Lists and Stories

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  7 Alphabet Soup Agencies that Stuck Around It’s clear that Franklin Delano Roosevelt wasn’t messing around when he came into the U.S. presidency during the Great Depression. His administration created the New Deal program, in which a large number of agencies—known colloquially as “alphabet soup” because of their three- or four-lettered...
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  7 Amazing Historical Sites in Africa The African continent has long been inhabited and has some amazing historical sites to show for it. Check out these impressive examples of architecture, culture, and evolution. list, Great Zimbabwe, Olduvai Gorge, Rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, Leptis Magna, Timbuktu, Meroe, Thebes This...
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  7 Animals That Turn White in Winter As temperatures drop and autumn gives way to the seemingly ceaseless snows of winter, some animals in northerly climes exchange their pelage or plumage of summer drab for the purest white. Unlike many white animals associated with the north, such as polar bears and snowy owls, which are white all...
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  7 Awe-Inspiring Buildings to Visit in Connecticut There’s more in Connecticut than you may think. Here are the buildings you need to see on your next trip, from the Modernist Glass House to the now-renovated Breuer House II. Earlier versions of the descriptions of these buildings first appeared in 1001 Buildings You Must See Before You Die, edited...
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  7 Awesome Frog Species of Canada and the United States list, encyclopedia, britannica, encyclopedia britannica, list, lists, science, animals, amphibians, frogs, frog, favorite, best, cutestThe cold climate that characterizes much of Alaska and northern Canada is no matter to the wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus). It can endure temperatures as low as...
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  7 Awesome Frog Species of the Tropics The world’s tropical forests house a spectacular array of frogs. In fact, although found almost everywhere on Earth, frogs are at their most diverse in tropical regions—places like the Amazon rainforest and the forests of Equatorial Africa. The following are seven amazing types of frogs found...
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  11 Banned Books Through Time There are plenty of reasons why a book might be banned. It may subvert a popular belief of a dominating culture, shock an audience with grotesque, sexual, or obscene language, or be thought to promote strife within a society. Whatever the reason, once a book is banned, a sort of aura of mystique is...
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  7 Bizarre Spa Treatments Mankind’s relentless pursuit of physical beauty is nothing new (the use of cosmetics dates back to ancient Egypt and Rome) but the methods we use to achieve that “perfect look” have certainly evolved. Gone are the days of bathing with a bar of soap, dabbing on natural perfume, and applying subtle...
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  7 Buildings You Ought to Visit in Madrid Madrid officially became the capital of Spain during the reign of King Philip III, which ran from 1598 to 1621. This long history as Spain’s first city is reflected in these seven buildings, though with a bias toward buildings of the 21st century. Earlier versions of the descriptions of these...
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  7 Canceled or Reintroduced Olympic Sports Do you ever wonder how long sprint kayaking will remain an Olympic sport? Do you find yourself asking, “Whatever happened to the Olympic tug-of-war event?” The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been making important decisions since the first modern Olympic Games in 1896—namely, which sports...
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  7 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Inventors Since 1790 there have been more than eight million patents issued in the U.S. Some of them have been given to great inventors. Thomas Edison received more than 1,000. Many have been given to ordinary people who thought of a better way of doing things. And a few have been given to people you...
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  7 Crocodilian Species That Are Dangerous to Humans Most people have a primordial fear of spiders and snakes and, of course, of predators that are larger than they are. So it makes sense to regard crocodilians (that is, the group of living alligators, crocodiles, caimans, gharials, and so on) with suspicion. Though several of their ancestors were...
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  7 Deadliest Weapons in History The earliest known purpose-built weapons in human history date to the Bronze Age. Maces, which were little more than rocks mounted on sticks, had questionable value as hunting tools, but they were superbly suited for smashing the bones and skulls of other humans. Later in the Bronze Age, the sword...
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  7 Delicious Fruits That Made Their Way to California (and How They Did It) Some of these fruits were first grown in California, and some took thousands of years to get there. Learn their histories here. Earlier versions of the descriptions of these foods first appeared in 1001 Foods You Must Try Before You Die, edited by Frances Case (2008). Writers’ names appear in...
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  7 Drugs that Changed the World People have swallowed elixirs, inhaled vapors, and applied ointments in the name of healing for millennia. But only a small number of substances can be said to have fundamentally revolutionized medicine. Seven of those drugs are listed here, along with some facts that may surprise you. list, drugs,...
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  7 Everyday English Idioms and Where They Come From An idiom is a phrase that is common to a certain population. It is typically figurative and usually is not understandable based solely on the words within the phrase. A prior understanding of its usage is usually necessary. Idioms are crucial to the progression of language. They function in a...
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  7 Famous Child Prodigies Not all gifted children go on to achieve great things as adults. Here are seven who did. list, child prodigies, chess, mathematics, science, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, John von Neumann, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Judit Polgár Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the child prodigy par excellence, playing songs on...
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  7 Female Firsts in U.S. Politics On July 28, 2016, at the Democratic National Convention, Hillary Clinton became the first female presidential candidate of a major U.S. political party. Although Clinton was unsuccessful in gaining the presidency that November, her nomination was regarded as another crack in the ultimate “glass...
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  7 Historic Buildings (and 1 Temporary Pavilion) in Amsterdam Amsterdam has its origins in a fishing village established more than 700 years ago; by the 15th century, it was Holland’s primary port, a center of business, and a place of great wealth. Its position as one of northern Europe’s preeminent cities has continued to today, and that status is reflected...
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  7 Iconic Buildings in Chicago In 1779 Jean-Baptist-Point Du Sable, a trader, founded the settlement that would become Chicago. It was incorporated as a town in 1833 and then again as a city in 1837. A third of it burned down in 1871, but Chicago rebuilt itself ferociously and has been building, and tearing down, ever since. The...