Texas’ 1,600-pound longhorn mascot Bevo charged at Georgia’s Uga, a small bulldog, at the Sugar Bowl

The Army–Navy rivalry has a long history of mascot heists

For decades, spirited cadets and midshipmen have plotted covert missions to steal each other’s mascots—Army’s mule and Navy’s goat—turning the already fierce football rivalry into a game of elaborate pranks and counter-pranks.

Texas beat USC in the 2006 Rose Bowl to win the national championship

In a matchup of undefeated powerhouses, Vince Young led Texas to a 41–38 victory over USC—capping what is widely regarded as the greatest college football game in history.

The Pop-Tarts Bowl ends with its mascot being eaten by the winning team

In one of college football’s quirkiest traditions, the Pop-Tarts Bowl concludes with the victorious players taking bites out of the giant Pop-Tart mascot.

UC Santa Cruz's nontraditional mascot was selected by its students

After becoming an NCAA Division III school, UC Santa Cruz ditched its informal mascot, the banana slug, for a sea lion. Students protested and eventually held a straw vote to reinstate the old name, which they saw as an antidote to the hypercompetitive nature of college athletics.

See photos of a 200-pound Burmese python is captured in Florida

Conservationist Mike Elfenbein and his son, along with three other hunters, captured a massive 198-pound Burmese python in Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve in the fall of 2023. See images of the hunters and their prey here.

Buford the Pyrenees showered with gifts after rescuing 2-year-old boy lost in the desert

The young boy wandered away from his family home and ended up spending the night alone in the Arizona wilderness. A search party of more than 40 people and a helicopter participated in looking for the boy. A dog named Buford eventually found the child and led him back to a ranch, allowing him to soon be reunited with his family. Once the story broke, Buford started receiving an influx of toys and treats from strangers.

Gatorade was first designed for college football players in Florida heat

To help replenish crucial chemicals football players were losing fast to their profuse sweat in southern heat, researchers at the University of Florida developed a drink blended with salts and sugars that were easy to absorb. The drink, Gatorade, took its name from the school's mascot.

Go inside the ranch where the famous Budweiser Clydesdales live

Budweiser's famous Clydesdales, including the ones you see in Super Bowl commercials, live a cushy lifestyle on Warm Springs Ranch in Boonville, Missouri. The ranch is home to roughly 70 and 80 Clydesdales at any given time.

Husky goes way off track at the Westminster Dog Show

Lobo the Siberian Husky lost an agility competition at the Westminster Dog Show in New York City, but won the hearts of the audience after getting off track.

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.

Some Colosseum fighters battled wild animals instead of other humans

Not everyone who entered the Colosseum was a gladiator. Learn about the bestiarii—who ranged from trained animal fighters to condemned prisoners—and how their encounters with wild beasts became one of Rome’s most lethal spectacles.

A Swedish town erects a giant straw Christmas goat each year—often burned down by pranksters

Each year, the town of Gävle builds a giant straw Christmas goat, which pranksters often burn, despite heightened security measures. Notable attacks include arsonists dressed as Santa and gingerbread men firing flaming arrows and hackers disabling cameras before torching the goat.

The incredible story of Bishop Sycamore

Bishop Sycamore is facing scrutiny after its ugly loss in a nationally televised football game, but this is not new to many of the people involved.

MrBeast became one of YouTube's biggest creators

Jimmy Donaldson, aka "MrBeast," has racked up more than 312 million subscribers on the platform thanks to high-energy videos that mostly feature challenges, stunts, and philanthropy. He joined YouTube in February 2012, and his 800-plus videos have racked up more than 57 billion views.

See how the presidential motorcade protects the president on the move

This video breaks down how the motorcade—anchored by the armored limousine known as "the Beast"—operates as a mobile security network. An animated simulation shows how agents and vehicles respond to potential attacks to keep the president safe in transit.

‘Hang On Sloopy,’ Ohio’s unofficial anthem

The McCoys' 1965 single "Hang On Sloopy" isn't technically about the Buckeye State, but it became a fan favorite after appearing in the Ohio State Marching Band repertoire.

The story of Wall Street's Charging Bull statue

In New York City's Financial District, there's a bronze statue of a bull that attracts tourists from all over the world. But how did it get there, and what is it about the statue that makes people line up for photographs, day after day? Journalist PJ Vogt dives into the Charging Bull statue's origin story in a podcast episode (warning: some mature language).

Pepsi uses augmented reality to prank people at a bus shelter

Commuters at a London bus stop have seen alien invasions, monsters from the sewers grabbing pedestrians and tigers running down the street as part of an elaborate advertising campaign.

How the peach became Georgia's fruit, though it makes fewer than other states

After the Civil War, the state sought to redefine its agricultural traditions away from slave-dependent cotton. One innovator, Samuel Rumph, crossed two breeds of peach, resulting in the Elberta, which could travel farther without spoiling. The state embraced this delicious identity to transcend its earlier reputation.

Possible globster sighted on the Oregon coast.

A man riding an ATV on the Oregon coast comes across a “sea monster", which is actually likely a decaying carcass of shark or whale.

The famous image of Che Guevara was captured by accident

Alberto Korda wasn’t aiming for Che Guevara when he snapped one of the most reproduced photos in history. This longread traces how that fleeting moment became a global icon—later commodified across pop culture, fashion, and advertising.

T. rex didn't stomp, it walked on tiptoes like a bird

A new biomechanical study analyzing four T. rex specimens, including the famous "Sue" at Chicago's Field Museum, found the dinosaur used a "distal-first" foot strike, described as landing on its toes before its heel, similar to a modern ostrich. The technique improved stride efficiency and shock absorption, letting adults reach speeds up to 14 mph, while younger, lighter T. rexes could sprint closer to 25 mph.

See the first dog ever treated with insulin—a peptide

Frederick Banting and his graduate student Charles Best were the first to isolate the peptide insulin from dogs. They induced diabetes in the animals and then treated them with this peptide.

The devil went down to Georgia

For years, a mysterious figure preyed on gay men in Atlanta. People on the streets called him the Handcuff Man, but the police knew his real name. It wasn't until a dogged local news reporter interviewed the underground community of male sex workers that local officials were prompted to intervene in the killer's reign of terror.

The Beanie Baby craze is known as one of the wildest collectible bubbles in history

The Beanie Baby boom saw collectors drive prices for stuffed animals into the hundreds or thousands of dollars, fueled by hype surrounding scarcity and online bidding wars. When demand collapsed in the early 2000s, the market crashed—leaving steep losses for many speculators.

Hockey enforcers are players responsible for guarding against aggression from the opposing team

From the 1980s through to the early 2000s, enforcers were a regular part of NHL lineups. At 6 feet 7 inches, Derek Boogaard’s body was made for the part, but he was found to have suffered from CTE after his tragic death at 28. Stories about Boogaard helped dramatically reduce enforcers in hockey and opened discussions for player safety.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness

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

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

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

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

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

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.

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.

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

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.

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

The deadliest aspect of volcanic eruptions is often not lava, but pyroclastic flows—avalanches of ash, gas, and rock that can move more than half the speed of sound.

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.

The Great Salt Lake's distinct dual coloration results from high-salinity organisms that only live in the northern portion and produce a purple protein.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

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

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

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

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

Tattoos remain visible on your skin thanks to immune cells called macrophages

One of the most famous portraits ever taken is 'Afghan Girl' (1984) by Steve McCurry, yet the subject Sharbat Gula went much of her life without being identified or benefitting from the image's success.

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