, trustworthy, and successful.

So if you're heading into a job interview or a first date, you'd better hope you don't have snot in your nose or a pizza stain on your shirt.

Let's face it though: Snot and pizza are facts of life, and bad first impressions are bound to be made.

Fortunately, using a little bit of psychological savvy, it's often possible to reverse those impressions. Here, we rounded up five tricks to overcome people's initial evaluations of you.

But hey — bring a napkin, just in case.

SEE ALSO: Science says people decide these 13 things within seconds of meeting you

1. Allow them to reinterpret your behavior more positively

Up until recently, scientists believed that it was possible to reverse explicit evaluations — i.e. our tendency to agree with the statement, "I don't like that person"— but it was a lot harder to reverse implicit evaluations — i.e. the deep-seated likes and dislikes that we aren't necessarily aware of.

Then, in 2015, a pair of researchers at Cornell University found that it was possible to completely change implicit evaluations by giving someone information that put the person's actions in a new context.

In a series of experiments, the researchers had participants read about a man who broke into a house and took precious objects. Unsurprisingly, participants expressed their dislike for him. Even when the researchers gave participants additional information, like the fact that the man had once saved a baby from an oncoming train, participants still didn't like him.

It was only when participants learned that the man had broken into the house to save two kids from a fire that they revised their initial impression of him. Most importantly, when researchers tested participants' implicit evaluations by seeing how they reacted to quick flashes of the man's face, they found that participants saw him positively.

These findings suggest that it helps to show someone that your actions were well-intentioned. For example, maybe you shoved past them in the hallway because you'd just received an urgent phone call from your kid's school. There's a good chance they'll rewrite their initial feelings, even those that exist on a subconscious level.

2. Remind them of the importance of fairness

Writing in The Harvard Business Review, social psychologist Heidi Grant Halvorson suggests that one way to reverse a bad first impression is to "activate the desire to be fair."

She cites a study that found when people generally aspire to fairness, and have recently been asked to think about fairness, they're likely to inhibit certain biases — for example, gender stereotypes.

You can take advantage of this phenomenon by doing one of two things that Halvorson recommends. One, you can comment on how the ability to accurately judge others must be a key skill for someone in their line of work. Or two, you can share your own experiences with fairness, for example a time when you misjudged someone.

3. Make yourself indispensable

You want to prompt someone to pay more careful attention to your behavior instead of relying on first impressions. To do this, Halvorson says you should create a situation where the person relies on you to help them achieve their goals.

Halvorson suggests identifying opportunities for collaboration. Maybe you've embarrassed yourself in front of your boss, so you volunteer for an assignment that would allow you to work closely with them.

"It's natural to shy away from people who don't think highly of you," Halvorson writes, "but you need to fight that instinct and instead stick to them like glue if you hope to correct their misperceptions."

Haseeb Qureshi is an Airbnb engineer who drew a lot of attention last month for his blog post explaining how he negotiated a starting-pay package up to $250,000 from $120,000 in a matter of a few weeks.

Qureshi has an interesting background— he's a former professional poker player with an English degree. Despite getting rejected by all 20 jobs he initially applied for, Qureshi worked his way up by learning how to code on his own, and he ended up landing eight job offers, including positions at Google, Uber, and Yelp.

Earlier this month, Qureshi updated his blog post with tips on how to nail your interview and find your dream job.

We've put together some of the highlights:

SEE ALSO: The most popular tech jobs that will get you an $89,000-plus salary

Job hunting and landing an interview is a numbers game. Meet a lot of people and apply to as many jobs as possible. "Trust in the law of large numbers," Qureshi says.

Networking is an easy way to get your foot in the door. If networking sounds intimidating, there's a simple way to do it: "Just buy everyone coffee," Qureshi says.

That means buying "tons and tons" of coffee for everyone you meet in tech. The goal is to meet as many people as possible.

The winners of the very first Robot Art Contest have been announced!

Andrew Conru, the founder of the social networking company FriendFinder Networks, hosted the contest to show that robots can have a creative side. There were two categories in the contest: Telerobotics, which is for robots that collaborate with humans, and Fully Automated painting robots. 

Here are the winners:

The fourth place prize of $10,000 went to e-David, built by the University of Konstanz. It was submitted in the fully automated category.

The third place prize of $12,000 went to NoRAA from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, Italy. It was entered in the Fully Automated category.

"Extremely interesting and innovative work using robotics… I would definitely add one of these works to my personal collection," a judge wrote about the robot's work.

There's a new coworking space in San Francisco that wants to give professionals a more luxurious way to be productive. 

