In 2014, a Wikipedia monument was unveiled in Słubice, Poland

Wikipedia's puzzle globe logo was developed by a 17-year-old

In 2003, the site held a contest for its users to submit designs for a new logo. Paul Stansifer submitted the winning design, which used the incomplete puzzle as a symbol for the encyclopedia being a work in progress. Symbols and letters would later replace text within Stansifer's colorful design.

Wikipedia articles are read more than 16 billion times every month

Nearly 300,000 volunteers worldwide help write, edit, and fact-check articles on the site in real-time, striving to ensure content is authored from a neutral point of view. All pages are freely accessible and must include citations to reliable, published sources.

In 2013, an asteroid was named after Wikipedia

A main-belt asteroid previously labeled 274301 was renamed "Wikipedia" by the Committee for Small Body Nomenclature. First observed in 2008 by astronomers at the Andrushivka Astronomical Observatory, the asteroid was renamed based on a suggestion from a member of the Wikimedia Foundation in Ukraine.

Wikipedia arose from a failed, for-profit online encyclopedia

Nupedia was launched in 2000 by internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales and internet project developer Lawrence Sanger, only publishing articles written by experts after a cumbersome seven-step review process. The two developed Wikipedia to allow the public to write articles for future review, but shifting to self-moderation contributed to Sanger's departure in 2002.

LonelyWiki compiles obscure Wikipedia articles with fewer than 2,000 annual readers

LonelyWiki calls itself a museum of forgotten knowledge. A "lonely article" features real prose, at least 500 characters, no stub placeholders, and under 2,000 annual views. Each one represents a person who decided something was worth documenting without editorial commission or trending news.

China has blocked the Wikipedia domain since 2015

The Chinese language version of the site had been blocked intermittently since 2004 due to pages featuring topics deemed controversial by the Chinese communist party, including the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and Taiwan. Once Wikipedia switched to an HTTPS protocol—making it impossible to block individual pages—all Wikipedia pages were blocked.

In late 2007, Wikipedia became the world's largest general encyclopedia

The record had been held for approximately six centuries by the Yongle Encyclopedia, which was commissioned by the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty in 1403 to preserve information from ancient and imperial China. The text comprised 22,937 manuscript rolls in 11,095 volumes.

The unofficial theme song for Wikipedia is based on 'Hotel California'

Written by user Elf in 2004, the song's humorous lyrics highlight the efforts of volunteer editors and describe an evening spent by "wikipediholics" improving the site, set to the backdrop of the Eagles' 1976 song.

A look at the World War I memorial and its artist

Sabin Howard is the sculptor for the National World War I Memorial, soon to be installed in Washington, DC. This Smithsonian Magazine article talks to the artist and details his approach and style in designing the piece. The finished sculpture will tell the story of a young WWI American soldier across five scenes featuring 38 larger-than-life figures, stretching out over 60 feet and standing at 10 feet.

Norman Rockwell's 'Freedom of Speech' has become an internet meme

The famous painting, which portrays a man in work clothes speaking up in a crowd of men in suits, has become a companion image for internet users posting unpopular or controversial opinions. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Find connections between Wikipedia articles utilizing a node mapping tool

Multiple Wikipedia articles can be placed on the map, each with its own node, and expanded to reveal related articles. The goal is to expand as many subsequent nodes as needed to connect articles and identify related concepts. Any node can be double-clicked on to open its respective Wikipedia page.

A collaborative map lets anyone rename the entire world in real time

Rename.world is a playful, community-driven project where users discover, claim, and rename locations across a live global map. It's kind of like Wikipedia meets Google Maps, filtered through the internet's love of chaos and whimsy.

Philip Roth once tried to correct details on one of his novel's Wikipedia pages

The Wikipedia entry for Roth's 2000 novel "The Human Stain" alleges that the book was based on the life of Anatole Broyard, a Black American writer who "passed" for white, something he shared in common with the main character in Roth's novel, though Roth said that wasn't true. When Roth tried to correct the error, Wikipedia editors told him he would need a secondary source to back up his claim.

