Wedding rings can be traced back to ancient Egypt, where the ring symbolized eternity

Diamond engagement rings were popularized via an ad campaign

In 1947, an ad agency copywriter wrote the De Beers diamond company's slogan, "a diamond is forever"—and diamond engagement rings became basically required for brides-to-be. This video tells the story of exactly how the ad campaign happened, and why it was so impactful.

Diamond engagement rings didn’t become popular until the 1900s

However, the history of engagement rings stretches all the way back to the year 850, when the pope said that a ring symbolized a man’s intent to marry. At the time, gold was the most popular choice for engagement rings. See a full timeline of the engagement ring’s history.

The medieval meaning of your birthstone

Medieval people viewed birthstones very differently from modern jewelry marketing. Rather than simply being decorative, gems were believed to possess extraordinary magical, medical, and mystical powers. This article breaks down some fascinating insights into medieval gemstone beliefs, including that diamonds could fend off insanity and nightmares.

In 1924, the department store Marshall Field's invented the first modern 'wedding registry'

However, there were many traditions around wedding gifts before the wedding registry was invented, too—from dowries to marriage chests. Read about the history of the wedding registry in this article.

Several birthstones play key roles across modern technologies

Diamonds are used in drills and quantum computing, while peridot and zircon help in steelmaking and carbon capture. Rubies, sapphires, and alexandrite enable several varieties of lasers found in medicine and advanced optics. Garnets are found in water filtration systems and radiation detectors. Sapphires are used as substrates in semiconductors.

Around the world, marriage plays an important role in bolstering social stability

Marriage was around in one form or another long before written history. From bonds between two people to large polyamorous gatherings of spouses, the rich history of marriage practices demonstrates that partnerships have been, and will likely continue to be, incredibly diverse.

Hear the stories behind each Super Bowl ring from the past 59 champions

Super Bowl rings are championship jewelry given to players, coaches, and staff to commemorate a title. Over time, they’ve grown dramatically—from the Packers’ 1966 ring with a single half-carat diamond to modern designs featuring nearly 10 carats.

The wedding industry is a roughly $200B global market

That market is shaped by both tradition and commercial influence. In the US, couples spend an average of $35K on a wedding, while Indian weddings range from $5K to more than $100K. Despite rising costs, weddings remain a deeply emotional tradition, celebrating love and human connection.

Ancient Chinese marriages began with an elaborate marriage proposal and acceptance between families

The chief objectives of early Chinese marriages involved joining and enhancing the two families and ensuring succession with numerous descendants. Chinese couples still compare astrological signs, although some of the more elaborate rituals of betrothal gifts and sleeping in the “cock loft” are far less common.

Explore how fine jewelry investing works

Experts recommend that fine jewelry investors focus on the most in-demand brands like Cartier, and on trends, time periods, and stones with staying power.

Nail art can be traced back to 5,000 BCE

Archaeologists discovered Egyptian mummies with nail art and henna-tinted fingertips. The trend would continue informally for centuries until Revlon introduced modern nail polish in 1932.

View a gallery of Einstein rings

As light from a distant galaxy spreads in all directions, rays that pass around a massive object, such as another galaxy, may be bent around it. If the massive object is positioned between the distant galaxy and our telescopes, we may observe this deflected light forming a ring around it.

Death taxes have helped fund wars since the 1860s

Death taxes date back to 700 BCE and were used in Ancient Rome and Ancient Egypt. In the US, they've been used to finance wars since the Civil War, and have been levied on both the estate and beneficiary. The estate tax created during WWI to help finance war efforts is still in effect today.

Maya jade earflares were believed to open pathways to the divine

Carved from rare, hard-to-work jadeite, Maya earflares symbolized vitality and timelessness. Seen as living objects, they were believed to act as portals between the human and supernatural worlds, making finely crafted examples especially prized.

Ancient Greece originated roughly 4,000 years ago around the Aegean Sea

From architectural feats to the Western alphabet, ancient Greece has helped shape modern life. Over centuries, the eastern Mediterranean culture grew as far as India, Egypt, and Spain. Its cultural influence has long since spread beyond any physical boundaries.