Founded by brothers Brian and Randy Stowell, who used to work on Google's robotics division, Mod bills itself as a "brilliant new way to work on the go," and plans to set itself apart from other options — like $16 billion behemoth WeWork— by offering a full concierge service and focusing on wellness (if you spend the day there Mod staff will serve you cleansing juices and prompt you to meditate).

Step inside:

SEE ALSO: 15 things you probably didn't know you could do with Facebook's super-popular chat app

As of now, Mod has only two spaces: one in Phoenix, Arizona and one in San Francisco's hip Mission District.

But the goal is to open mobile offices all around the world.

The Stowell brothers have very different backgrounds. Brian has worked in law and real estate, and he got the idea to start Mod because he had had so many bad experiences trying to get stuff done in cafes and hotels around the country. Randy worked at Google for several years after it bought his robotics company Bot & Dolly, which created the robot cameras that made actors in 'Gravity' look like they were floating in space.

As Google's robotics division lost its leader and struggled to find focus, Randy's team started working with Google's retail arm, but Brian eventually recruited his brother last fall to come work on Mod. 

Being fired is one of the most stressful things than can happen to a person.

So it's completely natural for anyone going through the dreaded process to feel a range of emotions — including intense anger and shock — which can prompt them to say or do things they will later regret, says Michael Kerr, an international business speakerand author of "The Humor Advantage."

"It's important to remember that being unprofessional in any way could do long-term damage to your personal brand and reputation," he says.

"You need to keep in mind that most successful people have been fired at some point in their life. It's a temporary setback that won't ruin your entire life, and it isn't necessarily personal," he said.

Remaining polite and leaving with your head held high will help the transition immensely, he adds:

Do you want to leave in such a way that it will only reinforce the impression that they made the right choice in firing you? Or would you rather leave in such a classy way that your boss remains as supportive as possible during a very difficult time and remembers you in a more positive, professional light?

As difficult as it is at the time, the best course of action is to try and keep a level head and not burn any bridges: "Take a deep breath and err on the side of saying nothing if you feel you can't keep control of your emotions."

Here are 13 things you should always try to say to the person firing you if you want to leave on a high note:

SEE ALSO: 13 things people say when they get fired that they later regret

'OK ... mmm-hmm ... yes ... I understand'

The first thing to do is to take in all the information and, as hard as it is in the moment, just listen and acknowledge what the person is saying, Kerr suggests.

'Can I have a moment to process this?'

If you think you're going to say or do something you might later regret, ask for a moment to process what's happening and compose yourself.

"Take a deep breath and even ask for a few moments if you need to collect your thoughts and rein in your emotions," Kerr says. "The key is to remain professional and not burn any bridges."

'Would you be able to explain why I am being let go?'

Without getting defensive, ask for specific details as to why you are being fired.

Kerr says, "As hard is this might be, hearing the specifics will help you come to terms with the dismissal, and help you be aware of future landmines when you go to work in another company."

It will also help you determine if your termination is justified.

Adulthood is hard.

Chaz Hutton, a 32-year-old Australian based in London, knows this all too well. He illustrates the surprises, disappointments, and hard truths of adulthood in stick-figure form through Post-it notes he then Instagrams.

"They started as just a thing I'd send to friends on a group chat, then after a few months those friends convinced me to start an Instagram, which I assured them was a terrible idea, and that nothing would come of it," Hutton told Business Insider in an email.

His insights have been so popular that he's stopped working as an architect to pursue the project full-time.

"It's been amazing," he said. "The comments are probably the one thing about it, and largely the reason I've bothered keeping it up! Although it's becoming harder to explain to people what exactly it is I do for a living."

Scroll down to check out Hutton's take on everyday life, and see more uncomfortable but funny truths about adulthood on Instagram at @instachaaz. Hutton's first book of illustrations, "A Sticky Note Guide to Life," will be published in November.

SEE ALSO: Learn everything you need to know about personal finance from 11 simple sketches

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BC9-Tc0G9Z4/embed/
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📞"...No mum, I haven't tried dating a dentist yet... yes, I agree it's a good idea... yes, I'll wear a nice shirt if I meet one... okay, bye"☎️

A photo posted by Insta-Chaz (@instachaaz) on Mar 29, 2016 at 6:06am PDT

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Little is known about North Korea, and maybe even less is known about the country's military. 

And while photos can be instrumental in learning about everyday life in the hermit kingdom, they can be extremely difficult to get past the border and out of the country.

But a recent Reuters package has a set of rare photos of North Korea's military, ranging from 2006 to 2015, which reveal a snapshot of life as a soldier in North Korea.

The Korean War began in 1950 when 75,000 soldiers from the North crossed the border and invaded the South.

