The US government reportedly hoards 1.4 billion pounds of cheese in caves

In 2022, the US exported more than 450,000 metric tonnes of cheese worldwide

That same year, the US cheese export market was valued at $2.3B. The main consumer markets for the US were Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Australia, and Canada. Mexico was the largest importer of US cheese, with 87% of its cheese imports coming from its neighbor.

The US stores hundreds of millions of oil barrels in caves along the Texas-Louisiana coast

The US has a Strategic Petroleum Reserve that it taps into, releasing barrels into the economy, during times of emergency (think: major storms and wars) to try to stabilize markets.

The world's most unique cheeses

Some are set apart by their unusual ingredients, like moose milk or live mites. Others are defined by texture, like the Georgian specialty tenili, a very rare hand-pulled cheese that resembles yarn or pasta strands. There’s even a canned cheese that has been using the same strain of bacteria for more than 70 years.

From 'Yankee cheddar' to American cheese

From "Yankee cheddar" to Kraft Singles, American cheese has a long history shaped by innovation and economics. Originally a cheddar export, it evolved into the processed slices we know today—thanks to a 1916 patent. And in the 1980s, it became “government cheese,” distributed to millions.

Switzerland is widely considered the world capital of cheese

This charming infographic looks at the cheese-related habits of Europe’s top three cheese-producing countries: Italy, France, and Switzerland. Cheeses in France are reported to be the lightest, and Swiss cheeses the heaviest.

Why some people say the moon is made of cheese

Mental Floss digs into the history behind the fable, which dates back as far as the 1500s, when it was mentioned in "The Proverbs of John Heywood." Even NASA has gotten in on the joke, tweeting a (supposedly) doctored photograph showing the moon's expiration date.

It seems like we shouldn’t have to say this: Cheese is not like crack

While news reports may claim cheese is addictive, the facts behind the research show cheese and crack have little in common. It appears that highly processed foods with high levels of sugars and fat, rather than cheese specifically, are most closely associated with addictive-like behaviors. In fact, cheese ranked lower than foods like pizza, chocolate, and fries in terms of its addictiveness.

Most of the critical mineral supply needed for US data centers is imported

The country with the most data centers relies on other nations for about 80% of the rare earth elements needed for magnetic materials in storage drives, 64% of the silver and 85% of the platinum it uses for electrical circuitry, and about half the aluminum and copper used in heat sinks that dissipate thermal energy from electronic components.

Spikes in pizza orders near US government buildings are thought to be signs of international crises

Theorists have long believed that sudden increases in pizza deliveries near the Pentagon signal a major event is about to occur. Historical examples include the CIA ordering 21 pizzas the day before the beginning of the Gulf War, and another surge of deliveries before former President Bill Clinton's impeachment hearings. Citizens have since begun monitoring food orders in the area. See a tracker of Pentagon pizza orders here.

The food processing techniques developed for World War II, later repurposed for consumers

Research projects funded or sponsored by the military led to the development of active dry yeast to make bread easier to bake and an improved version of dehydrated cheese, which would be used in powdered cheese snacks. Freeze-drying, which had been used to ease the transport of blood plasma to battlefields, where it would be reconstituted with water, was later used on fruit for cereals.

The massive sinkholes of China

Parts of China's limestone-rich terrain is fertile ground for massive caves, where some of the world's largest sinkholes are located. Hidden away in dense, lush forests, geologists are frequently discovering new sinkholes to explore. This piece...

Why there's a snack recession

Inflation and economic uncertainty have driven many Americans to make cuts to their snack budgets, according to reports from major food manufacturers like General Mills, JM Smucker, and Campbell's. Major retailers have also observed lower-income consumers cutting back on nonessentials due to the macroeconomic environment.

About one dollar in every six that are owed to the federal government aren't paid each year

That adds up to close to $1T in what's known as the "tax gap." Read a breakdown on the main drivers of tax evasion (distinct from legal tax avoidance) in the US.

