Of the 70 delegates chosen as representatives to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, only 55 actually attended the proceedings in Philadelphia, and it is believed that there were never more than 46 of them in attendance at any one time. When it came time to affix their signatures to the

The exact number of victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, is not definitively known due to uncertainty around the number of those killed at the World Trade Center. However, the official death toll, after numerous revisions and not including the 19 terrorists, is 2,977 people. At

A typical adult human has approximately 8 to 12 pints (about 4.5 to 6.8 liters) of blood circulating through their body. This is equivalent to roughly 7–8 percent of total body weight. Blood volume, however, varies according to factors such as age, sex, weight, and body type. For instance, women

Cows do not have four stomachs, as is sometimes thought. They have one stomach divided into four compartments—the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. This specialized structure is typical of ruminants, a group of mammals that includes cattle, sheep, and goats, and it allows them to digest

Making it to the playoffs with a chance to win the Super Bowl is the goal of every team in the NFL, but how do teams qualify for the postseason? Of the 32 teams that compete in the NFL, 14 advance to the playoffs. Seven teams each qualify from the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National

The number of teeth a shark has is different for each species, but some can have more than 35,000 teeth in their lifetime. Unlike humans, who have a limited number of teeth, sharks have a continuous tooth replacement system. Some sharks have several rows of teeth, but they mostly use the front two

Jellyfish are a diverse group of marine animals, and their tentacle count varies significantly across different species. Some have 8 or fewer tentacles, and others have up to 1,200 tentacles. For instance, the immortal jellyfish, which is remarkable for its ability to evade death by cycling

Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution clearly states that “The Congress shall have Power…To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.” Since the adoption of the Constitution in 1789, the United States has declared war

U.S. Pres. Donald J. Trump and Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, met Friday, August 15, 2025, at an air force base in Alaska. It was the seventh official meeting between the two leaders and the first of Trump’s second term. The two discussed the Ukraine-Russia war. The in-person meetings between

On September 10, 1945, Lloyd Olsen was beheading chickens for market on his family farm in Fruita, Colorado, when one of the decapitated birds picked itself up and started running around the yard, still very much alive. Olsen put the chicken, which he named Mike, in a box on the porch and was

Stanley Fish: …Trouble with Principle (1999), and How Milton Works (2001). How to Write a Sentence: And How to Read One and Winning Arguments: What Works and Doesn’t Work in Politics, the Bedroom, the Courtroom, and the Classroom were published in 2011 and 2016, respectively.

Up until the 1990s, transactions typically closed with the ceremonial handing over of cash, coin, or check for purchased goods and services. Money, in some physical form, was always present, more or less, in the process. Although money still plays an essential role in all purchases, it now seems to

If you’ve ever stared at a Form 1040 and wondered why the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses so many different terms to describe “income,” you’re not alone. Even seasoned filers—and sometimes financial pros—get tripped up by the labels. The IRS uses three distinct, but seemingly interchangeable,

Although there are many variables that can affect a falcon’s diet, an adult falcon will generally eat 70–154 grams (2.5–5.4 ounces) daily. Think of it this way: 70 grams is roughly equivalent to the meat on two blackbirds. Or this way: Most falcons will consume about 10 percent of their body weight

A hippopotamus typically weighs up to 3,200 kg (3.5 tons). As the second-largest land mammal after the elephant, hippos are among the heaviest terrestrial animals. Males generally measure about 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) long and stand 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall, with a weight range of 1,600–3,200 kg

The adult male human brain typically weighs between 1,300 grams and 1,400 grams (2.87 to 3.08 pounds), making up roughly 2 percent of total body mass. Adult female brains weigh 100 to 150 grams (0.22 to 0.33 pounds) less than adult male brains. Brain weight varies by age, sex, and individual

The short answer? A lot. The African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), also known as the African savanna elephant, is Earth’s largest living land animal. It can weigh between about 9,900 and 13,500 pounds (between 4,500 kg and 6,100 kg), with some males reaching up to 24,000 pounds (10,886 kg).

