On the date of March 13, 2013, the Catholic Church recognized its 266th pope, when the current pontiff, Francis, was elected. The Church believes that history shows an unbroken line of popes since the time of Jesus Christ.
Read MoreOne tends to run out of superlatives when describing an artist as creative and influential as David Bowie. Can we say the same for his bank account?
Read MorePassenger pigeons were once perhaps the most multitudinous avians on the planet, numbering as many as 5 billion in their prime. But in 1914, the last known member of the species died at 29 years old in the care of the Cincinnati Zoo. Her name was Martha. Batman would have been furious.
Read MoreHistory has seen some pretty obscene popes. In fact, the Catholic Church saw a 60-year period of pontiffs so profane that it came to be known as the "pornocracy." This age of barefaced and often bare-butted corruption was rooted in an outrageous trial that took place in 897.
Read MoreWhen you put aside the machismo and bragging rights, it's difficult to say exactly why human beings have always felt a need to reach the summits of mountains. Nevertheless, there's a reason summiting Mt. Everest is considered one of the classic feats of adventure sports.
Read MoreSnoop's had his spoon in a lot of soups, and seeing as he's been super famous since the 1990s, it's only fair to assume that he's scooped up some serious dough most of the time. The question is, exactly how much has he earned over the years? Let's find out how much Snoop Dogg is really worth.
Read MoreIf there's one thing NASA loves, it's driving golf carts around the surface of Mars. Although Elon Musk may be worried that humans won't colonize the red planet in his lifetime, NASA's InSight lander recently beamed back some unexpected findings about the red planet's magnetic fields.
Read MoreWalt Disney may have started out as an apprentice ad cartoonist, but he finagled his love for animation into a media empire. Just how much was this smokey human success engine worth at the time of his death?
Read MoreEven the strange world of subatomic particles isn't above the aesthetic allure of symmetry.
Read MoreUmbrellas. They just kind of go with the word "dapper." Occasionally, umbrellas get repurposed, but for some reason, society has long held the opinion that opening one indoors is bad luck. Why?
Read MoreHuman beings kill approximately 100 million sharks a year, per The New York Times Magazine. On the other hand, unprovoked shark attacks killed just five human beings in 2017. So clearly the sharks have more to worry about than we do. But here's how you can survive a shark attack if it happens.
Read MoreIn 2020, rapper and actorJa Rule unironically advertised his tax preparation company, Value Tax, on Twitter. According to Complex, he posted, "IT'S TAX SEASON!!! It's simple, walk in let us do your taxes, walk out with cash in hand," adding, "... we also do credit repair!"
Read MoreDavid Bowie was an iconoclast, a cultural monolith, and, with the help of those leggings that he wore in Labyrinth, the source of a lot of confusing new stirrings in the coming-of-age stories of many Gen Xers. He also possessed a unique appearance that drew in audiences.
Read MoreThere's no doubt most people have heard of the Bermuda Triangle, that deadly swath of sea in the Caribbean known for the ships and planes that have vanished there without a trace. But it's not the only oceanic area known for strange disappearances. There's also the Devil's Triangle.
Read MoreBy now, everyone's probably aware that the coronavirus is tearing its way through the world, and right now, it looks like things may be getting worse before they're going to get better.
Read MoreSuperstitions. Salt cannot be spilled. Ladders demand a careful sidestep. Cracks must not be trodden upon, lest the chiropractic health of one's sainted mother be thrown into disarray. And of course, a broken mirror leads, inevitably, to seven years of bad luck.
Read MoreIt's easy to picture piranhas as hungry teeth with fish attached. In fact, 'piranha' translates to "tooth fish" in the language of Brazil's Tupi people. Paired with a prominent underbite, those notorious chompers make for a menacingly serrated smile.
Read MoreAmy Winehouse lived a short life that, nevertheless, brought her great fame. Her amazingly strong, jazzy voice created powerful hits like "Rehab" and "Back in Black," and made her a household name. How much did she earn in the process?
Read MoreAs COVID-19 continues its tear through the general public, killing hundreds and throwing the international economy into disarray, the CDC offers new advice seemingly on a daily basis. Now they're honing on beards.
Read MoreThe "nature vs. nurture" debate which has raged for ages between scientists. But now, some experts point to a third option: neither.
Read MoreMove over Doctor Moreau, scientists at the Casey Eye Institute are honing in on your territory, only instead of creating hideous mutants they're trying to cure blindness.
Read MoreA stamp may have sealed the fate of Tsutomu Yamaguchi on August 6, 1945, leading him to a remarkable feat of survival.
Read MoreHere's the truth about Michelle Kunimoto, the University of British Columbia student who recently discovered 17 new planets with nothing but her wit, her will, and publicly available NASA internet archives.
Read MoreIt was the heyday of organized crime and celebrity gangsters with various levels of achievement and notoriety. John Dillinger had escaped custody yet again and driven a stolen vehicle across state lines, which qualified him for special attention from the feds. Hoover put Melvin Purvis on the case.
Read MorePretty much everyone would love to live a good, long life. However, the whole "not dying until you're really old" thing is a bit of a two-edged sword: Unless your brain manages to keep up with the rest of your body, your golden years probably won't be quite as cozy as you'd hope.
Read MoreLife is a journey, not a destination. But the band Journey always seemed destined to succeed with Steve Perry at the helm. Until they started paying him not to sing...
Read MoreSherlock Holmes, one of the most famous and brilliant fictional detectives of all time, wasn't entirely fictional. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most prominent creation was heavily based on a real person, Dr. Joseph Bell. Here's the incredible life of Joseph Bell, the real Sherlock Holmes.
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