Berenson's frailty led her to basketball

Senda Berenson Abbott revolutionized women's basketball

In the late 1800s, college physical education programs were used to prepare post-Victorian Era women for the workforce. In 1890, Smith College built one of the country's largest and most well-equipped gyms and hired Senda Berenson to run its activities, which she did by revising basketball's rules so women could play while still meeting societal expectations.

Few realized Connee Boswell used a wheelchair

The original American girl group, the Boswell Sisters, toyed with jazz standards by experimenting with challenging renditions. The group became a popular radio act during the 1920s and 1930s, with few of their fans aware that group leader Connee Boswell used a wheelchair.

Ann Meyers Drysdale was the first female athlete to receive a full sports scholarship

In 1974, Ann Meyers Drysdale earned a full ride to play basketball at UCLA. It was historic, but only the beginning of her pioneering life, which included a Silver Medal at the 1976 Summer Games and a contract with an NBA team in 1979.

Counting calories with a ballerina

Ballet dancer Theresa Farrell meticulously manages her diet to achieve her performance weight goal for the American Contemporary Ballet season in Los Angeles. She tracks calories, relies on pre-packaged meals, and calculates every intake. This regimen allows her to stay focused on training and rigorous dance routines, ensuring she's prepared physically for performances. Watch a day in the life here.

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.

Listen to an interview with Martha Graham from 1974

This interview, from the "Bernard Gabriel Views the Music Scene" program, features a candid conversation in which Graham discusses how her career did not take off until her 30s and how she learned to ignore criticism.

'Practice, which some regard as a chore, should be approached as just about the most pleasant recreation ever devised.'

- Legendary athlete Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias (1911-1956)

Ancient Greek gymnasium: where philosophy met fitness

In ancient Greece, gymnasiums were not just places of physical training, but centers of intellectual life. This article explores the ways in which exercise, philosophy, and education were deeply intertwined, reflecting a cultural belief that physical fitness was essential for mental development.

PIckleball's popularity with seniors is partially due to its health benefits

Pickleball has always been a game for all ages, but it has been particularly popular among seniors, in part because of its many health benefits, including enhancing hand-eye coordination and burning more calories than walking.

After FDR was paralyzed by polio in 1921, Eleanor Roosevelt became active in politics and supported his political ambitions

FDR contracted polio at age 39 and permanently lost the use of his legs. Eleanor Roosevelt persuaded him to stay in politics, then took on the task of maintaining his public profile—attending events, building relationships, and serving as his "eyes, ears, and legs" across the country.

Loyola's 98-year-old team chaplain became a beloved figure during the 2018 tournament

Sister Jean became an international celebrity in 2018 when she cheered Loyola Chicago's Ramblers to the Final Four at age 98, inspiring bobbleheads and merchandise before passing away in October 2025 at 106.

See how a top Peloton instructor spends her day

Robin Arzón is Peloton's VP of fitness programming and the lead instructor at Peloton. Besides teaching multiple classes a day, she reserves seven hours a week for her own personal training and says she trains like a high-intensity athlete. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Sarah Bernhardt was the first actress to play Shakespeare's iconic Hamlet on film

Bernhardt was a popular 19th- and 20th-century actress with a knack for self-promotion. Case in point: When she took over the Théâtre de Ville in Paris, she renamed it Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt. Her production of "Hamlet" at the theater starred her, naturally, as the titular character. A recording of the performance is believed to be the first woman to play Hamlet caught on film.

'I always like to fake bravery. But I really think that solidified me being brave, speaking up for myself and just putting myself first.'

- Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles (1997-present)

How Cassatt's early life influenced her art

The painter came from an affluent background but was determined to become an artist, a decision that was at odds with her father's wishes. Still, she began art school at 15, where she was one of the few female students and not permitted to paint portraits of live models. This brief documentary from The Art Tourist explains how those formative experiences taught Cassatt to challenge conventional approaches in her work.

Winter Olympic sports highlight various laws and principles of physics

Figure skaters leverage the conservation of angular momentum during spins by tightening their bodies, and the skintight suits used in ski jumping help reduce drag. Centripetal force allows speedskaters to make tight turns, while friction on skis helps ski mountaineers climb slopes. No action can violate the conservation of energy.

