Peloton paid a $19M fine for its handling of treadmill injuries

In November 2025, Peloton issued a recall on more than 800,000 bike seats

Years after high-profile recalls on the treadmill due to reported injuries and even a death, Peloton issued another recall on the Peloton Plus bike seat. The company said it received three reports of the seatpost breaking.

The fitness industry has seen a lot of fads—and Peloton might be one of them

Like SoulCycle and Tae Bo, Peloton has struggled to stay at the forefront of the fitness industry. Despite periods of incredibly high interest and high-profile users (like the Obamas), Peloton has lost many users since the pandemic ended—and has struggled to add more. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

The COVID-19 pandemic both boosted Peloton's business and shook it up completely

While demand for Peloton's at-home fitness equipment soared during the pandemic, the company didn't necessarily have the infrastructure to support the breakthrough sales. In 2021, Peloton bought Precor—a fitness equipment manufacturing company—to help boost domestic production and decrease a backlog of orders.

The controversial 'Peloton Wife' ad from 2019 cost the company more than $1B in market value

The 2019 ad of a man gifting his wife a Peloton exercise bike sparked a wave of controversy, with some calling the ad sexist and fatphobic. The ad's backlash decreased the company's market value by $1.6B.

Peloton raised more than $300K in 30 days during its Kickstarter campaign

Peloton ran a Kickstarter campaign in 2013, hoping to raise $250K and ended the campaign with $307K. Peloton sold its first bikes during that campaign for $1.5K. Foley later said that most of the bike purchases came from investors, not necessarily new customers.

Peloton, 'And Just Like That …,' and Chris Noth: all about Mr. Big's Peloton death and the following ad

In the "Sex and the City" spin-off "And Just Like That …", Mr. Big—played by Chris Noth—dies after having a heart attack after a Peloton class. In real life, the Peloton team had not been informed of the plot point. Peloton worked quickly to create an ad starring Noth in just two days in an attempt to get ahead of the story. But very soon after, Noth received public sexual assault allegations, leading to Peloton pulling the ad.

Peloton pays artists more for music than most streaming platforms

Since the on-demand classes are technically live performances, Peloton has to pay both for the rights to the song itself and for the right to actually play the song. As a result, Peloton pays more money than many other streaming platforms to use artists' music, with some reports saying Apple Music reportedly pays 0.1 cents per stream and Peloton pays 3.1 cents per stream.

Temu was ordered to pay a $2M fine for alleged FTC violations

Specifically, Temu allegedly violated the INFORM Consumers Act of 2023 by failing to provide its customers with information and tools to help them avoid and report stolen, counterfeit, or unsafe goods.

Motocross is the deadliest organized sport for US kids

At least 158 participants under the age of 20 have been killed on dirt bikes since 2000, roughly six on average per year (seven times the death rate of tackle football). Observers note risks come from mixing ages and lacking warning systems during crashes.

The human toll of the Philips' CPAP machine recall

A CPAP machine is an air pressure-generating motor that forces open the airways of those with sleep apnea, a condition that causes nighttime breathing interruptions. In 2021, Philips Respironics recalled millions of machines after finding the device's sound dampening foam was disintegrating, sending potentially dangerous particles and fumes into users' lungs. The company was warned thousands of times about the foam—something they hid from the public and government.

The treadmill was invented as a machine for prison labor

William Cubitt invented the machine in the early 1800s, imagining prisoners, usually two at a time, would use it to grind grain or pump water.

There were roughly 17 Black Friday-related deaths and 125 injuries between 2006 and 2021

A website called Black Friday Death Count or “BFDC” scrapes news headlines for Black Friday-related deaths and injuries reported around the world. It includes the overall count of Black-Friday related deaths, as well as the context for each of them.

Theranos and Pets.com are among some of the biggest startup failures ever

You might have heard of Theranos, Elizabeth Holmes’s one-time blood testing company that landed the founder in prison for more than a decade after she was charged with fraud. The rest of the startups on a list of five of the biggest startup failures ever might not be as famous as Theranos, but they were met with similarly disastrous fates.

Pickleball injuries were responsible for $350M in medical costs in 2023

Unsurprisingly, picklers over 50 account for 90% of the injuries, with the most common being sprains, strains, and fractures. Experts say a substantial pregame warm-up can prevent most injuries.