In 1798 British physicist Henry Cavendish became the first person to accurately determine the mass of Earth. His painstakingly conducted experiment calculated the density of Earth and thus the value of G, the universal gravitational constant first proposed by Isaac Newton in 1687. While mass and

Maybe you’ve been renting for a while now and are thinking about buying a home. You hear advice about “building generational wealth” and not “wasting money on rent,” and it rings true. But the expenses of homeownership shouldn’t be taken lightly. There’s more to consider than how much your mortgage

If you’ve already purchased a home, good for you! Now you need to make sure you have enough money in your budget to pay for maintenance and improvements to your property. And if you’re still weighing whether to buy a home, now’s the time to consider whether your budget has enough leeway to cover

Leo Tolstoy: Fiction after 1880 of Leo Tolstoy: …zemli nuzhno” (written 1885; “How Much Land Does a Man Need”), a story that the Irish novelist James Joyce rather extravagantly praised as “the greatest story that the literature of the world knows.”

Following the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the country’s struggling nationalized oil industry has emerged as a major topic of focus, along with the possibility of empowering U.S. energy companies to move into the country to revive it. Here’s a deeper look that considers

The Strait of Hormuz is the busiest choke point for the global oil trade after the Strait of Malacca. The roughly 20.3 million barrels of petroleum and crude oil that pass through the strait per day account for roughly 25 percent of the world’s maritime oil trade. Immediately after the outbreak of

Sleep is a biological necessity, and sleep needs change throughout life. Newborns may need as many as 17 hours of sleep each day, whereas adults generally need 7 to 9 hours. The necessary amount of sleep for each individual is determined by multiple factors, including internal circadian clock,

The Boston Tea Party saw the disposal of 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. On the night of December 16, 1773, a group of about 60 men, encouraged by a large crowd of Bostonians, donned blankets and Native American headdresses, marched to the wharf, boarded ships belonging to the East India

Space seems pretty empty. After all, much of the volume of the universe is a vacuum that will kill you. But humanity hasn’t taken only memories and left only footprints on the final frontier. We’ve left a lot of junk up there. In Earth’s orbit itself, the U.S. Space Surveillance Network is tracking

The Louisiana Purchase transferred control of the Louisiana Territory—a vast land area extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the British North American colonies (Canada)—from France to the United States in 1803. In return for the territory, the

The popular recommendation to drink 8 cups of water every day isn’t as definitive as it may seem. The amount of water one should drink depends on a number of factors, including age, biological sex, and activity level. On average, women need to consume about 11 cups (2.7 liters) of water (the U.S.

Buying a franchise may be a worthwhile investment in the long run, but it will take a lot of work, and it certainly isn’t cheap. Some franchises cost more than others, but regardless of the price, you’ll need to dish out a good chunk of change—anywhere from a few grand to a few million, depending

Each new year brings with it changes to tax laws, including those governing how much you can set aside for retirement, college, and medical expenses and still take a full deduction on your tax return. And 2025 is no exception. The contribution limits for the most common tax-advantaged savings

Solar eclipses occur two to five times a year, though it is rare for five to occur in a year. The last time five occurred in a single year was in 1935, and the next time five are expected in a year is no earlier than 2206. Total eclipses (with the Sun fully covered) are even rarer—the average

People and all other known forms of life inhabit one very old planet. In numerical terms, the best estimate of Earth’s age so far is that it is close to 4.6 billion years old. But what does that mean exactly? If one uses a human lifetime of 75 years as a measure, the time between Earth’s formation

Niagara Falls, the iconic waterfall at the border of Ontario, Canada, and New York state, is fairly young, as waterfalls go. It began to form more than 12,000 years ago, toward the end of the Wisconsin Glacial Stage. The deluge of the melting ice from the retreating glaciers carved into the rock

Scientific data suggest that Greenland sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) may live for more than 500 years and that the oldest known living Greenland shark is about 400 years old. This remarkable longevity—which earns this fish the title of “world’s longest-lived vertebrate”—is likely a result of

