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

Dangers of a record-breaking, sleep-skipping stunt

In 1963, 17-year-old Randy Gardner decided to stay awake for as long as it took to break the current world record. He managed to stay awake for 11 days. In 2017, the then-71-year-old Gardner told NPR that his experience had come back to haunt him as insomnia. The challenge has since been removed from the Guinness Book of World Records due to its dangerous consequences.

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.

The "Balloon Boy" event received coverage from news outlets, and a search began after his parents claimed he was trapped inside his balloon. Later that day, the boy emerged from his attic where he had been hiding the whole time. His parents were later accused of orchestrating a hoax.

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.

How Guinness World Records has pivoted to a publicity business

Now that Guinness World Records gets paid to host record-breaking events, is there a conflict of interest? Here's a look at the worldwide record keeping business's pivot toward publicity.

Watch a YouTuber solve a Rubik's Cube while in free fall

He broke a world record, completing the task in the sky in just 23.333 seconds.

The most fireworks launched from a pyrotechnics suit is 642

Frenchman Laurent Nat, a pyrotechnics artist and performer with over 10 years of experience, set the world record on June 13, 2014. The suit, inspired by clothes worn by professional firefighters, is made out of 100% cotton and incorporates stilts to allow fireworks to be fired in all directions.

The Adidas shoes that helped break the marathon's 2-hour barrier

Two men broke the two-hour mark at the 2026 London Marathon, a feat previously unofficially achieved only by Eliud Kipchoge, thanks to a number of aides not permitted in an official race. Both men who broke the two-hour barrier in London wore the same shoe, the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3, a new model that weighs just over three ounces.

David Attenborough received the 2021 Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award

The UN's highest environmental honor celebrated Attenborough as "one of the leading voices of the global environmental movement." For at least four decades, he collaborated with the UN Environment Programme by advocating for "efforts to counter the climate crisis, biodiversity loss and pollution" and addressing "world leaders at the UN Climate Change Conference" in 2021.

Before Alex Honnold completed his free solo climb of Taipei 101, 'French Spider-Man' scaled the building

Alain Robert completed his climb of the massive skyscraper in 2004, 22 years before Honnold. The crucial difference, though, was that Robert used safety ropes for his ascent. Honnold, on the other hand, completed it "free solo," meaning he climbed the building without any equipment beyond some shoes and a pouch of chalk for his hands.

A British Airways pilot mapped every flight of his career into a data art series

James Harding logged every flight he had flown in a software program and rendered the results into 3D globe animations, charts, graphs, and more. You can view the visualizations here, along with career stat breakdowns and a description of his project.

Learn how helium is used in the US, the world's largest producer of the noble gas

About 44% of the global supply comes from the US, as much as the next two biggest producers—Qatar and Russia—combined. According to the US Geological Survey, more than half of this helium is used in scientific and engineering equipment (22%), non-welding-related manufacturing and fabrication (17%), and as a lifting agent (17%).

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.

64-year-old accidentally ejects himself from fighter jet

A surprise company outing to an air base caused a 64-year-old French man so much stress that he flung himself from a fighter jet in mid-air, grabbing the ejector button in a panic and tumbling through the skies above France before landing in a field.

Mat Hoffman landed the first no-handed 900 in BMX Vert

At the 2002 X Games, Mat Hoffman landed the first no-handed 900 in BMX Vert competition, but did not win gold—finishing behind Dave Mirra in the final standings.

Using wind tunnels, the brothers corrected a centuries-old error used to measure lift

When their early gliders failed, the Wright brothers scrutinized inherited data analysis. Smeaton’s coefficient had been used to calculate the density of air (0.005) for centuries. The Wright’s data validation through the use of small, laboratory wind tunnels showed the correct number was 0.0033.

Teenager Guy Gabaldon captured the most prisoners in US military history

After the vicious battle of Saipan outside Japan in World War II, the Japanese were opting for suicide rather than surrender. Gabaldon, a Marine with a track record for skillfully convincing the enemy to surrender, managed to capture 800 Japanese single-handedly.

Eating competitions can ruin a stomach's elasticity

Competitive eaters make room for all that food by toying with the stomach's ability to expand and contract. Still, doctors warn that repeated stress can destroy that ability, leading to further issues.

The first successful IVF pregnancy was in the United Kingdom in 1978

Gynecologist Patrick Steptoe and his collaborator Robert Edwards, a biologist, attempted to fertilize a human egg cell in a petri dish 101 times before finally succeeding. This resulted in the birth of Louise Brown—at the time referred to as a "test tube" baby—in 1978, who was born into the spotlight.

Some claim breathwork can improve mental health, help process trauma, and more

Research shows people who practice breathing exercises see a decrease in depression and stress levels, and that such exercises are about as effective at treating PTSD as conventional approaches. Even something as simple as extending exhales can slow one's heart rate and activate the parasympathetic nervous system.

Champagne’s fizz used to be considered a flaw

The bubbliness that we love now was once considered a winemaking failure. In fact, Dom Pérignon probably would have referred to it by its common nickname at the time, "vin du diable," or devil’s wine. The wine’s volatility often caused bottles to explode, which was both dangerous and costly. It wasn’t until the development of sturdier bottles and more consistent winemaking techniques that popularity truly soared.

About 12.5% of US adults experience a phobia in their lifetime, a diagnosis that hinges on the intense fear interfering with daily life and persisting for at least six months.

One contestant allegedly used well-timed coughs to con 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'

Charles Ingram won the show’s top prize in 2002, though producers found his performance, which featured several strange responses, suspicious. After reviewing the footage, the producers discovered several coughs that aligned with the correct answers and theorized that Ingram’s wife and another contestant were using the coughs to convey the correct answers to him. Ingram maintained his innocence, yet he was tried and convicted of fraud.

Euphoric narratives are just one indicator of an economic bubble

A conversation with investor Jeremy Grantham outlines the indicators he watches for bubbles, including extreme valuations. He then compares those signals to today’s AI boom, arguing it shows several early signs of classic speculative excess.

See 16 art pieces that were inspired by or evoke elements of top phobias

CBC News informally polled readers about their fears and then found works of art either inspired by or nodding to those topics.

Dr. William Gorgas eradicated yellow fever in Panama, crucial to canal construction

The disease was one of the factors hampering the French effort to build the canal. Gorgas' experience elsewhere in the Caribbean had taught him that good drainage and quaranting patients were essential, and he would eventually apply mosquito prevention tactics on a mass scale.

John Elway's 'helicopter dive' capped his first Super Bowl title at 37

In Super Bowl XXXII, John Elway's airborne "helicopter" scramble symbolized his deep desire to win his first championship at age 37, after losing three previous Super Bowls.

Golfer hits ball into golf cart ball holder

Professional golfer Cameron Young’s ball settled in the built-in ball holder in an NBC reporter’s cart while playing at the US Open. He did not have to play it where it landed, and he managed to reach par on the shot despite the location of his...

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent a summer training with monks in central China to train his body and mind.

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

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.

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.

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

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.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

American dance legend Martha Graham, sometimes called 'the Picasso of dance,' refused to perform at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and conceived the piece 'Chronicle' in response to the experience.

Learn how your body is, scientifically, like a firework with its own slow, controlled burn.

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.

Watch the cumbersome, but necessary, precautions healthcare workers must take to care for and protect themselves while caring for Ebola patients.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

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

One disco producer saw 'Star Wars' four times on its opening weekend and was so inspired that he recorded the album 'Star Wars and Other Intergalactic Funk,' which produced a chart-topping single.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

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

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

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.