Lists and Stories

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  Bon Festival Bon, also popularly called Obon, is a major Japanese festival held every July (or, in some locations, August). Influenced by the Buddhist All Souls Day, during which the dead revisit the land of the living, Bon is a time for visiting and cleaning gravestones and for lighting lamps to show the...
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  Boston: 10 Claims to Fame Good ol’ Boston. Greater Boston was the site of the American Revolution, is home to Harvard and MIT, and was the birthplace of Dunkin Donuts and public figures such as JFK. History runs through this city’s veins, although it can’t all be found in your textbook. Explore some of Boston’s bizarre and...
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  Botanical Barbarity: 9 Plant Defense Mechanisms There’s no brain in a cabbage. That’s axiomatic. But the lack of a central nervous system doesn’t prevent them, or other plants, from protecting themselves. Some species boast armature such as thorns, or spines that ward off slavering herbivores. Some are loaded with poisons to sicken or kill them....
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  Botanical Sex: 9 Alluring Adaptations Yes, many plants use the birds and the bees to move pollen from one flower to another, but sometimes this “simple act” is not so simple. Some plants have stepped up their sexual game and use explosions, entrapment, or deception to ensure the perpetuation of their species. Learn about these and...
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  ¡Brava, Maestra! Carmen Herrera, who turns 100 years old on May 31, started painting when she was 24. She waited 65 years to sell her first painting. Eleven years later she’s still making art. spotlight, carmen herrera, 100 years old, centenarian, art, artist, abstract painter, geometric,...
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  Brazil: 10 Claims to Fame When television viewers all over planet Earth turned their attention to Brazil in 2014 to watch the competition for the football (soccer) World Cup, they were repeatedly greeted with swirling helicopter shots from above, behind, and around the colossal statue of Christ the Redeemer looking down...
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  Britannica’s Book Bingo Do you like to read? Or do you want to read more? Britannica is here to help. In our Book Bingo, you’ll find reading prompts as well as suggestions for authors and books to try. See if you can fill in a row or column. Or, for the ultimate challenge, complete the whole card. Happy reading!...
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  Britannica’s Dog Bingo Do you know a Bulldog from a Beagle? A Pug from a Poodle? We’ve highlighted 24 breeds in our Dog Bingo. How many can you name? If you want more, take our quiz about dog breeds. Spotlight, dogs, breeds, bingo, Labrador Retriever, Beagle, Siberian Husky, Poodle, French Bulldog, Encyclopedia...
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  Britannica’s Flower Bingo Do you know a dandelion from a daffodil? A petunia from a poppy? We’ve highlighted 24 beautiful blossoms in our Flower Bingo. See if you can name all the flowers in a row or column. Or, go for the blackout and complete the whole card! How many can you identify? Want to further test your botanical...
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  Britannica’s U.S. Presidents Bingo Whose smile is that? Whose mustache? See how many of these 24 U.S. presidents you can name. For more presidential play, check out our quiz about U.S. Presidential Nicknames. Spotlight, presidents, U.S. presidents, bingo, game, George Washington, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Abraham Lincoln, John F....
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  British Royal Line of Succession It seems simple enough. The eldest child of a British sovereign inherits the throne. But it’s not quite that straightforward—or at least it hasn’t always been that way. Multiple marriages, illegitimate children, and usurpers have all caused succession headaches—and often armed battles. But, while...
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  Can Anything Break if You Hit It Hard Enough? If you hit it with enough force, or hit it in just the right way, almost anything can break—that is, separate into pieces. Even the hardest materials we know of—including diamonds, wurtzite, boron nitride, moissanite, and corundum—can be fractured. For instance, it’s possible to shatter a diamond...
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  Can Apple Seeds Kill You? As you watch someone carelessly munching on an apple core, some vague alarm bells go off in your head. Didn’t you hear somewhere that apple seeds are poisonous? Well, apple seeds can indeed be poisonous, but it takes quite a few of them to kill you and only if they have been crushed. Apple seeds...
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  Can Copyright Infringement Kill a Vampire? In recent decades vampire-centric entertainment has been populated with two kinds of monsters. One archetype is a seductive mystery man (or woman, though more often a man) who seems almost human. The other is a grotesque lonely monster. For the former think of Edward from the Twilight Saga and Brad...
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  Can Eating Poppy Seeds Make You Fail a Drug Test? Poppy seeds can cause a positive drug test for opiates. The edible nutritious seeds come from the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), the same plant that is used to produce opium, heroin, morphine, and codeine. Although the seeds themselves do not contain opiates, they are frequently contaminated...
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  Can Eating Too Many Carrots Make Your Skin Turn Orange? You’ve been on a health kick and have been bingeing on baby carrots as your afternoon snack. You look in the mirror one day and notice a slight orangeness to your skin tone. Are you imagining things? Maybe not. Carrots and other orange fruits and vegetables are rich in a pigment known as...
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  Can Lightning Strike the Same Place Twice? “Lightning never strikes the same place twice” is a common phrase you’ve probably heard before, often used to reassure someone that whatever bad thing has happened, it won’t happen again. It can even be used when something good happens, such as winning the lottery, but the underlying truth remains....
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  Can You Drink Water from a Cactus? You may have heard that you can get water from a cactus if you are ever lost and dehydrated in a desert.* Sounds like a nice survival tip to store away, but is it really that easy? Turns out, a cactus is not actually a spine-covered basin of fresh water. Such a plant would not last long in an arid...
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  Can You Guess the Movie by the Scene? Are you fanatic about film? Has anyone called you a cinephile? If so, then this photo challenge is for you. From just the scenes pictured, can you identify the iconic movies? Spotlight, movie, quiz, Titanic, The Silence of the Lambs, Moonlight, Inception, Sound of Music, Britannica, Encyclopaedia...
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  Can You Really Be Scared to Death? A friend jumps out at you when you’re turning a corner. Your heart starts pounding, and you gasp. “You scared me to death!” you say. Of course, the fact that you can utter this common phrase means that you are not deceased. But saying this is so common, in fact, that we have to ask the question: Is...