Source: History

After the Korean War, North and South Korea were split. The Soviet Union had control of the North and the United Nations was controlling the South.

Source: History

The Soviet Union put Kim Il-sung in charge of North Korea, which became known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. His son, Kim Jong-il, took over after his death in 1994.

Source: History

Razer is a company that makes PC game equipment for hardcore gamers.

Although relatively unknown to nongamers, the Southern California-based company enjoys a truly cult-like following, often being called the "Apple of the gaming industry." In its last round of funding, Razer was reportedly valued at $1.5 billion.

And on Saturday, when it opened its first ever US-based store in downtown San Francisco, Razer lived up to its reputation: Its fanatic customers formed an Apple-like long line around the corner, stealing some of the spotlight from the new Apple Store that opened in San Francisco this week as well.

Here are a few photos we were able to take from the scene:

SEE ALSO: Amazon bought this old hotel in Seattle and turned it into a homeless shelter

The new Razer store opened in the Westfield mall located on 5th and Market Street in downtown San Francisco.

A massive line formed in front of the store ...

... it literally went around the block.

Almost all of us think about starting a business at some point. The thought enters our minds when we come up with an ingenious way to stop an ice cream cone from dripping.

Or we get a job and realize we want more control over our work.

Or we hear about the multi-billionaires of the world and start fantasizing about making our own riches.

Related: How to Be Taken Seriously As a Young Entrepreneur

Whatever your own motivation, if you’re going to start a business, there’s an ideal time to do it — while you’re still in your 20s and 30s. Why is that?

SEE ALSO: 5 reasons I'll never work in an office again

1. Long-term potential returns

Imagine for a moment that you’ve built a successful business. It’s profitable and stable and generates a nice six-figure salary for you. Assume that this setup can continue indefinitely and that you enjoy the work. Wouldn’t you want to reap the accompanying rewards for as long as possible?

If so, start your business as early as possible. Yes, it’s an optimistic scenario, but an achievable one, even if it takes you two or three tries to build a successful enterprise. The bottom line is, the more time you can spend as an entrepreneur, the better long-term returns you’re going to see.

2. Risk tolerance

Let’s face it: Not all startups are going to make it. You need to be realistic, regardless of your age. Starting a business demands a lot of up-front investment, in both time and money, and you’ll bear significant risk, in both your finances and your current or “backup” career.

Just as happens in the financial markets, the younger you are, the better you’re going to be able to tolerate that risk. You’ll have fewer responsibilities, fewer commitments and much more time to make up any losses you incur. Therefore, starting a business as early as possible mitigates your potential losses.

Related: What Young People Must Know About Entrepreneurship

3. Energy and motivation

It takes a lot of work to run a startup, too. Don’t forget that. Though not written in stone, the general rule is that younger professionals have more energy, motivation and enthusiasm than their elders.

Maybe you'll be a youthful spirit for the next several decades, but the thing is, you can’t know for sure. What seems like a solid “maybe” idea now may become a “no way” idea in 10 years; and the work you throw yourself into now may be work you'll avoid at all costs next decade.

Every year, your energy and motivation will decline. Take advantage of these personal assets while you have them.

Which of these common errors do you make when sizing up other people?

Identifying your mistakes will help you read people more accurately. 

SEE ALSO: 9 ways you can use your smartphone to reduce stress

1. What causes others' behavior? Situations or personality?

When we see a snapshot of someone's behavior, we often jump to the conclusion that they're acting based on their personality. In contrast, when we think about our own behavior, we often think about situational causes.

For example, you know you act aloof when you're flustered or anxious. However, you might assume that when someone you've just met acts that way it's because they're a jerk. 

How to avoid this mistake: Remind yourself to think about both situational causes and personality when you're assessing other people. 

2. Confirmation bias

Once we've developed ideas about someone, we typically see everything through the filter of these already formed thoughts. For example, once you decide your sister's new boyfriend is selfish, you notice behaviors that are consistent with that view, but are less likely to notice things he does that aren't consistent with being selfish. 

Our initial impressions of someone are often quite accurate, but they're not foolproof, so it's important to consider revising your initial judgments based on further interactions with that person.

How to avoid this mistake: Actively watch for evidence and examples that run counter to your assumptions. In psychology, this is termed "disconfirming evidence."

3. Are you falling into an attractiveness or similarity bias?

People tend to judge others more positively when they're physically attractive. We also tend to judge people who are similar to us more favorably than people who seem different. 

Ask yourself if you're judging someone more or less positively based on their physical attractiveness, or the extent to which you have things in common with that person (such as a shared background or subcultural appearance cues, like having a beard or tattoos vs. appearing straight-laced and non-hipsterish).