This is the longest the US has gone without a minimum wage increase since 1938

The US government hasn’t increased the federal minimum wage in more than a decade. Some people argue it's wrong that Congress needs to debate whether or not to raise the minimum wage—and that perhaps these raises should be tied to inflation.

22 fascinating discoveries of massive gold coin hoards

The gallery highlights major gold coin treasures from ancient to modern times, from the Saddle Ridge hoard in California in the 1800s (now worth $10M) to finds in Baltimore, Kentucky, and more. Each discovery reveals something about the period, with some buried and others left in vaults.

Governments have historically used counterfeiting for economic warfare

Inserting fake currency into an economy can help destabilize it. During the American Revolution, for instance, the British distributed counterfeit “Continental Dollars” in an effort to devalue the currency being used in the US at the time with the goal of undermining America’s growing financial credibility. The Nazis also ran an extensive counterfeiting scheme during WWII.

How the Montreal Protocol made CFCs the most valuable Miami contraband after cocaine

Following the 1990s production ban, smugglers flooded Miami with illegal chlorofluorocarbons used in air conditioning. A 15-kilogram cylinder bought for $70 in Europe could sell for $242 in the US, fueling multimillion-dollar black-market trade. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Discover the economic value of coral reefs, which benefit one billion people worldwide

The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that US commercial and recreational fisheries valued at $200M depend on coral reefs, which provide up to $1.8B in flood protection by absorbing 97% of wave energy. Combined with the benefits from tourism, US coral reefs provide $3.4B in value annually.

George Washington spent thousands of dollars on ice cream in a single summer

Records show that America's first president purchased a "cream machine for ice" as early as 1784. An accounting record from 1790 reveals that Washington spent $200—roughly equivalent to $6,300 today—on ice cream.

There is a secretive bomb-proof bunker located under the White House

Built in 1942 during World War II, the Presidential Emergency Operations Center lies beneath the East Wing. Designed to protect the president during air raids—and later nuclear threats—it remains a top-secret command site used during crises like 9/11.

Ridiculous documents released via the Freedom of Information Act

In addition to being a massive asset to journalists and eager members of the public, FOIA has also shed light on some of the weirder corners of America’s functioning democracy. Here are 10 choice documents.

Why bananas are in trouble

The average American eats over 25 pounds of bananas every year, but we won't for long if a deadly soil fungus continues to spread. Learn what scientists are doing to save the popular fruit.

How scientists are using molecules found in acidophiles to develop new medical treatments

The Berkeley Pit, an open-pit copper mine in Butte, Montana, that ceased operations in 1982 and is now filled with highly acidic water, is home to various species of fungi and yeast. These extremophiles produce unique compounds that may have anti-inflammatory benefits and have already been used to create an antibiotic for staph infections.

Britain’s bottle innovation saved Champagne

Champagne wouldn’t be where it is today without a surprising partner: 17th-century British glassmakers. An energy crisis caused by deforestation—not enough trees to burn—led to the search for an alternative fuel source. Enter coal. The plentiful resource burned much hotter than wood, creating stronger glass that could stand up to the pressure of the carbon monoxide produced by the wine’s second fermentation and solving one of the fledgling industry’s most vexing problems.

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.

Mapping where pumpkins are harvested in the US

Roughly 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkin are sold in the US every year, with 80% of that available in the month of October. See which states are the biggest producers in acres, starting in Illinois where over 16,000 acres of the gourd are harvested...

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

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

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people

The USPS spent $3.97B in 2024, accounting for .058% of the federal budget.

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

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Watch how deep-sea mining equipment collects and processes polymetallic nodules—metal-rich, potato-shaped rocks—from the ocean floor and creates environmentally damaging plumes of sediments.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

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.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

Scientists have struggled to pin down Ebola's natural reservoir species for decades, but the available evidence suggests that it's very likely fruit and insect-eating bats found in Africa.

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.

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.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

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.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.