An interactive timeline of history's famous figures

The past few millennia of humankind have produced numerous figures who left their mark on culture and society in their respective era. This interactive timeline from data visualization expert Jan Willem pulls data from Wikipedia to illustrate history's most important people relative to their prominence in modern-day thought.

Reimagine damaged cultural sites from around the world

NeoMam art studios created animated GIFs restoring six endangered World Heritage sites to their original glory. These include Hatra, a fortified city in Iraq, and Nan Madol, an island site in the northwest Pacific. These landmarks are designated as at risk due to threats like earthquakes and conflict in the regions. Enjoy some of the beautifully restored landmarks with this brief article.

Wojtek the bear fought for Poland in World War II

Wojtek was a Syrian brown bear who eventually became a mascot, symbol, and eventually a soldier attached to the Polish II Corps during World War II. Learn about the amazing Wojtek, the Polish II Corps, and the incredible history of the Polish soldiers, many of whom had been imprisoned by the Germans or Soviets, who served during World War II.

The hand-dug 'Big Well' of Greensburg, Kansas

Thingiverse is a massive free library of 3D-printable designs

The site—which was launched in 2008 by 3D-printer manufacturer MakerBot—hosts more than 2 million user-generated design files to build everything from prosthetic hands to replacement dishwasher parts (or the "Golden Snitch" from "Harry Potter). The community behind it rapidly designed and shared files for face shields and ventilator components amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

'Coral Castle,' Florida's self-built monument to a lost valentine

Latvian Ed Leedskalnin moved to the US shortly after his teenage fiancée ditched him. He quickly began work building a romantic tribute to this tragic episode via massive oolitic limestone. Working mostly at night, the Latvian cultivated an air of mystique as bystanders grew curious over his methods. Today, the castle stands as a bittersweet monument to unrequited love.

The crew of the ISS creates unique memorials for deceased colleagues

The continued human occupancy of the International Space Station since 2000 has led to the development of social and cultural elements by crew members, which the ISS Archaeology Project has catalogued. Records of handmade cakes, decorations, and memorabilia highlight the human aspect of living in space.

Tuscany is home to a Pinocchio-themed park

Pinocchio Park, originally conceived as a sculpture park, was built around Emilio Greco's "Pinocchio and the Fairy" monument. It now includes an interactive museum, themed rides, and a puppet show.

The world's largest pizza was 13,990 square feet

Pizza Hut teamed with YouTuber Eric Decker to create the massive, Guinness World Record-breaking pie. The 13,653-pound pizza was constructed at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It required 4,948 pounds of sauce, 8,800 pounds of cheese, and about 630,496 pepperoni slices.

BBC Radio 4 tackles the history of Stonehenge

On this podcast, host Greg Jenner humorously unpacks Stonehenge’s biggest myths and mysteries—from what a “henge” actually is, to how alien theories emerged, and why the monument was once sold for just £6,000.

The containment apparatus at Chernobyl is the world's largest movable metal structure

Completed in 2016, the "New Safe Confinement" is a €1.5B megastructure—the largest movable structure ever built. It was assembled next to the damaged reactor, then rolled into place along a special track to seal the site for at least 100 years.

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

Pulitzer left $2M to Columbia to establish the Pulitzer Prize

The man who transformed the New York World into the largest newspaper in America in the late 1800s left his home country of Hungary in 1864 to fight in the US Civil War. When he died in 1911, Pulitzer left $2M to Columbia University to found its journalism school and establish the Pulitzer Prize.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

Artificial coral reefs have been 3D printed from nontoxic, biodegradable terracotta clay, which coral polyps have used as a foundation for rebuilding marine ecosystems.

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

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

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.

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.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

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

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

The first image of a black hole was captured by creating an Earth-sized virtual observatory from a network of eight radio telescopes.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

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.

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

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.

Watch this video that uses Lego bricks to explain how venture capital works.

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.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

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

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