Anne Frank received her red-and-white plaid diary as a gift on her 13th birthday on June 12, 1942, and began writing in it that day. The diary became her confidant, a place where she could express her innermost thoughts and feelings during a time of immense uncertainty and fear: Anne, who was

No one knows the exact age at which Mary gave birth to Jesus, but she may have been a teenage mother. There are only two scriptural accounts of Christ’s birth in the New Testament—in the Gospel According to Matthew and in the Gospel According to Luke—and neither provides much insight into how old

A few years after humans first went to the Moon, Sea-Monkeys joined them. Let’s get the disappointment out of the way first: Sea-Monkeys, despite advertising that may suggest otherwise, aren’t aquatic primates. They’re actually brine shrimp—small crustaceans in the order Anostraca that inhabit

An earlier version of this article was published on the Britannica blog Advocacy for Animals. In December 1997 Oprah Winfrey, the American talk show host, and Howard Lyman, a former cattle rancher and then director of the Humane Society’s Eating with a Conscience Campaign, were sued in federal

In the wild, animals don’t live and learn. They learn and live. Knowledge equals survival. Certain knowledge is innate, such as a beaver’s instinctual understanding of how to build a dam or a bird’s to fly. But most knowledge must be learned. Like humans, the majority of species learn by observing

history of Europe: A climate of fear: …the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia: How Parliament Can Play a Revolutionary Part in the Transition to Socialism and the Role of the Popular Masses. First, communist ministers were imposed upon the existing coalition government, if possible in key posts such as the Ministry of the Interior. Then, the party gradually…

broken rhyme: …example in stanza 6 of “How Pleasant to Know Mr. Lear”:

Quincy Jones’s enormous success in the 1980s was the culmination of an extraordinary career that would continue for many more decades. A classically trained musician who grew up in Seattle, Washington, he was a gospel singer at age 12, a jazz arranger in New York City in his early 20s, and musical

Radioactive isotopes, or radioisotopes, are species of chemical elements that are produced through the natural decay of atoms. Exposure to radiation generally is considered harmful to the human body, but radioisotopes are highly valuable in medicine, particularly in the diagnosis and treatment of

Not as rare as plutonium, but rarer than carbon. Come on. Don’t be cute. You’re Encyclopædia Britannica. You have all the answers. There are 17 rare-earth elements. They include the elements from lanthanum to lutetium (atomic numbers 57 to 71), as well as scandium (atomic number 21) and yttrium

At the time of his death in 1937, John D. Rockefeller was worth an estimated $1.4 billion—a staggering sum that equaled roughly 1.5% of the U.S. economy as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP). In GDP terms, his wealth would be worth $435 billion in 2025 dollars—more than any living

Pablo Escobar was one of the wealthiest individuals in the world during his time, with an estimated net worth of around $25 billion. Escobar’s wealth was primarily amassed through his leadership of the Medellín cartel, which dominated the cocaine trade in the 1980s. At its peak, the cartel was

In 1692 the small Puritan village of Salem, Massachusetts, was plagued by a sudden and brief cloud of witchcraft accusations. After young girls Betty Parris and Abigail Williams exhibited severe convulsions and other strange symptoms, village doctor William Griggs diagnosed them as having been

Buying a whole life policy or annuity isn’t just about comparing premiums and benefits. It’s also about ensuring the insurer can deliver on its promises. If the company runs into financial trouble, your payout could be delayed, reduced, or even put at risk. You can reduce that risk by checking the

In an era of hacks, leaks, whistle-blowers, and media organizations that appear to have become information launderers for Russian intelligence agencies, it is important to understand what a state secret really is. It is equally important to recognize that this definition transcends political

An earlier version of this article was published on the Britannica blog Advocacy for Animals. The partnership between humans and animals dates back to the first domestication of animals in the Stone Age, as long as 9,000 years ago. But never have animals provided such dedicated and particular help

If you can’t work, you aren’t bringing in the income you need to pay your bills and buy groceries. For many workers, even a short period without a paycheck can be financially devastating. Short-term disability insurance helps bridge that gap by replacing a portion of your earnings when you can’t