How to avoid this mistake: Look out for this bias in important situations. For example, if you're hiring someone for a job, or when you're entering a new situation and might gravitate toward people who are outwardly similar to you. 

An undergraduate at New Jersey Institute of Technology made his own plastic braces using a 3D printer, $60 of materials, and a healthy dose of ingenuity — and they actually worked.

Amos Dudley had braces in middle school, but he didn't wear a retainer like he was supposed to, so his teeth slowly shifted back.

He didn't want to shell out thousands of dollars for a whole new round of braces, so the digital-design major decided to make his own.

On his blog, Dudley writes that he was an unlikely combination of two things: He was broke, but had access to a high-quality 3D printer through his university. He took full advantage of this.

The process wasn't exactly easy. He had to research orthodontic procedures and plot the route of his successive braces, so his teeth would move in the right way. But once that was done, all it took was fabricating a series of models out of relatively inexpensive plastic, and then following through on wearing them.

And it was worth it for Dudley, whose smile turned out looking remarkable.

Here is the process he went through: 

SEE ALSO: How Hulu could seriously shake up the world of sports TV

Dudley ran across a photo from a "name brand clear-alignment treatment" and noticed that the plastic looked like it had the layer striations from a 3D print. So what was to stop him from 3D-printing his own, he thought.

First he took a mold of his teeth with alginate powder. "These molds are very precise, and capture an amazing amount of detail," he writes. "There were some bubbles in the mold," but they wouldn't matter for the aligner.

Making this casting was simple, he says. "I put the mold upside down in a yogurt container, and then filled it with liquid Permastone," he writes. "When it came out, I simply broke off the top to reveal the casting, and used a razor blade to smooth out the surrounding area."

City life isn't cheap.

According to the personal-finance site SmartAsset, you have to earn over $150,000 a year to afford rent on a two-bedroom apartment in New York City.

In its new report, the site looked at the average fair market rent (the average cost of renting an available apartment in 2016) for two-bedroom apartments in the 300 largest US cities, then focused on the main cities within the 15 largest metro areas.

To calculate the gross income required, SmartAsset set the rent-to-income ratio at 28% — that percentage is based off of government standards, which say that housing is affordable if you don't have to spend over 30% of your income on housing-related expenses.

Read on to see how much you would have to make (before taxes) to afford rent in 15 major US cities.

SEE ALSO: Here's how much it costs for a family to live in 20 major US cities

15. Detroit

14. Phoenix

Fair market rent for a two-bedroom: $1,162 a month

Income required: $49,800

13. Riverside, California

Fair market rent for a two-bedroom: $1,239 a month

Income required: $53,100

Moviegoing has long been one of America's favorite pastimes, with blockbuster box-office earnings serving as a reliable predictor of cultural staying power.

Using both IMDb's and Box Office Mojo's lists of the highest-grossing films by year, Business Insider has compiled a chronology of the biggest box-office hits every year since 1975.

We adjusted global box-office receipts for inflation through 2016 using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculator. We've also included critic ratings from Metacritic (on a scale of one to 100) and fan ratings from IMDb (on a scale of 1 to 10) for each film.

Several franchises are represented — "Star Wars,""Harry Potter," and "Pirates of the Caribbean" each make multiple appearances — as are Academy Award nominees and winners such as "Titanic" and "Rocky."

We used '75 as the cutoff because we found that worldwide figures before then were spotty and inconsistent.

Read on to find out the highest-grossing movie released the year you were born:

DON'T MISS: The 30 most expensive movies ever made

AND: RANKED: The 10 movies most likely to dominate this summer

2015: "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens"

Adjusted gross: $2.07 billion

Unadjusted gross: $2.07 billion

Critic rating: 81

Fan rating: 8.3

Plot summary: "Three decades after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, a new threat arises. The First Order attempts to rule the galaxy and only a ragtag group of heroes can stop them, along with the help of the Resistance." 

2014: "Transformers: Age of Extinction"

Adjusted gross: $1.12 billion

Unadjusted gross: $1.1 billion

Critic rating: 32

Fan rating: 5.7

Plot summary: "Autobots must escape sight from a bounty hunter who has taken control of the human serendipity: Unexpectedly, Optimus Prime and his remaining gang turn to a mechanic, his daughter, and her back street racing boyfriend for help."

2013: "Frozen"

Adjusted gross: $1.31 billion

Unadjusted gross: $1.28 billion

Critic rating: 74

Fan rating: 7.6

Plot summary: "When the newly crowned Queen Elsa accidentally uses her power to turn things into ice to curse her home in infinite winter, her sister, Anna, teams up with a mountain man, his playful reindeer, and a snowman to change the weather condition."

