The Library of Alexandria may have contained 500,000 scrolls — its destruction is one of history's greatest cultural losses.

In behavioral economics, choice architecture — how options are presented — dramatically affects decisions.

The CIA's Operation Ajax helped orchestrate a coup in Iran in 1953.

Operation PBSUCCESS involved CIA actions in Guatemala in 1954.

Van Gogh only sold one painting in his lifetime.

Gagaku, Japan's imperial court music, is the world's oldest surviving orchestral tradition, dating to the 7th century.

Elvis Presley never wrote any of his own songs.

The fastest recorded tennis serve exceeded 150 miles per hour.

Aboriginal Australians have oral traditions and songlines that preserve ecological knowledge going back tens of thousands of years.