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Unusual Deaths

The history books are filled with stories of people whose cause of death is odd. Some are most likely fiction, while others are very true—or at least worth considering.

Embalming

While you're supposed to be dead before being embalmed, some believe this famed Macedonian king was alive when the procedure began.

Dancing

In 1518 a small town in France endured a plague unlike most—they were seized by an uncontrollable urge to dance.

Snakes

This legendary Viking reportedly met his match in a pit of snakes.

Molasses

Sugary syrup proved lethal in this 1919 tragedy.

Eagle and tortoise

Did this famed Athenian dramatist really die when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his bald head, believing it was a rock?

Laughing

Find out what made this Scottish writer allegedly laugh so much that he died.

When Giants Roamed the Earth

Humans might be on the on the high end of the food chain, but set the clock back 50 million years or so and things change dramatically. Physical descriptions of prehistoric animals like "the size of a school bus" or "having a battle ax for a tail" are ground-shakingly common. Phrases like "omnivorous predator" make it abundantly clear where, exactly, Homo sapiens might have found themselves in the food web.

Podcasts

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Botanize!

Botanize!, hosted by Melissa Petruzzello, is a podcast that will introduce you to some of the world's most remarkable plants, fungi, and algae. These overlooked organisms have fascinating evolutionary stories to tell about survival, exploitation, adaptation, and general scrappiness, and every episode will pique your curiosity. From parasitic plants to kelp forests, Botanize! aims to showcase some of Earth's finest nonanimal life-forms and their brilliant ecologies.

Postcards from the 6th Mass Extinction

So far there have been five notable mass extinctions on Earth. A growing number of scientists argue that we're now in the midst of a sixth. Postcards from the 6th Mass Extinction is a podcast hosted by John P. Rafferty that attempts to personalize extinction, emphasizing the survival challenges that familiar forms of life currently face, while at the same time considering the pivotal roles they play in their own ecosystems.

Show What You Know

Informative and lively, Show What You Know is a quiz show for curious tweens and their grown-ups from Encyclopædia Britannica. Hosted by author Christopher Lloyd, each episode gives three middle-grade contestants a chance to go head to head with questions about the earth, the universe, ancient history, and more from the Britannica All New Kids' Encyclopedia: What We Know & What We Don't.

Contemporary Art

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Step back from the day-to-day and get a global perspective with the annual Britannica Premium Membership. News in context, brain teasers and quizzes, plus editor's roundups on trending topics.

Browse by Category

Geography & Travel

Planet Earth contains some extraordinarily diverse environments, some of which are easily habitable and some not so much. In different areas of Earth, one might find sweltering deserts, dense tropical rainforests, or bone-chilling tundras. Each biome and habitat comes with its own selection of flora and fauna, and it may include physical features such as canyons, volcanoes, rivers, or caves. Human beings have built homes in many different environments, settling the area and organizing it into units such as cities, states, regions, and countries, each with its own points of interest. Shifting trends in human migration have resulted in a human geography that is profoundly different from that of centuries ago.

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Indo-Aryan languages
Know Your UK Geography Quiz
What are "the Broads" of Norfolk, England? What is...
Where in the British Isles?
How much do you know about the geography of the British...

Health & Medicine

The study of the human mind and body, how these function, and how they interact—not only with each other but also with their environment—has been of utmost importance in ensuring human well-being. Research on potential treatments and preventive medicine has expanded greatly with the development of modern medicine, and a network of disciplines, including such fields as genetics, psychology, and nutrition, aims to facilitate the betterment of our health.

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dengue
disease
Questions About COVID-19 Answered
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the lives of billions...
COVID-19 Terminology Explained
COVID-19 has become a household term, known...

Lifestyles & Social Issues

It's easy enough to agree that human beings all around the world have certain basic requirements that must be fulfilled in order to ensure their individual and collective well-being. History has shown us, however, that it's not so easy to form societies or communities that fulfill these requirements for all members. The fight for human and civil rights has persisted for hundreds of years and remains alive today, both within the borders of nations and on an international scale. It has led to large-scale social movements and reforms concerning issues such as suffrage, slavery, women's rights, racism, environmentalism, gay rights, and much more.

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teaching
Where Did the Word Hippie Come From?
Peace, man.
Where Did the Peace Sign Come From?
Give peace a chance.

Literature

With the development of language, the human imagination has found a way to create and communicate through the written word. A literary work can transport us into a fictional, fantastic new world, describe a fleeting feeling, or simply give us a picture of the past through novels, poems, tragedies, epic works, and other genres. Through literature, communication becomes an art, and it can bridge and bond people and cultures of different languages and backgrounds.