If you're like me, there are some parts of cooking that are completely baffling. I'm not just talking about figuring out the recipe. Sometimes I also just wonder what sort of chemical reactions are going on that makes the food taste so good and turn out the right — or wrong — way.

Without further ado, here are the scientific answers to some of your biggest quandaries in the kitchen.

NEXT: The definitive, scientific answers to 20 health questions everyone has

CHECK OUT: 14 of your most embarrassing questions about wine answered with science

How much water do I need to cook my rice?

Here's a general rule: For every cup of rice you cook, you'll need two cups of water. However, Dan Souza, the executive editor of Cook's Science at America's Test Kitchen and one of the authors of "The Science of Good Cooking," told Business Insider that this isn't always true. There are a number of other factors that influence how much water you're going to need, including what size the pot is and how much evaporates.

"If you have a ratio of 1:2 and you double that to 2:4, you're saying you're going to get double evaporating because you doubled it, and that's not true," he said. So keep this in mind the next time you try to double your portions.

Does searing a steak really seal in its juices?

Many cooks will tell you that searing your meat ensures all the good juices stay inside. That's not quite true. While you're searing a steak on a high temperature, you're making a crispier crust on the steak, but that crust isn't responsible for keeping in any liquids.

"Nothing about making a crust on the outside of a steak is going to trap moisture," Souza said. In fact, he said, muscle proteins at higher temperatures actually squeeze out liquids instead of keeping them in.

What's the best way to preserve nutrients when cooking vegetables?

The best way to preserve and enhance the nutrition in fresh broccoli is to steam them, according to a November 2015 study that evaluated different cooking methods for vegetables, including broccoli. 

One of the easiest ways to steam? Fill a large glass bowl with broccoli, add a tablespoon or so of water to the bowl, cover the bowl with a plate, and then microwave your setup on high for a few minutes. 

Make no mistake, in modern Hollywood there is no such thing as an idea that’s too crazy. There is simply too much money on the line for any idea to be dismissed out of hand, except possibly a Black Widow movie, for some reason. This is why abominations like the "Battleship" movie exist.

This weekend, another idea, an animated family movie based on a smartphone game about shooting birds out of a slingshot, will become the latest film to have moviegoers wondering how such a wild idea made it to the screen. The reason is that it wouldn’t be the first time a wild idea became a fantastic movie (or, at the very least, a fantastically successful movie). Here are 7 times that the craziest of ideas paid off in Hollywood. Which ones did we forget?

SEE ALSO: 47 new TV shows coming in the next year that just got announced

Idea No. 1: Let's make an action franchise out of a theme park ride

Disney built most of its theme park success on their films, which were all based on animated movies. We should have guessed it would only be a matter of time before they flipped the script, and made a movie based on one of their original theme park ideas. The crazy part was, it worked. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl" was a fun and exciting adventure that took elements from the classic ride and used them as the basis for a great story. A great cast helped build an original adventure. It may have only been a great idea once, however.

Bonus Crazy Idea: Depp deciding to play his role like he’s a drunk Keith Richards.

Idea No. 2: Let's update everything around the Brady Bunch, but keep them exactly the same

Television series are one of those evergreen ideas that will perpetually be made into movies. Most of them fail. The insane humans who took on the herculean task of making a movie out of "The Brady Bunch" had a couple of major issues. Simply making a comedy version of the original show would be too easy, as the 70s were a fairly ridiculous decade to begin with. (Have you even seen the pants?) However, if you modernize the story, you lose everything that made "The Brady Bunch" what we loved. The solution? Modernize everything, except them. The juxtaposition of the two time periods is what we were all going to be laughing at anyway, so just make the movie about that. And it really, really worked.

Idea No. 3: Let's create a superhero franchise around the fat guy grom 'Parks & Rec'

Today you can’t swing a dead cat at an action franchise without hitting a rumor that Chris Pratt is going to be part of it. It’s a remarkable turnaround, considering prior to his turn in James Gunn’s "Guardians of the Galaxy," he was the chubby dude on TV’s "Parks & Recreation." Casting Pratt as Peter Quill made some sense. Comedy was a key part of the film, and so you need somebody who can deliver it, but first and foremost it’s a Marvel movie. Quill may not have superpowers, but he’s a comic book hero nonetheless. It was the ensemble which made the movie something special, even by Marvel standards, but Pratt played his part.

Bonus Crazy Idea: These Marvel movies are crazy popular, let’s make one based on a comic that even the fans have never read. And one with a tree and a raccoon as major characters.