'Carry That Weight' was a college performance piece that went viral

Columbia University undergrad Emma Sulkowicz became an overnight sensation with their senior thesis performance art piece "Carry That Weight." Emma developed the piece after reporting having been sexually assaulted by another Columbia student to the school, which declined to find that student responsible. In "Carry That Weight," Emma carried her mattress everywhere with her for the entirety of her senior year, calling it an “endurance performance art piece.”

Resistance training can help fight osteoporosis, especially in menopausal women

Weight-bearing training that pulls on bones, joints, and muscles can strengthen bone health. Movements like squats, rows, shoulder and chest presses, and push-ups can be started at any age (if you don't already have advanced bone loss), though ideally they should be started earlier—in one's teens or young adulthood—to stave off bone density losses that begin in your 30s.

Why one Emily Dickinson biographer believed she had epilepsy

Lyndall Gordon's "Lives Like Loaded Guns" points to a "handicap" referenced in several Dickinson poems. According to Gordon, the condition was so stigmatized during Dickinson's life that it made her reclusive. In this NPR interview, Gordon explains why she believes the theory is the best explanation for Dickinson's notorious isolation.

'The Father of Positive Psychology' gives tips on building resilience

People differ in how they respond to setbacks. Famed psychologist Martin Seligman outlines three key pillars for resilience: developing mental toughness by interpreting failures as external and temporary, recognizing and using one’s signature strengths, and cultivating strong relationships that offer support and meaning.

Why Serbia produces great basketball players

The NBA phenom Nikola Jokić isn't an anomaly. Serbia and other Balkan countries have produced generations of talented basketball players. This history of the region's approach to basketball explains why. It details a community-minded approach to the sport called "positionless basketball” that emphasizes dynamic multi-talented players rather than specialized superstars.

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

How a brain injury created a mathematical mind

In 2002, two men savagely attacked Jason Padgett outside a karaoke bar, leaving him with a severe concussion--and turning Padgett into a mathematical genius.

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.

Prince was trained in classical ballet during high school

He began taking dance classes with the Minnesota Dance Theatre when he was in high school, something dance critic Caroline Palmer noted could be seen in his stage performances. "For so many dancers, they may start in one dance form and morph into whatever their art requires," she said. "You see that in Prince—ballet in the core, and then he added."

How one young woman opted out of her orthodox Jewish community

Runner Connie Allen was raised in an ultra-orthodox sect of Hasidic Judaism known as Satmar in South Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York. This long read details the rigid life of a contemporary Jewish community in New York, and how one young woman opted to leave it.

Camus was a soccer goalie as a teenager

The writer played for Algiers Racing University but had to quit after contracting tuberculosis. He remained a fan, though, once suggesting that the game taught him important lessons about morality. In the 1957 interview below, he briefly reflects on his time as a goalie and speaks about his recent Nobel Prize.

One classical musician arranged a work specifically for yoga

In the middle of a yoga class, Ellen Fishman noticed that sitting closer to a speaker allowed her to feel the music in her body, enhancing her overall experience. She arranged music for a string ensemble with a yoga session in mind. The group, StringFlo, now performs the work live in yoga classes.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

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

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.

Brian Wilson wrote the Beach Boys' 'Don't Worry Baby' for the Ronettes, but the legendary girl group rejected it.

Alzheimer's can lead to brain shrinkage, with an average of around 2% of volume reduction per year

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.

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Explore chaos in this simulation of two double pendulums, where small differences in the release angles produce wildly different outcomes.

Firework or sparkler burns, even if they cover a relatively small area of skin, can significantly affect our range of motion.

During the French Revolution, a botanist's letter asking about "dear Rhus" (poison ivy) was intercepted, leading authorities to suspect he was conspiring with the Russians.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

Planarian flatworms are small, aquatic worms with exceptional regenerative capabilities. When cut, the worms can regenerate multiple bodies in a matter of weeks.

In its famous catalog, Sears sold $600 DIY house kits from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in an estimated 100,000 'Sears and Roebuck homes.'

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

While the sun's gravity keeps the planets in orbit, their gravity also pulls on the sun, causing it and everything else in the solar system to orbit around a mutual balance point called the barycenter—the true center of the solar system.