Serbian donkey cheese is the most expensive in the world

The world's most unique cheeses

Some are set apart by their unusual ingredients, like moose milk or live mites. Others are defined by texture, like the Georgian specialty tenili, a very rare hand-pulled cheese that resembles yarn or pasta strands. There’s even a canned cheese that has been using the same strain of bacteria for more than 70 years.

Brazil is leading a cheese revolution and challenging European dominance in the industry

Brazil has plenty of traditional dishes that rely on cheese, but it’s only in the last decade that the country has emerged as a powerhouse in artisanal cheesemaking. While the cheeses may be inspired by European traditions, options like cocoa-dusted goat cheese or an Amazonian buffalo cheese are pure South American.

The Chinese market for donkey hides has created a new source of diseases

Since 1992, China’s donkey population has dropped more than 80 percent. This report examines how China’s booming demand for a traditional medicine known as e-jiao, made from collagen from donkey hides, is leading to the slaughter of 6 million African donkeys annually, and providing a new source for zoonotic diseases.

Switzerland is widely considered the world capital of cheese

This charming infographic looks at the cheese-related habits of Europe’s top three cheese-producing countries: Italy, France, and Switzerland. Cheeses in France are reported to be the lightest, and Swiss cheeses the heaviest.

In 2022, the US exported more than 450,000 metric tonnes of cheese worldwide

That same year, the US cheese export market was valued at $2.3B. The main consumer markets for the US were Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Canada. Mexico was the largest importer of US cheese, with 87% of its cheese imports coming from its neighbor.

How five of the world's most expensive salt and spices are made

Part of the charm of certain spices and salts is their exotic origin, hailing from difficult-to-access locales or hewn via special processes. That also explains why they can be so expensive. Dive into the businesses of producing and marketing five of the world's most expensive food additives with this engaging video.

Civet coffee is some of the most expensive (and bizarre) coffee in the world

Known colloquially as "cat poo coffee," the style is made from beans that have been consumed and then excreted by the Asian palm civet, a small mammal related to the mongoose. Coffee made from these beans is said to be smooth and complex, with notes of chocolate.

Animal wines: Wine bottles with pigs on the label had the lowest median prices at $23.22

If you’ve ever spent too much time staring at a shelf in a wine store, you might have noticed something similar: animals, specifically, cats, pigs, or birds on the labels. So, what do these wines have in common? This interactive tool attempts to figure out what wines that include the same animal have in common.

View the most expensive materials on Earth, led by those forged in particle accelerators

Californium-252—valued at $27.8M per gram, as of 2025—is far rarer and more valuable than gold, silver, or diamonds due to production and transportation costs. The most expensive substance ever found or created is antimatter, costing approximately $62.5T per gram.

The most expensive EU countries

Among countries in the European Union, Luxembourg has the highest prices (52% higher than the EU average). Romania seems like it's the cheapest option in the EU at 46% below the EU average. Want to see how other countries such as Italy, France and Germany rank? Explore this color-coded map to learn more.

What ancient goat teeth reveal about ancient human-animal relationships

About 4,000 years ago, several goats with terrible teeth managed to outlive their better-teethed brethren. With such intense dental damage, the goats were likely fed higher-quality feed than the more dentally gifted herd members, a dietary shift that would've contributed to the difference in life span. These goat teeth underscore the hard truth that humans may inflict harm on the animals they care about most, regardless of intention.

The global horse market is worth about $400B

In this podcast episode from a new series on horses, Freakonomics explores the market around buying and selling some of the world's top sport horses, and the nebulous forces that make them so valuable.

Why Pabst Blue Ribbon switched from brewing beer to making cheese during Prohibition

The brewer marketed its product, Pabst-ett, as "whole milk cheese food," available in both block and spreadable forms, as well as various flavors.

Attending Davos can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars

Access to Davos’ most exclusive events often comes at a steep price: Annual WEF dues can exceed $50K, premium membership can reach $500K, and attendance adds high costs for travel, lodging, security, and credentials.