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Canadian literature
Literary Favorites: Fact or Fiction?
Love literature? This quiz sorts out the truth about...
Parlez-Vous Français? And Other Languages
What language is spoken in Mexico? Which South American...

Philosophy & Religion

Humans have long pondered not only how we came to be but also why we came to be. The earliest Greek philosophers focused their attention upon the origin and nature of the physical world; later philosophers have theorized about the nature of knowledge, truth, good and evil, love, friendship, and much more. Philosophy involves a methodical assessment of any and all aspects of human existence and experience. The realms of philosophy and religion have sometimes intersected in conducting such inquiries as these. As with philosophy, the study of religion underscores how humankind has long speculated about its origins. The possibility of a higher being (or beings) to which livings things owe their existence has long captived human thought. Many religions also offer their own views on the nature of good and evil, and they may prescribe guidelines and judgment on different kinds of human behavior.

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Daoism
Chinese philosophy and religion
What's In a Name? Philosopher Edition
Philosophers are often referred to by their surnames...
Holidays and Festivals: Which Religion?
You may know your own religion's traditions, but do...

Politics, Law & Government

The world today is divided territorially into more than 190 countries, each of which possesses a national government that claims to exercise sovereignty and seeks to compel obedience to its will by its citizens. Governments can be classified in any number of ways. For example, they might be classified by the number of rulers, thus distinguishing government by one (as in a monarchy or a tyranny) from government by the few (in an aristocracy or oligarchy) and from government by the many (as in a democracy). Governments can also be classified by mode of succession; for example, ascension to governmental leadership may follow the rules of hereditary succession, or it may be determined through elections or by force. Governments also vary in terms of the laws and rules of conduct that each political entity follows.

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crime
law
The Biggest Companies in the United States
This puzzle will test your knowledge of some of the...
Why voters rejected plans to replace the Minneapolis Police Department
Why voters rejected plans to replace the Minneapolis...

Science Science

How can the sky be blue one day and stormy the next? Why do heavy objects tend to fall downwards when dropped? How are birds able to fly (and why can't I do the same?)? Human beings have long been curious about the world in which we live, striving to identify connections among the phenomenons we witness and to understand how it all works. The field of science has developed over many centuries as a way of studying and understanding the world, beginning with the primitive stage of simply noting important regularities in nature and continuing through the rise of modern science. The modern-day sciences cover a vast range of fields, including biology, chemistry, meteorology, astronomy, physics, and much more.

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nervous system
anatomy
Quiz: Can You Tell a Fruit from a Vegetable?
Do you still have to ask yourself whether a tomato...
6 Animal Species that Mate for Life
Find out who's in it for the long haul.

Sports & Recreation

Physical contests and recreational games have long played a part in human society. In both team and solo sports, the human body has been pushed to its limits in the name of improving athletic performance and in order to break record upon record. The ancient Olympic Games are an early example of the contests in which humans have engaged to showcase physical prowess. In modern times, sports and games have evolved into a lucrative and competitive industry, while other leisure activities, such as card and video games, can be competitive or just serve as a way to unwind or socialize.

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ice hockey
sport
Quick Quiz: Billiards
There are more countries credited with inventing the...
Round 1: Olympic History Quiz
When was the first Olympic Village built? Which gold...

Technology

Humankind has long striven to improve its living conditions through the development of tools, instruments, and transportation and communications systems, all with the goal of making our lives easier, more productive and—why not?—more fun, too. Thanks to human curiosity and technological research, many significant inventions have been made throughout history that in turn made a difference in our daily lives.

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history of technology
Computers: Fact or Fiction?
Is QWERTY a computer language? Was the first Web site...
Technological Ingenuity
From the first tools of early humans to IBM's Deep...

Visual Arts

These are the arts that meet the eye and evoke an emotion through an expression of skill and imagination. They include the most ancient forms, such as painting and drawing, and the arts that were born thanks to the development of technology, like sculpture, printmaking, photography, and installation art. Though beauty is in the eye of the beholder, different eras in art history have had their own principles to define beauty, from the richly ornamented taste of the Baroque to the simple utilitarian style of the Prairie School.

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Anatolian art and architecture
How Much Do You Know About Art and Architecture in Sweden?
You don't want to be unprepared for your next trip...
15 Paintings to See at the Victoria and Albert Museum
Learn before you look.

World History

Does history really repeat itself, or can we learn from the mistakes of those who came before us? History provides a chronological, statistical, and cultural record of the events, people, and movements that have made an impact on humankind and the world at large throughout the ages.

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Industrial Revolution
U.S. Presidents
In this crossword puzzle, we're testing your knowledge...
World Expos: A History
Global expositions, such as Expo 2020 Dubai, have a...

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