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

Six Flags’ now defunct Green Lantern ride was known to many as a ‘pelvic nightmare’

The Defunctland YouTube channel focuses on telling the stories of extinct amusement rides and experiences, like the ambitious “Green Lantern” coaster that ran from 2011 to 2024. Critics, enthusiasts, and casual riders alike seemed to agree the ride was the worst at Six Flags due to its discomfort on the lower body.

Paperwork errors cost families millions in life-insurance payouts

This podcast episode reveals how human missteps by employers and insurance providers caused hundreds of families who paid life-insurance premiums to be denied millions of dollars in death benefits. A Wall Street Journal reporter breaks down how flaws in the system made this happen.

In 2019, Tesla's autopilot system misinterpreted emergency lights and crashed

A Tesla Model X collided with stopped emergency vehicles on a Texas highway when flashing lights created hazy images that the software could not interpret. The crash injured five people and hospitalized another person while highlighting the challenges of autonomous systems.

A private equity firm led the leveraged buyout of Toys 'R' Us before the company's bankruptcy

After being acquired by two private equity firms and a real estate company for more than $6B in 2005, Toys 'R' Us filed for bankruptcy in 2017. Many point to the $400M a year the company had to pay to service its debt, as well as increased competition from online retailers like Amazon, for draining its profits and ultimately dragging it under.

A teenager survived being flung a world-record 1,307 feet by a tornado

On March 12, 2006, 19-year-old Matt Suter was lifted into a tornado while inside a mobile home in Fordland, Missouri. Despite traveling 1,307 feet, his only significant injury was a head wound caused by being hit by a lamp prior to being transported.

In 2023, at least 6 people were charged with stealing body parts

A recent case involving alleged trafficking in stolen human body parts charged that there was a nationwide network of individuals who bought and sold human remains. The charges alleged, among other things, that from 2018 through 2022, the manager of the morgue at Harvard Medical School's Anatomical Gifts Program stole organs and other parts of cadavers that had been donated for medical research and education. In late 2025, that Harvard morgue manager was sentenced to 96 months in prison.

Some Nike shoes are actually making runners too fast

In 2018, Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge lowered the world marathon record to 2:01:39 in a pair of Nike Vaporflys. The unusually thick running shoes sparked controversy around the shoe regulations for professional runners.

Supplements often have issues with impurities, toxins, and inaccurate labels

Consumer Reports' tests of more than 20 supplement powders and shakes in 2025 found that more than two-thirds of them contain unsafe levels of lead. Some contained 10 times the amount of lead that's considered acceptable to ingest in a day. The levels they found, in some cases, were even higher than when they tested the products 15 years earlier.

Over 25% of Americans regret using BNPL due to unexpected costs

Almost 24% of buy now, pay later users have missed payments, with younger users (32% of 18- to 29-year-olds) being more likely to fall behind on payments than their older counterparts. (Only 12% of adults age 60 or over had done the same.)

CTE is a major threat to NFL players

A week before Super Bowl LVII, Boston University released findings from a study diagnosing 91.7% of former NFL players in their 376-person study with chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It was a stark comparison to the less than 1% of CTE diagnosis in non-football players.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

The wife and mother of two of the Titan submersible victims shares her life since the tragic accident

The loss of the Titan submersible amid its June 2023 dive to explore the wreckage of the Titanic captured headlines worldwide. Christine Dawood had given up her seat on the trip of a lifetime to her 19-year-old son, Suleman, so he could experience the dive with his father. She has since written a book about her experience of the tragedy and about life in its aftermath.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

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.

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.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

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.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

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.

The tragic Pulitzer Prize-winning image 'The Vulture and the Little Girl' (1993) generated controversy, raised concerns about ethics in photography, and eventually led to the photographer's death.

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.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

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.

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.

Children are now three times more likely to say they want to be a YouTuber when they grow up than an astronaut, with some even attending 'YouTube camps' that teach kids how to create content for the platform.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Listen to an in-depth conversation on the links between Parkinson's disease and herbicide exposure and the challenging pace of scientific investigation.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

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

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Explore what it's like inside a patient isolation unit, used in situations such as treating a patient or suspected patient with Ebola.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'