You may have heard about smart contracts, but what are they, exactly, and how do they work? If you’re a crypto enthusiast, you may remember that smart contracts used to be an Ethereum network thing (versus a Bitcoin thing). Now that the Bitcoin network supports smart contracts—a major leap forward

Social Security is one of the most familiar, yet misunderstood, financial programs in the United States. For many workers, it represents the foundation of retirement income. But there are other aspects of Social Security that may not be as well known, such as disability and survivor benefits. To

How does a company go from the wow-that’s-a-great-idea phase to the wildly successful business phase? Money, more money, and perhaps even more money—often coming from professional investors. In the world of start-ups and emerging businesses, securing funding is often a critical step toward growth

12 Contemporary Black Authors You Must Read: Terry McMillan: …novels Waiting to Exhale and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, she tapped into a previously overlooked market of readers of contemporary African American fiction. Featuring modern, relatable female protagonists looking for love and adventure, McMillan’s books spoke to the experiences of many Black women. In 2020 she published It’s…

Terry McMillan: Literary success and readership: The novel’s film version—also titled How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)—starred Bassett, Whoopi Goldberg, and Taye Diggs and was filmed on location in Jamaica and was another box-office hit.

When it comes to mighty bites, sharks are exceptionally powerful. In fact, the great white shark has one of the strongest chomps in the animal kingdom—with an estimated bite force of 18,000 N (newtons; 1 N = about 0.2248 pound of force), according to computer analyses. The strongest shark bite ever

The financial markets have adopted T+1 settlement, reducing the number of days it takes to complete a trade to one business day (from two), effective May 28, 2024. T+1 settlement applies to stocks, bonds, municipal securities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), some mutual funds, and any limited

Giraffes are the tallest land animals. Males (bulls) may exceed 5.5 meters (18 feet) in height, and females (cows) are about 4.5 meters (15 feet) tall. A bull’s height is comparable to a two-story building, while a cow is equivalent to about a one-and-a-half-story building. Despite being slightly

According to 1 Samuel 17 of the Hebrew Bible (which contains a large portion of the Christian Old Testament), Goliath was a heavily armed Philistine giant who challenged King Saul for 40 days to send out a man to fight him. No one would face this intimidating warrior until young David, a shepherd

If the Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex)—the largest member of a group of theropod dinosaurs called tyrannosaurs—had stood upright, it would have been more than 6.5 meters (21 feet) tall. This would be about a meter higher than an adult male giraffe, which stands at about 5.5 meters (18 feet) tall.

The History Channel’s miniseries Texas Rising, which aired in 2015, brought to the screen the larger-than-life characters and events that contributed to the founding of Texas. Appropriate for a state where everything is said to be bigger, there is much more to the story behind the Texas Revolution

Mount Tambora is a stratovolcano and forms the entire 37.3-mile- (60-km-) wide Sanggar peninsula on Sumbawa island, Indonesia. Its eruption in April of 1815 is the largest observed eruption in recorded history. It measured a 7 on the volcanic explosivity index (VEI). Plumes from the eruption of

Despite the acceptance by many Americans in the 1840s of the concept of Manifest Destiny—that it was the providential right of the United States to expand to the Pacific Ocean—the future boundary between the United States and Mexico was anything but a foregone conclusion. Great Britain, with whom

For decades, investors looked at each investment opportunity as an independent entity. They analyzed companies on their own merits, not thinking about how each interacted with the financial system. Then, in 1964, William F. Sharpe introduced the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). Rather than worry

The Dred Scott decision of 1857 put a match to the tinderbox of sectional conflict over the future of slavery, the most important issue in the mid-19th century United States. It exploded the hard-won rules under which the expansion of the United States had been undertaken over the previous four or

Needing time away from work can cause real anxiety, especially when it’s because you or someone close to you is facing a serious health issue. Whether it’s surgery, childbirth, or a chronic condition, stepping away can leave you wondering if you’re putting your job in jeopardy. The Family and

