A 19-month-old boy went viral for his natural drumming skills

A mother goes viral for sharing tips for making her home a "hang out" spot for her son and his friends

A mom shared an Instagram reel of her college-aged son and friends hanging out and playing cards in her dining room. She wrote a note explaining how she helped make this happened, and provided tips to other parents hoping to keep their children visiting home for a long time. She encouraged parents to keep snacks in the house, say yes when their kids asked to hang with friends, and to be okay with a bit of a mess, among other things.

Siblings surprise their parents with a recreation of a 1980s childhood photo

The three sisters and one brother recreated a professional photo taken of them in classic 1980s garb. They captured a TikTok of their parents' hilarious reactions that went viral.

One musician went to bed one night as a street sweeper and woke up a national celebrity

24-year-old Macario Martínez was making roughly $10 a day and working 8-hour shifts as a street sweeper in Mexico. The aspiring musician and composer went viral after posting a love song of his on TikTok. He has since quit his day job and has millions of listens on Spotify.

TikTok's algorithm has changed the way hits are made

Songs aimed at TikTok's algorithm—designed for viral dances or soundtracking common experiences—often find success on the Billboard charts. An early example was Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road," which used his memes and a country-trap beat from the Netherlands to rise to the top of the Billboard charts.

In 2019, videos on TikTok convinced children they had Tourette syndrome

Right before the COVID-19 pandemic, an "outbreak" of Tourette syndrome was attributed to videos from a German TikToker who documented his life with the condition. The children experiencing the symptoms all had the same tics, which experts say was a case of mass sociogenic illness, also referred to as mass hysteria.

In 2022, a Minneapolis news station stumbled upon footage of Prince as a child

A production manager at the city's CBS affiliate was looking through the archives for footage of a 1970 teacher strike when he noticed a young boy he believed was Prince. The newsroom worked to extract the audio and identify the childhood friends of the famous musician, who confirmed it was indeed him in the video.

3D printing has made musical instruments more accessible

Violins fabricated from durable plastic, rather than being built from wood, can cost hundreds of dollars less, allowing children to try them out without financial pressure. They can be made in colors that appeal to children, sizes tailored to their bodies, and with tactile guides to help visually impaired learners.

Nine different studies exploring animals' relationship to music

Researchers have conducted multiple studies attempting to answer a certain question: do animals like human music? Across species, they observed different results and no clear pattern. Primates appear to prefer silence, and cockatoos appear to dance to funky beats.

The history of the 808, the drum machine that changed pop music

Roland's TR-808 is one of the most consequential pieces of gear in the history of popular music, providing the framework for innovative hip-hop, dance, and pop records in the early 1980s.

Meet the Singhs, one of India's most popular social media families

The Singh family consists of two parents and three daughters who produce tens of videos and hundreds of posts each week, all simply of their seemingly ordinary life in New Delhi, India. Ramneek, the father, began taking fun family videos while...

Guitar Hero introduced a generation of gamers to rock music

The rhythm-based video game was a surprise hit when it was released in 2005. Even more surprising was the renewed interest in classic rock hits from the likes of Black Sabbath, Queen, and David Bowie.

Six-year-old boy in wheelchair surprises his family by walking at his graduation

The young boy was diagnosed with Noonan syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that impacts mobility and development, at just 2 months old. He usually needs a wheelchair or walker to get around, but he shocked and thrilled his parents by standing up to receive his kindergarten diploma.

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.

GothamChess built the largest online chess audience in the world

International Master Levy Rozman, known as GothamChess, has more than 6 million YouTube subscribers and billions of views. His mix of tutorials, commentary, and humor has introduced millions of new fans to the game in the digital era. In this video, he discusses his decision to challenge Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen.

Before he was Soundgarden's singer, Chris Cornell was the band's drummer

Cornell was the band's first drummer, but got out from behind the kit in 1985 so he could focus on vocals. That foundation, though, is what his bandmate Kim Thayil claimed gave Cornell his unique singing style. "Chris has an amazing way of writing melody around these odd time signatures that a lot of people have a tough time doing," he said. "It's very natural for Chris, though, because he was our original drummer, so he can think in those terms."

New Orleans' Congo Square birthed what would become jazz

The city's enslaved people congregated in the city square on Sundays, bringing together the musical traditions of their disparate cultures through drum circles, communal dancing, and call-and-response singing. The rhythmic style that evolved in the area would eventually give rise to ragtime and, subsequently, jazz.

A 14-year-old "human calculator" shatters six mathematical world records in one day

A teenage prodigy from Maharashtra, India named Aaryan Shukla set the record for the fastest time to mentally add 50 five-digit numbers. He did so in just 25.19 seconds–roughly equivalent to one addition every 0.5 seconds. The math whiz said he practices calculations for around five to six hours a day.

‘Nipple-gate’ helped spark the creation of YouTube

After Justin Timberlake exposed Janet Jackson during Super Bowl XXXVIII, frustrated viewers searching for clips inspired Jawed Karim and his partners to build YouTube as a platform for sharing missed moments.

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.

Jeff Bezos’ grandfather made his own needles by hand for the cattle on his ranch

Jeff Bezos’ mother gave birth to him at 17 years old, and his grandfather was very involved in his life. Bezos spent much of his childhood helping out on his grandfather’s ranch, for instance. In this short clip, Bezos shares some of his thoughts on his family members and his early years of life.

'The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.'

- American musician BB King (1925-2015)

Babies don't develop a circadian rhythm right away

Newborns don't develop circadian rhythm until they are a few months old, which helps to explain their erratic sleep schedules. When they're around three months old they begin to release melatonin, which influences sleep, and around the same time they develop more regular sleeping routines.

Watch a video of Henry Ford giving square dancing lessons

In the 1920s, Henry Ford did his best to promote square dancing—particularly dances that he learned in his childhood—by teaching lessons twice a week. He believed square dancing was the "correct" way of dancing and was fiercely opposed to jazz music, which was rising in popularity at the time.

Today’s kids would rather be YouTubers than astronauts

While the other children in your kindergarten class might have wanted to be firefighters or astronauts when they grew up, modern kids are different. Lego conducted a study that found children were more likely to say they wanted to be a YouTuber when they grew up than an astronaut.

See Christmas traditions from around the world

From Venezuelans roller-skating to church to the decoration of boats in Greece, Christmas traditions vary widely all around the world. See examples from 30 different countries, which highlight how a country’s history shapes its holiday traditions.

Watch a pinecone become a pine tree

Sometimes a closer look at an ordinary process can uncover its glory This timelapse video presents the wondrous natural process of a withering pinecone turning into a full sprouted tree. A nearly two year growth, watch the seed turn to seedling and rise over time.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

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.

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.

Crows are believed to have intelligence on par with a seven-year-old child and demonstrate complex behaviors, from problem-solving with tools to recognizing human faces.

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.

See images of medical cases of firework injuries shared on this 'Instagram for doctors.' (Warning: Graphic content)

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

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

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

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

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

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

English mathematician Ada Lovelace wrote the first computer algorithm a century before computers existed and hypothesized that computing devices would one day be able to compose music—foreseeing the generative AI systems of today.

Clever Hans was a 1900s horse that was believed to be able to solve math equations, tell time, and read and comprehend German, until a psychology student discovered how he got his answers.

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

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

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.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

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.

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.

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

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