See a collection of ancient Roman coins used on the Silk Roads

As ancient Rome's appetite for eastern luxuries grew, long-distance trade routes linking the Mediterranean to Asia emerged along what became known as the Silk Road. Without shared language or legal systems, merchants could use the reliable Roman coins to exchange with other cultures. This exhibit features gold and silver pieces bearing the portraits of emperors and Latin inscriptions.

Tattoos were once used to identify status

Around 450 BCE, Scythians inhabiting what is now southern Siberia were recorded as wearing tattoos of swirling mythical beasts to signify nobility. At the same time, tattoos have identified lower-status and enslaved people.

As of 2024, about 77% of the world's gold reserves have been mined

About 216 million metric tons—about 0.4% of the Great Pyramid of Giza's volume—have been extracted and used primarily for jewelry. The remaining reserves are estimated based on chemical analysis of rock samples extrapolated to the entire mass of Earth's crust.

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which dates back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

Tree rings can reveal centuries of environmental change and natural events

The width and shape of tree rings reflect yearly growth conditions like rainfall or snowfall. Scars in the rings can record disruptions such as fires, avalanches, or earthquakes, explaining when and how those events occurred.

Why new Rolexes can cost less than used ones

It's reasonable to assume a new Rolex watch—which often sell for thousands of dollars each—would be more expensive than a used version. However, that's increasingly not always the case. This video explains why some used Rolexes cost more than their new counterparts. Watch it here.

Why do tennis players always wear white?

Why does Wimbledon still enforce its strict all-white dress code while other major tournaments have embraced color? The answer lies in history, tradition, and even branding. From its elite origins in the 1800s, to modern-day rule changes, discover why this policy remains one of tennis’ most enduring customs.

The winter solstice has been celebrated globally for millennia

From gatherings at Stonehenge in the UK to celebrations of the triumph of Mithra in Iran, cultures around the world have marked the shortest day of the year in a variety of ways for a very long time. Here are eight known to us today that endure.

Tracing the evolution of mobile phones

The first cell phone was created in 1973, with a 2.4-pound handset and a battery life of about 30 minutes. Since then, pretty much everything about it has drastically changed, with more than 5 billion cellphone users across the globe (that's more than half of the world population). Learn about the evolution of the mobile phone and where the technology may go in the future with this four minute video.

Coffee brewing likely originated in Ethiopa and the Arabian Peninsula

A mixture of merchants and colonialism then launched the drink across Europe and the New World. Many European coffee traditions, like the Viennese custom of serving it alongside a small cup of water, are remnants of how coffee has been prepared in the Middle East for centuries.

How billiard balls catalyzed the 'Plastics Century'

For centuries, billiard balls were made of ivory from elephant tusks. But when excessive hunting caused elephant populations to decline, they began to look for alternatives: celluloid, which would become known as the first plastic.

Graffiti dates back to at least ancient Pompeii, where citizens scrawled messages to one another on public walls

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

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

The first line of 'immortal' human cells, which can divide indefinitely and are used in scientific research, was nonconsensually taken from a Black woman.

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.

In its famous catalog, Sears sold $600 DIY house kits from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in an estimated 100,000 'Sears and Roebuck homes.'

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Hear 50 years of iconic hip-hop samples, the genre's foundational looped tracks

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

Meet the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence—most of whom didn't put pen to paper until August 2, 1776—and see their original signatures.

The term 'algorithm' originated from the Latinized name of al-Khwārizmī, a 9th-century mathematician whose works introduced Arabic numerals and the decimal-based numeral system to Europe and whose treatise 'Al-Jabr' gave algebra its name.

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

The power and influence of the American presidency have expanded significantly over time—far beyond what the founders envisioned.

Cultural norms about how to handle the bodies of loved ones in communities in West Africa have hampered Ebola responses.

Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings are often assumed to be sexual, though the artist claimed she was simply interested in highlighting the beauty of flowers that most people neglect

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

Objects can be 3D printed with light by projecting 2D computerized tomography (CT) scans onto rotating cylinders of resin, which solidify upon exposure.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.