Lightning is extremely hot—a flash can heat the air around it to temperatures five times hotter than the sun’s surface. This heat causes surrounding air to rapidly expand and vibrate, which creates the pealing thunder we hear a short time after seeing a lightning flash […] Read more

For the wildebeest, the grass is life, but it’s also cover for the enemy. This lion, hidden in the grass, senses an opportunity. A mother and calf have strayed from the heard. When she goes, a lion’s acceleration can cover 50 feet in less than two seconds. But in this moment, something surprising occurs. The […] Read more

The lions must hunt and find food soon or they will die. The pride follows the herd hoping to find an opening. The cubs are too young to keep up and very soon will perish from hunger. Life is tough here on the plains and survival is far from guaranteed. A simple injury can often […] Read more

The female prison population has more than doubled in the past decade, outpacing the rise in the number of incarcerated men. If this rate holds steady, a woman born in 2001 will be six times more likely to spend time in prison than a woman in jail now will get arrested after they’re out. Without […] Read more

For more than three decades, mankind has explored the mysteries of the universe from a vantage point in space. Now we’re turning space into a practical place to work. By the end of the year, NASA’s space station is scheduled to give science a permanent platform in orbit. A place where researchers can examine our […] Read more

For almost a century, the great ships were forgotten. Then, in 1985, an underwater explorer named Robert Ballard, found the most luxury liner of them all. And we began to remember them again. This is the story of the rise and fall of the great ocean liners, and one man’s journey to encounter them again […] Read more

Millions of people tuned in last night to see if they had picked the lucky numbers. At stake: a jackpot worth 363 million dollars. An estimated 30-40 million Americans bought tickets for the so-called big game — a lottery sponsored and managed by seven states — Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey and Massachusetts. […] Read more

In the ’80s there was a strong underground influence in makeup that came from nightclubs in cities like London, N.Y. and Toronto. M•A•C was the first to recognize the trend and developed a matte lipstick that would fulfill the need. Word spread quickly about the wearability and the fantastic range of colors M•A•C offered. The […] Read more

*Excerpted (and slightly edited for the purposes of this recording) from a blog post by Grantland’s Sean McIndoe* The year he became draft eligible, Mario Lemieux scored 282 points in a 70-game season. [The struggling Penguins were so desperate to draft him,] that by March 1984 they were practically shooting the puck into their own […] Read more