Animal wines: Wine bottles with pigs on the label had the lowest median prices at $23.22

A 6-liter bottle of wine once sold for $1M

Some fine wines are considered alternative investments that could grow in value over time.

The non-alcoholic wine market

A no-nonsense, stats-based exploration of the relatively new market for nonalcoholic wine. Driven by people looking to consume less or no alcohol at all, production of nonalcoholic wine has increased dramatically over the last few years. This report details the basics of nonalcoholic winemaking, as well as the current state of the market and what to expect in the future.

Wine is divided between Old World and New World

The distinction stems from both geography and winemaking technique and tradition. This video breaks down how different viticultural regions fit into each category and the common traits of both Old World and New World wines. It also provides helpful tips for reading Old World wine labels.

The numbers on US wine consumption

Ever wonder how much wine the average American drank in 1949? Wonder no more! The answer is 0.89 gallons. That’s way less than 2022, where the number has quadrupled to 2.86 gallons. Check out this simple table that tracks average United States wine consumption from 1934 through 2022, by individuals and as a whole. American wine consumption peaked during the early pandemic but has lessened since then.

Why your wine smells unpleasant

Ever had the experience of receiving a bottle of wine with a janky, less-than-favorable odor? This Esquire article ventures to answer this question and offers the explanation that the culprit is likely corked wine. Read to understand why corks can create a moldy or musty scent, and feel emboldened to send a corked bottle back for something with improved quality.

The robust wine production of Antarctica

Antarctica might not be known for its agriculture, but parts of its unique climate are suitable for growing wine grapes. Most of the wine produced there is icewine, a style of dessert wine commonly found in Canada and Germany. This guide covers Antarctica’s unique soil composition, grape varieties, and how exactly penguins contribute to this unusual wine-growing region. There’s even a recommendation for an Antarctic tasting room for adventurous souls.

Serbian donkey cheese is the most expensive in the world

Only one farm in the world produces pule, a cheese made from rare Balkan donkey milk that can cost up to $600 per pound. Pule is special for a number of reasons, including the unusual ingredients and the amount of labor required to produce it. Everything, including milking the donkeys, must be done by hand.

John Steinbeck often drew a pig with wings next to his signature, a character he affectionately called 'Pigasus.'

Cava is Spain's sparkling wine

Champagne is delicious, but it’s not the most budget-friendly beverage. Cava is a Spanish wine produced through the same traditional method used to make Champagne but often sold at a lower price. Cava can be produced in several different regions, offering the possibility of more diversity than what is typically found in Champagne.

Pigs are preferred for xenografts because of their size and low disease risk

Pigs are of particular interest for xenotransplants because the animals are close to human size, are easily raised in captivity, and have large litters. They’re already routined killed for food and they’re less genetically related to humans than nonhuman primates, which reduces disease transmission risks and some researchers’ ethical concerns.

Horses can—and sometimes should—drink beer

Despite its reputation, beer is a good source of nutrition. In fact, it's a fairly common practice for horse owners to give beer to their horses. Beer is rich in skin-healing B vitamins, gut-stabilizing yeast, and hydration-encouraging barley. Plus, horse livers come prepared with special enzymes that break down alcohol, making inebriation nearly impossible.

Listen to the Pink Floyd album inspired by 'Animal Farm'

The 1977 album "Animals" was loosely inspired by Orwell's 1945 novella, though it was not a strict allegory for the Russian Revolution. Instead, Roger Waters' and David Gilmour's songs criticize what they see as the inhumanity of modern capitalism.

Civet coffee is some of the most expensive (and bizarre) coffee in the world

Known colloquially as "cat poo coffee," the style is made from beans that have been consumed and then excreted by the Asian palm civet, a small mammal related to the mongoose. Coffee made from these beans is said to be smooth and complex, with notes of chocolate.

Napa Valley, explained

Some of the most valuable agricultural land in the US is in California's Napa Valley. Located about an hour's drive north of San Francisco, Napa has more than 400 wineries employing upward of 44,000 people and drawing in nearly 4 million annual visitors. The price per acre in the valley can exceed $500K because some of the best wines in the world are grown and produced in the roughly 30-mile-long area.

