The mighty Persian Empire was born in the cradle of civilization, ancient Mesopotamia. Also known as the Achaemenid Empire, it emerged as "the world's first superpower" in the 6th century B.C., and under the leadership of King Cyrus the Great, the Persians toppled Babylon, Media, and Lydia ...
Read MoreAlexander Hamilton. Brilliant, but also arrogant; witty, but also dismissive; married, and the father of seven, but also a cheater. Consensus is, it's this last part that kept him out of the White House himself.
Read MoreUp until the 18th century, Ireland had itself a wolf problem. Their solution: make bigger wolves.
Read MoreDonnie Yen and Jackie Chan appeared together on screen, in 2003's pseudo-western comedy Shanghai Knights. But which of them would win in a fist and foot shootout?
Read MoreLet's just say for the sake of argument that your cat will find itself in the position to be eaten by a bear. Could your cat outrun the bear? How fast would your cat have to be to avoid being eaten by a bear?
Read MoreEven Charles Darwin acknowledged that zebras have sexy stripes, and occasionally, donkeys can't hold their horses around those striped seducers. Love is blind, but it doesn't need to be when zebras are involved.
Read MoreBefore the world knew Bruce Lee as the legend who raised the bar for martial arts movies to nigh unreachable heights, his siblings knew him as a little hellraiser named "Jun Fan." The father of Jeet Kune Do was the brother of four siblings: brothers Peter and Robert and sisters Phoebe and Agnes.
Read MoreDisney has a knack for making bankable, kid-friendly animated movies based on seriously dark source material. However, Victor Hugo originally pulled an anti-Disney, by taking the life of a real person and turning it into a tear-soaked nightmare.
Read MoreThe groovy Jefferson Airplane became the spacey Jefferson Starship, which became the overproduced Starship. But no matter what the group called itself, it was always stacked with rock legends. Here's a look back at the long, strange trip of Jefferson Starship (or whatever you want to call it).
Read MoreAlexander Hamilton, many enemies included some of the country's most celebrated Founding Fathers. And from the sound of things, the hate isn't wholly unfounded.
Read MoreGlenn Miller boarded a plane for the flight in bad weather across the English Channel to France on December 15, 1944. It simply disappeared.
Read MoreLet's cover the basics: the dhole, or Cuon alpinus, is a species of wild dog that hangs its hat in the forests of Central and Southeast Asia. Here's where things get crazy.
Read MoreWhat does the Liberty Bell sound like? Does it whisper like wind washing over amber waves of grain? Not quite. It seems that American freedom rings in E-flat. Or at least it used to.
Read MoreFrom assassinations to natural disasters, here are the most tragic reasons why sports events have been canceled.
Read MoreScientists working off the coast of Australia have found "seemingly the largest animal ever discovered." And yes, it's funky.
Read MoreMister Rogers was a paragon of parenting-done-right. Whether or not your own parents always lived up to the ideal, Mr. Rogers sure did. So what happened to his actual children? How did they turn out?
Read MoreRebellion has a rock and roll soul. Little Richard, who has a legitimate claim to being the architect of rock and roll, was basically the original Prince plus a bunch of cocaine. In the world of Southern rock, though, it doesn't get much more rebellious than Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Read MoreWitness Edward, eldest son of England's King Edward III, born in 1330 and made Prince of Wales a mere 13 years later. At least one legend has it that Edward was known as the Black Prince (though only after his death) because he favored black armor. But the truth may be much darker.
Read MoreIndonesia is a nation possessed by ghosts, but it's a willing host -- which takes on a new meaning now that it has 'coronavirus ghosts'
Read MoreIn April 2020, people who previously couldn't see objects right in front of them could feast their eyes on the majestic Himalayan Mountains "for the first time in 30 years." Here's why.
Read MoreEven outside of his career in the NBA, Dele lived a life for the books. He earned a pilot's license, biked across the United States, went skydiving, crashed go karts with his buddies, and dated Madonna back when that was still something people did for fun. But he disappeared, never to be seen again.
Read MoreBret Michaels is a rock star, and a Rock of Love. But has he turned all the glam metal into precious metals and cash? How much is he really worth?
Read MoreEminem has been one of the most famous rappers around (if not the most famous one) since The Slim Shady LP dropped in 1999. His humble beginnings, discovery by Dr. Dre, and rapid ascension to the upper echelons of fame have been the stuff American dreams are made of.
Read MoreYou may have seen the famous Currier and Ives print depicting the electrifying kite experiment that Benjamin Franklin conducted with his son, William. Did Franklin really discover electricity? You may find the truth shocking.
Read MoreRecently, the world has found itself in the middle of a passionate love affair with hand sanitizer. Who knows why? Is there something in the news?
Read MoreFor a long time Yakuza members buttered their bread with extortion, blackmail, and racketeering. But their numbers are flattening like a heated panini. What happened?
Read MoreWith Angus Young's horn signs and the band's copious "Hell's Bells" imagery, it's easy to believe that the biggest controversies regarding AC/DC might have been of the devil-worshiping variety. Back in the day, it seems that one of the most curious things about the band was ... their name.
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