Athletes in Mexico are reviving a 3,000-year-old sacred sport

The Maya played a ballgame that symbolized the conflict between good and evil

Played on I-shaped courts across Mesoamerica, the Maya ballgame was a ritualized sport tied to cosmic struggle. Contrary to popular belief, the game did not involve mass sacrifice or basketball-style scoring.

Play a game inspired by Aztec and Mayan mythology

This free online game, Descent of the Serpent, guides players through Mesoamerican myths as they challenge the god Tezcatlipoca. Along the way, it introduces monuments and artifacts with short explanations of their meaning in Aztec and Mayan cultures.

Hikers can walk through Maya routes on Mexico’s first long-distance trail

The Camino del Mayab is a 68-mile trail west of Cancún that follows ancient Maya paths and modern railways. Built in collaboration with local Maya communities, it promotes Indigenous culture, preserves heritage, and supports community-based tourism along the route.

An Aztec skull whistle discovered in the 1990s was mistaken for a toy

In the late 1990s, archaeologists unearthed a sacrificed man clutching two skull-shaped clay whistles at a Mexico City temple to the wind god Ehecatl (eh-HEH-kahtl). Initially dismissed as toys, the instruments produce a scream-like sound that modern brain scans show triggers fear and urgency responses in listeners. This podcast explores the discovery.

A 1930s card game birthed modern fantasy sports

"National Pastime" used the statistics of real Major League Baseball players to determine a winner, creating the template for the modern fantasy sports model.

COVID-19 disruptions revived ancient chinampa farming in Mexico City

When the pandemic disrupted food supply chains, chinamperos—farmers who cultivate the Aztec-era “floating gardens” built atop shallow lakebeds—shifted to direct sales in the city, boosting their visibility and reconnecting residents with a longstanding local agricultural tradition.

See how the elite warriors of the Aztec Empire trained

This video explores the Aztec military’s elite Eagle and Jaguar warriors, known for their courage and combat skills, and highlights their rigorous training regimen. It concludes with a workout routine modeled on their methods.

The origins of volleyball in a game called mintonette

Volleyball was invented in 1895 in Massachusetts, USA, by William G. Morgan of the YMCA. He aimed to create a less strenuous alternative to basketball, using elements from basketball, tennis, handball, and baseball. Originally called "mintonette," it was introduced at a YMCA conference and took off. Dive into the history from then until today here.

Ceren: The Maya Pompeii (sans all the bodies)

The Maya village of Ceren in El Salvador was preserved by volcanic ash from 1,400 years ago, revealing insights into ancient Maya commoners' lives. Ceren villagers had autonomy in their daily activities, and excavations reveal evidence of communal decision-making and event hints at the presence of a community sauna. Dive into more of the archaeological finds on how businesses were run, how they prepared for disaster, and more.

Guatemala's Day of the Dead tradition fills the sky with colorful kites

In a tradition that has lasted over 3,000 years, Guatemalans launch giant kites into the air on the eve of Day of the Dead. The colorful kites honor the dead and carry messages of hope, love and peace to the world.

Puebla holds an annual battle reenactment on Cinco de Mayo

Each May 5, the city of Puebla marks the anniversary with festivals and a full military reenactment of the 1862 battle. While Cinco de Mayo is barely observed elsewhere in Mexico, it remains a ceremonial source of local pride in the state where the battle was actually fought.

Some say baseball's drug problem goes back to the late 1800s

At age 32, pitcher James “Pud” Galvin was feeling tired and decided to take "the Brown-Séquard elixir," which contained a testicular fluid from dogs and guinea pigs, believed to invigorate tired bodies. It might've worked: Galvin pitched a two-hit shutout the next day.

Lucha libre is Mexico's high-flying spin on pro wrestling

Lucha libre, a Mexican style of professional wrestling that roughly translates to “free fighting,” shares some common characteristics with the American style, though it’s a genre in and of itself, with high-flying acrobatics, masked wrestlers and longstanding traditions.

Atari buried hundreds of thousands of video games in the New Mexico desert

The video game industry crashed in 1983, leaving the company with an enormous inventory. Looking to offload the excess, the company secretly had 800,000 cartridges buried in the desert in Alamogordo, New Mexico. For decades, the story was believed to be an urban legend, but documentary filmmakers pursued the story and, in 2014, unearthed the games.

Carmel, California, is looking into banning pickleball

Pickleball is the fastest-rising sport in the US, but it's not without its controversies. Chief among them is noise, which Carmel, California, a wealthy enclave on the state's central coast, seeks to remedy with a ban on the sport. It would be the first in the state.

A deep dive into the man behind ballpark nachos

Nachos were invented in Mexico in 1943, but "ballpark nachos" (featuring liquid cheese and pickled jalapenos) were invented in 1976 for the Texas Rangers, then a relatively new franchise. This Texas Monthly piece digs into the history of Frank Libreto, who realized classic nachos could be a cost-efficient concession with just a few small tweaks.

X Games League to debut team-based format in 2026

Beginning in 2026, the X Games League will feature four city-based franchises with male and female athletes competing in skateboarding, BMX, and motocross—introducing season-long team competition to the event’s structure.

The Royal Game of Ur, which dates back as far as 2600 BCE, is believed to be one of the oldest board games in the world.

The agricultural origins of paintball guns

The paintball field industry—where players compete in pseudo-battle using the (minimally) harmless guns—is worth over $1 billion annually, and it continues to grow. This fun piece breaks down the relatively recent history of the industry by...

'Harry Potter’ inspired a real-life version of Quidditch

Created by college students in 2005, the broomstick-based sport became an international phenomenon with organized leagues and World Cup tournaments. Now called Quadball, it’s played in more than 40 countries worldwide.

Mezcal is a handcrafted spirit made by Indigenous producers in Oaxaca

Unlike tequila, mezcal can be made from dozens of agave varieties and is traditionally produced by small-scale families in Oaxaca using stone pits and clay pots. The spirit's rising popularity in US bars has brought both economic opportunity to producing communities.

The sports competition developed on the Alaskan tundra

Alaska's NYO Games invite high school athletes from the state's over 270 indigenous tribes to compete in numerous events based on survival tactics developed by their ancestors. This short documentary from Great Big Story walks through some of the more grueling events and speaks with the Games' coaches and young athletes about how the event preserves their shared culture.

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

The ancient Greeks were known to take vacations

Historians trace the vacation back to at least ancient Greece, where many people traveled to festivals and athletic events, including the Olympic Games.

An interactive dive into the history of international women's soccer

Despite evidence it has been around just as long as men's, international support and recognition for women's soccer was long delayed for various reasons. The National Football Museum collects artifacts and oral histories on the history of soccer...

Native Americans developed pottery and religion, and experienced population growth during the Woodland period

Between 500 B.C.E. and 1100 C.E., Indigenous peoples produced pottery and practiced animism, a spiritual worldview in which animals, plants, and natural forces are believed to possess sacred power. They moved seasonally to make the most of available resources.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

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.

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.

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

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

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

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

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

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Planeterrellas create artificial auroras that mimic the atmospheric displays of light by setting up an electric field between two metal balls in a jar filled with a small amount of air.

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

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

El Niño, Spanish for 'the boy,' was named after Jesus Christ because the phenomenon resembled the weather changes observed around Christmastime.

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

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.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

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.

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

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

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

Volcanoes 'die' when their supply of magma runs out, if they are shifted away from their underlying magma reservoir, or if they get clogged by collapsing or their magma cooling back into rock.