On May 28, 1934, a miracle happened. In a modest farmhouse in Corbeil, Ontario, Canada, parents Oliva and Elzire Dionne welcomed five additions to their family: Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Émilie, and Marie. Soon they would become the first known set of quintuplets to survive infancy. Their novelty

Julia Alvarez: …years before her first novel, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, was published in 1991. The book deals with growing up in a new cultural environment and includes experiences from her own life. Alvarez’s second novel, In the Time of the Butterflies (1994), is a fictional account of the…

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!: Film adaptations: The 2000 live-action film of the same name, directed by Ron Howard, starred Jim Carrey in the title role and was the first Dr. Seuss book to be adapted into a full-length feature film. It grossed more than $349 million worldwide and became the third highest-grossing Christmas film…

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, beloved American Christmas story that originally appeared as a children’s book by American author Dr. Seuss in 1957. It was adapted into a wildly popular animated television special that aired on CBS on December 18, 1966. The story was later made into two

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!: …a wildly popular animated television special that aired on CBS on December 18, 1966. The story was later made into two feature-length films and a musical.

Just So Stories: …physical characteristics, as in “How the Leopard Got His Spots.” In the stories, Kipling parodied the subject matter and style of several traditional works, such as the Buddhist Jataka tales and The Thousand and One Nights.

Steven Pinker: The sequel, How the Mind Works (1997), earned a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction. In that book, Pinker expounded a scientific method that he termed “reverse engineering.” The method, which involved analyzing human behaviour in an effort to understand how the brain developed through…

Nitrogen is the most plentiful element in Earth’s atmosphere and is a constituent of all living matter. It is essential to human survival as well as the survival of other animals and plants. But even while surrounded by nitrogen in the atmosphere, animals and plants are unable to make use of free

This infographic provides an overview of the Normandy Invasion, also called Operation Overlord or D-Day, which was launched on June 6, 1944, during World War II. The largest seaborne invasion ever, the operation involved the simultaneous landing of U.S., British, and Canadian forces on five

Signed into law in July 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) touches nearly every corner of the household budget. It extends tax cuts, rewrites credits for energy upgrades and electric vehicles, introduces new deductions, and sharply reduces federal funding for social programs. Some

Kateena Haynes’s smile warms the room as she weaves through playing children at her feet to get to the computer room, chatting with staff as she goes. There, the walls are lined with desktop computers for kids to do their homework. A few minutes later, walking around back under the hot Appalachian

Jacob Riis: …photographer who, with his book How the Other Half Lives (1890), shocked the conscience of his readers with factual descriptions of slum conditions in New York City.

Alan Ayckbourn: …An Entertainment on Marriage (1970), How the Other Half Loves (1971), the trilogy The Norman Conquests (1973), Absurd Person Singular (1974), Intimate Exchanges (1985), Mr. A’s Amazing Maze Plays (1989), Body Language (1990), Invisible Friends (1991),

Socialist Realism: …classic Kak zakalyalas stal (1932–34; How the Steel Was Tempered), written by Nikolay Ostrovsky, an invalid who died at 32. His hero, Pavel Korchagin, wounded in the October Revolution, overcomes his health handicap to become a writer who inspires the workers of the Reconstruction. The young novelist’s passionate sincerity and…

The earliest known use of the swastika symbol—an equilateral cross with arms bent to the right at 90° angles—was discovered carved on a 15,000-year-old ivory figurine of a bird made from mammoth tusk. The ancient engraving is hypothesized to have been used for fertility and health purposes, the

Dambisa Moyo: In How the West Was Lost: Fifty Years of Economic Folly—And the Stark Choices Ahead (2011), Moyo declared that Western countries such as the United States have imperiled their hard-earned prosperity by a half century of high consumption, low savings, and lack of investment in infrastructure…

How the West Was Won, American western film, released in 1962, that was a sprawling epic about the transformation of the American West in the 19th century. The story is told in five parts—“The Rivers,” “The Plains,” “The Civil War,” “The Railroad,” and “The Outlaws”—that follow several generations