Explore the water footprint of producing various proteins, fruits, and vegetables

This interactive gallery highlights the various types of water behind the production of biofuels, foods, and materials such as cotton. Diets high in bovine meat, whose production requires 15,415 liters of water per kilogram (1,847 gallons per pound), are among the most water-intensive, whereas every kilogram of vegetables uses 322 liters of water (39 gal/lb) to produce.

Watch a pro butcher turn half a pig into eight common meals

The variety of food derived from a pig is enormous—from the common hot dog to delicate capicola. Watch butcher John Ratliff transform this meat into the basis of some of the most well-known meals.

Medieval bestiaries blended real animals with myth and moral lessons

Medieval bestiaries combined observed animals with fantastical creatures, using vivid imagery to convey symbolism and moral meaning. This lecture explores England’s Worksop Bestiary (c. 1185), showcasing over 100 illustrated beasts from the Morgan Library’s collection.

The history of iconic pigments used in seven famous paintings

While art paints can be bought by the bucket at any craft store today, pigments throughout history have been difficult to come by. Art historian Kelly Grovier traces the fascinating history of pigments that make up hidden layers in masterpieces from Picasso and Hokusai’s Prussian Blue to Vermeer’s shade of red.

Some animals possess sensitive hearing to help pinpoint prey and map the world

Bats and dolphins produce sound to reflect off surfaces and create a mental image of their surroundings. Owls' faces are dish-shaped to help funnel sounds to their ears, including that of mice moving along leaves or snow. Pinnipeds, such as seals and walruses, hear in both air and water.

See a ranking of the most memorable presidential pets in history

This list highlights famous White House animals—from Abraham Lincoln's goats, Nanny and Nanko, to Joe Biden's German shepherds, Champ and Major—showing how pets have long been part of presidential life. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Watch how wild animals are projected into a mall

Centered around a dynamic, ever-changing watering hole, the experience allows you to meet a diverse range of animals from Africa to the Arctic as they graze, drink, and interact with the environment around them.

Cocktails now increasingly feature strange ingredients like bacon fat

Cocktail mixology has evolved in recent decades, shifting from a revival and reimagining of old favorites to pure experimentation. Where drinks were at one time anchored by a long-established favorite, now drink menus can feel incomprehensible to the average drinker, and little to indicate what the ultimate flavor profile of the libation will be.

The economics of horseshoe crab blood

Horseshoe crabs are older than dinosaurs and have survived five mass extinctions that wiped most life from the planet. But it's only now that their future as a species is in danger. This blood, worth about $60,000 per gallon, is hyper-sensitized to certain bacteria that are fatal to humans. This 17-minute podcast dives into humanity's pursuit of horseshoe crab blood, a "somewhat magical" mixture heavily relied on by the pharmaceutical industry.

See some of the weirdest Advent calendars you can buy

Modern Advent calendars span nearly every niche imaginable. Shoppers can now buy versions filled with cheese, dog treats, hot sauce, and even sexual-wellness products, reflecting how far the tradition has expanded beyond simple chocolate countdowns.

View the codenames given to Linux kernel releases, from 'Woozy Numbat' to 'ninja sloth'

While each version is assigned a code, such as 6.8.0-rc7, animal codenames provide more memorable, fun identities for each version. Some Linux distributions have also adopted this philosophy and have used alliterative nicknames to convey the distro's characteristics, such as Ubuntu's "Warty Warthog," described as "functional if not pretty."

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

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

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

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

Watch how viruses like Ebola can spill over from animals to humans—and vice-versa.

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

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Animal phobias are likely the most common type of phobias, followed by an extreme fear of heights.

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

Poison ivy is in the same family as mangoes, cashews, and pistachios—and they all produce oily urushiol in their raw, unprocessed state—but they are typically prepared in ways to avoid causing human discomfort.

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.

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

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

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.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

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.

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.

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

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

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.