Why the 1918 flu killed between 50 and 100 million people

A novel H1N1 influenza strain sparked a 2009 global pandemic

First detected in Mexico, the 2009 “swine flu” pandemic infected up to 1.4B people worldwide. While mortality rates were lower than earlier pandemics, the outbreak still caused more than 150,000 deaths.

The 1957 and 1968 influenza pandemics caused millions of deaths worldwide

The 1957 H2N2 pandemic spread from East Asia, killing more than 1M globally, while the 1968 H3N2 pandemic began in Hong Kong and caused a similar toll, with both strains rapidly moving across continents.

How the 1918 pandemic spurred developments in virology and vaccines

This article provides an in-depth historical account of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, including its impact on the global population and how its occurrence spurred significant advancements in the study of viruses—laying the groundwork for the...

Europe’s first recorded influenza pandemic swept the continent in 1580

The 1580 influenza pandemic, traced from Asia to Africa and into Europe, became the first flu outbreak clearly documented across the continent—killing tens of thousands and highlighting influenza’s potential for rapid global spread.

Influenza infects up to a billion people worldwide each year

The World Health Organization estimates that seasonal influenza causes about 1B cases annually, including 3 to 5M severe illnesses and between 290,000 to 650,000 deaths.

Hear firsthand stories from Americans who lived through the 1918 flu pandemic

This video shares personal accounts from survivors of the 1918 influenza epidemic, capturing memories of sickness, loss, and resilience. Their voices offer a glimpse into how ordinary people experienced one of history’s deadliest pandemics.

A timeline of major pandemics from 1899–2025

Modern pandemics have been defined by the race between globalization (which increases risk) and the development of new medicines. The Great Influenza epidemic claimed some 50 million lives, and the COVID-19 pandemic killed more than 7 million. In between, diseases like Ebola, cholera, AIDS, and more have devastated communities.

The Spanish flu had a major impact on the 1919 NHL season

Just two years after the National Hockey League was officially formed, its champion was playing the PCHA champion for the Stanley Cup. The series was tied, going into the deciding Game 5, when all but three NHL players fell ill with the Spanish flu. No champion was crowned that year.

Hollywood's efficient response to the Spanish flu made it a filmmaking destination

In 1918, the Great Influenza epidemic killed more than 675,000 Americans. Los Angeles was one of the first cities to shut down movie theaters, most of which were independently owned and couldn’t afford the revenue loss. The results were twofold: the quick response meant that Hollywood could bounce back faster than other film hubs, and it also contributed to the rise of vertical integration as studios stepped in to purchase the flailing theaters.

Yellow fever sidelined more US troops than enemy fire during the Spanish-American War

The disease, transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, sickened more than 2,000 soldiers. Fewer than 400 American soldiers died in the 1898 war.

European diseases killed a massive share of the Native American population

After Western contact, epidemic diseases devastated Indigenous communities. By 1920, the Native American population of the US had fallen to roughly 270,000, compared with an estimated 1.2 to 18 million at the time of European arrival.

Pneumonia was once a leading killer before penicillin treatments

In the early 20th century, pneumonia was a top cause of death worldwide, often fatal without effective treatment. Penicillin turned a once deadly infection into one of the most treatable bacterial diseases.

One in 10 adults worldwide has diabetes

As of 2021, diabetes claimed at least 6.7 million lives and continues to kill one person every five seconds. Nearly one in two adults with diabetes don't know they have the condition, which is expected to increase in prevalence from 537 million in 2021, to 783 million in 2045.

How many people died in the atomic bombings remains disputed

Nearly 80 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, historians still disagree on the death toll from the atomic bombings. Estimates vary by up to 100,000, reflecting differences in methodology, sources, and the method used to count later radiation-related deaths.

Ebola has an average fatality rate above 50%

The Ebola virus is one of the planet’s most feared bugs. Symptoms begin with fever and fatigue but quickly develop into severe vomiting, diarrhea, and internal and external bleeding. But why is it so deadly? In short, Ebola hijacks the immune system to rapidly make replicas of itself.

Two-thirds of soldier deaths during the war were due to disease

Roughly two-thirds of all Civil War deaths resulted from disease rather than battle. Poor sanitation, contaminated water, and limited medical knowledge made camps breeding grounds for dysentery, typhoid, and other deadly infections.

World War I causes

World War I was, as the name says, truly war on the global scale. Fought between the French, Russian, British, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman, and Russian Empires, it was in part, a battle for territory. And after the war ended, several of these empires collapsed. Explore the different causes of World War II in this article.

See how Ebola tore through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia in 2014-2016.

Murder rates spiked in the US after COVID-19, and then declined in 2023

Criminologist and former investigator Jillian Peterson says whether a murder is solved in the US is nearly up to the flip of a coin, with the clearance rate for murder cases being about 50%. The US, which has more guns than citizens, has about roughly five gun homicides per 100,000 residents, resulting in the 28th-highest rate of deaths from gun violence compared to the rest of the world.

Hear how the Black Death reshaped Europe's economy

The Black Death killed tens of millions across Europe, but the labor shortages that followed shifted economic power. With fewer workers available, survivors demanded higher wages and better conditions—sparking what historians call a medieval “Golden Age of Labor.”

One in five 16th century Spanish ships sank while crossing the Atlantic

Despite the incredibly high rate of catastrophic wrecks, during the Age of Exploration Spanish investors continued to fund voyages. Here, economists break down the incentives that led to increased risk, including short travel seasons and the propensity to overload ships.

Why Turkey's earthquakes were so deadly

The death toll from February 2023 has reached the tens of thousands, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters of the century. The intense seismic activity combined with poor and unregulated construction in many areas to drive fatalities....

The best time to get a flu vaccine may be late-September or early-October

The body needs a few weeks after the vaccine to build up a sufficient antibody response, which eventually wanes. Scheduling the vaccine accordingly can maximize its effectiveness when flu season ramps up.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

The resulting climate change, not the asteroid impact itself, killed most dinosaurs

Although the Chicxulub impact caused widespread destruction through earthquakes and tsunamis, the subsequent nuclear winter, acid rain, and eventual greenhouse warming drove mass extinction. Roughly 70% of species, including all non-avian dinosaurs, went extinct.

Who died during the French Revolution of 1789?

This article examines the human cost of the 1789 French Revolution, during which up to 17,000 people were guillotined and many more were killed by other means. A majority of the guillotine deaths were meted out during the Reign of Terror, a...

The US unemployment rate soared to over 24% during the Great Depression

The Great Depression was a devastating and prolonged economic recession that followed the crash of the US stock market in 1929.

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024.

Human-to-human transmission of hantavirus remains extremely rare, so the 2026 hantavirus cruise ship outbreak doesn't mean we're facing a COVID-style pandemic risk.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'

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.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

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

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Between 10 million and 50 million people in the US develop rashes from poison ivy, poison sumac, and poison oak each year.

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

Elk Cloner, the first computer virus to spread in public, was written as a practical joke by Richard Skrenta, a Pittsburgh high school student.

Visualize how CRISPR-Cas9—a type of immune system used by single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses—targets and makes precise changes to a gene's DNA.

The Mona Lisa's celebrity status and repeated restorations have obscured what made the painting so revolutionary for its time

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

Salvador Dalí believed he was his own dead brother, who had died nine months before he was born

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

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

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 Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.