Filing your taxes can be complicated, especially if you later realize you need to amend a tax return. Even if you think you did your taxes correctly and included every required form, mistakes still happen. Sometimes, new or updated information arrives after you file and changes what you originally

Perhaps you’ve been at your job for a while, doing great work but thinking you should be better paid for your efforts. If that strikes a chord, it might be time to ask for a raise. The idea of hitting your boss up for more money may seem daunting, but getting the pay you deserve is essential to

Liu Shaoqi: Early life and career: …series of lectures called “How To Be a Good Communist.” In these talks he drew upon all his organizational experience as a labour leader and underground figure to define the demands to be made upon all party members; at this point Liu began to assume the role of chief…

Salma Hayek: …series of comedies that included How to Be a Latin Lover (2017), Beatriz at Dinner (2017), Drunk Parents (2018), and The Hummingbird Project (2018). In the action comedies The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017) and The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021), Hayek played a woman married to an assassin. In 2023 she

Jonathan Franzen: …compiled into his fourth book, How to Be Alone (2002). The volume’s 13 essays cover topics as varied as dealing with his father’s Alzheimer disease and his thoughts on conformity and privacy. Franzen published a memoir, The Discomfort Zone, in 2006 and a translation of German dramatist Frank Wedekind’s play…

Ibram X. Kendi: Books and other publications: …2019 Kendi released the memoir How to Be an Antiracist. His other works include the board book Antiracist Baby (2020) and How to Raise an Antiracist (2022). Together with Keisha N. Blain, he edited Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619−2019 (2021). Kendi adapted folktales collected by…

Philip Pullman: Other works: Among Pullman’s other works are How to Be Cool (1987), The Broken Bridge (1990), The White Mercedes (1992; reissued and adapted as the film The Butterfly Tattoo [2009]), The Firework-Maker’s Daughter (1995), The Scarecrow and the Servant (2004), and The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

Terrance Hayes: American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin: In 2015 Hayes published How to Be Drawn, which also includes Pecha Kucha poems and experiments with traditional forms. The collection received a 2016 NAACP Image Award. Though Hayes’s early work never avoided politics, his next book, American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin (2018), was directly spurred…

Nick Hornby: Other novels: His other novels include How to Be Good (2001), A Long Way Down (2005; film 2014), Slam (2007; film 2016), and Juliet, Naked (2009; film 2018). The latter revisits extreme fandom in the Internet age, centering on an insular online community of music fans and the reclusive rock musician…

Who doesn’t like the idea of summer travel? Whether it’s hopping across the Atlantic to explore Europe, boarding a cruise ship to see Alaska, or heading out on an iconic American road trip, packing up and setting out go hand in hand with the season. The less appealing part, of course, is paying for

Lily Allen: Acting career: …Elizabeth Taylor in the film How to Build a Girl (2019). In 2021 she made her stage acting debut in 2:22: A Ghost Story at the Noël Coward Theatre in London’s West End. Allen played a mother who is convinced her family’s new house is haunted. Her performance won her…

Ever start a long road trip without directions, or even a plan? Probably not, as that’s a good way to end up lost, far from your destination, or going in circles. It’s a perfect analogy to long-term investing. When you’re planning a portfolio, it helps to have a clear outline of your goals (where

“Generational wealth” is a relatively new term to describe something that’s been around for centuries, at least among the wealthy—estate planning. When planned and executed properly, it can boost the financial well-being of your family for generations to come. Building and maintaining generational

Federal and (depending on where you live) state incentives make installing solar panels on the roof of your house a fairly affordable, money-saving home improvement project. But new federal legislation has accelerated the expiration of the 30% tax credit for homeowner-owned solar systems, moving

A health care proxy, sometimes known as a health care agent or surrogate, is someone you trust to make medical decisions on your behalf when you can’t. Appointing a health care proxy requires that you set up a durable power of attorney for health care. Although many people name a health care proxy

Mutual funds are a cheap and efficient way to own several companies in one investment, but choosing among them can feel overwhelming. There are thousands of funds on the market, covering nearly every type of investment style and asset class. Even if your employer’s 401(k) plan offers only a handful