The okapi was once considered a cryptid, or an animal with an unverified existence

Similar to dragons or Bigfoot, the okapi was once believed to be a mythical animal, known colloquially as an "African unicorn." Its confusing features include zebra-like legs on a donkey-esque body with a giraffe-like head. However, this animal is both real and quite cute.

Why Serbia produces great basketball players

The NBA phenom Nikola Jokić isn't an anomaly. Serbia and other Balkan countries have produced generations of talented basketball players. This history of the region's approach to basketball explains why. It details a community-minded approach to the sport called "positionless basketball” that emphasizes dynamic multi-talented players rather than specialized superstars.

In 2021, someone paid $2M for an unopened 'Super Mario Bros.'

The collectibles site Rally announced in 2021 that an unopened "Super Mario Bros." cartridge sold for $2M. That's the highest price ever paid for a video game.

What is the most painful thing in the world?

Pain is famously difficult to quantify, and though our response to it may be subjective, most pain does have underlying objective causes. So what's the most painful thing of all? Many say childbirth, or a broken femur, but this article lays out one case for why, of all things, kidney stones may be the most painful experience. Prepare yourself to find out here.

Medieval elites prized narwhal tusks as mythical “unicorn horns”

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, narwhal tusks were believed to be unicorn horns, possessing healing and anti-poisonous properties. Coveted by Europe’s elites, they became royal gifts—with one even presented to Queen Elizabeth I by explorer Martin Frobisher.

How are rotisserrie chickens so cheap?

Rotisserie chickens offer up an entire bird roasted in a slurry of flavor and added ingredients at many supermarkets, ready to eat. They are surprisingly cheap, with the average sold for between $5 and $9 in the US. This video explores how inexpensive they are, highlighting that they are usually birds near expiration and roasted in bulk in industrial ovens.

What is pumpernickel bread?

Pumpernickel is a dark rye bread made without wheat flour in Germany and exported to over 100 countries. It's one of the oldest breads in the world, having been made for at least 500 years. It's traditionally consumed alongside something hearty like meat. It lasts for years in a tin, and some recipes require it to be baked for up to 24 hours in its own steam.

Some parents are spending about $200 on berries per month

About 32% of respondents to a recent survey about berries said their children typically eat a carton of berries in a single serving. That level of consumption is costing parents more money than one might expect.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Mark Zuckerberg owns a cattle ranch in Hawaii

Zuckerberg owns a cattle ranch on Kauai, where he says his goal is to raise the best beef in the world. Zuckerberg has said that he raises Wagyu and Angus and feeds them macadamia meal and beer, both of which are produced on the cattle ranch. In January 2024, Zuckerberg said his daughter thought his full-time job was cattle ranching.

The longest official chess game lasted 269 moves and over 20 hours

In 1989, Ivan Nikolić and Goran Arsović played a marathon 269-move match in Belgrade. Lasting more than 20 hours, the game ended in a draw.

Less than 0.1% of the approximately 20,000 known bee species make honey

The majority of honeybee species originate in South and Southeast Asia, with the largest—Apis laboriosa—found almost exclusively in the Himalayas. The smallest is the black dwarf honeybee, Apis andreniformis, which inhabits tropical and subtropical regions of the continent.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Marburg virus, related to Ebola, is also extremely deadly, and has no available vaccine.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Poison ivy is in the same family as mangoes, cashews, and pistachios—and they all produce oily urushiol in their raw, unprocessed state—but they are typically prepared in ways to avoid causing human discomfort.

One of the most famous portraits ever taken is 'Afghan Girl' (1984) by Steve McCurry, yet the subject Sharbat Gula went much of her life without being identified or benefitting from the image's success.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

While atoms are normally made of protons, neutrons, and electrons, exotic ones have been built with antimatter—alternate versions of normal matter that live for fractions of a second and are about a billion times as rare.

Waves off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal, can reach over 100 feet and are caused by the area's deep underwater canyon geography

In preparation for this weekend's Eurovision finale, which is something like the World Cup of pop music, here's a young Céline Dion performing (for Switzerland?) at the 1988 competition.

See photos of Meteora, a mountainous site in central Greece, home to 14th-century monasteries perched atop soaring outcroppings.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in terms of casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

Use this calculator to find the dollar value of your mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care for your children.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'