Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Infographic: Where Should the Nation Spend and Save?

The results of a Harris Interactive poll reveal what really matters to the American people—and their pocketbooks.

Column Five
By Column FiveMar 23, 2012
Column Five
See Full Bio

An annual Harris Interactive poll set out to explore public opinion on the federal budget by asking people whether they would favor or oppose cutting spending in particular areas. The results reveal what really matters to the American people—and their pocketbooks.

federal budgetelections and politics

The Latest

A person listens to music on headphones with their eyes closed, with album covers superimposed on top
Culture

People say these 5 songs can help ease an anxiety attack

woman sleeping on blue throw pillow
Science

Research finds that what we dream about depends on where we live

More For You

Archaeologists discover lost cities that mysteriously 'disappeared.' It changes the history of civilization
upload.wikimedia.org

Archaeologists discover lost cities that mysteriously 'disappeared.' It changes the history of civilization

For hundreds of years, historians and archaeologists believed that Mesopotamia (nearly 3800 BC) was the cradle of civilization. But in the past few years, this belief began to dwindle. In the 1960s, a Russian topographer was going through some aerial photographs of Ukraine when he noticed some unusual shadows materializing on the grounds of Kyiv city.

Curious, he magnified the photos and was flabbergasted, as many more concentric circles of these shadows emerged. Further examination revealed that the shadows were cast from unknown archaeological remains that lay buried in the soil. ScienceNews reports that when archaeologists studied these remains, they proposed that the first cities of humanity were built in Ukraine, not Mesopotamia (what is now Iraq). The secret hid in the Trypillia megasites, the forgotten city that mysteriously disappeared.

Keep ReadingShow less
2000-year-old temple featured in 'Indiana Jones' found in the depths of Gulf of Puzzuoli
Underwater ruins of ancient temple building. (Representative cover image: Getty Images
Photo by byarnoldus

2000-year-old temple featured in 'Indiana Jones' found in the depths of Gulf of Puzzuoli

Off the western coast of Italy, the Gulf of Pozzuoli in the Tyrrhenian Sea is an underwater museum of ancient ruins, submerged baths, and even remnants of a forgotten city. Its stunning emerald waters, where Roman emperors once bathed, are now home to dolphins and schools of sperm whales gliding through the historic depths. In 2023, archaeologists diving into these waters stumbled upon what appeared to be the remains of a 2,000-year-old Nabataean temple—a site with architectural echoes featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, according to Live Science. Their findings were officially published in Antiquity in September 2024.

This remarkable discovery came through a collaboration between Italy's Ministry of Culture and the University of Campania as part of the “Between Land and Sea” project. This initiative aims to uncover the rich archaeological heritage hidden along the Phlegraean coast, a region marked by ongoing volcanic activity and geological shifts. These underwater ruins offer an extraordinary window into ancient Rome's daily life, commerce, and culture, preserving layers of history within the tranquil yet tectonically active Gulf of Pozzuoli.

Keep ReadingShow less
Groom stops midway through vows to hand bride a scribbled note — it contained a promise
man in gray suit and woman in white wedding dress
Photo by Eugenia Pankiv on Unsplash

Groom stops midway through vows to hand bride a scribbled note — it contained a promise

Childhood sweethearts finding their way back to each other after decades apart sounds like something out of a fairytale, but sometimes, real life has plans even more poetic. That seemed to be the case for Lauren and Brooks, who went their separate ways in February 2015. But during a flight to Oklahoma, Brooks felt a shift—he realized that Lauren was truly the love of his life and decided he was going to marry her.

And marry her he did. Recently, to mark their third wedding anniversary, Lauren shared a touching clip from their wedding ceremony on her Instagram page. In the video, Brooks tells her about the moment on that flight when he wrote a heartfelt love confession, acknowledging how much she meant to him. The video was taken during a beautifully orchestrated day that included a bachelorette party, a rehearsal dinner, and a garden pizza party, all leading up to the church ceremony where they exchanged vows. In her blog, Lauren shares that in that moment, surrounded by loved ones and the church’s priest, Brooks recalled how that flight had changed everything for him.

Keep ReadingShow less
Man reading to his daughter while she sits on his lap

Library Dads get together to read to their children and bond as fathers.

Photo credit: @thelibrarydads

Atlanta fathers step up for literacy as “Library Dads” for the community

Khari Arnold is just a dad in Atlanta that wanted to bond with his baby daughter and instill a love of reading into her. After a year of taking his daughter to the library and reading to her aloud, he posted a reel on Instagram to recap his weekly trips. He wanted his fellow fathers in the community to share this joy, so he stepped up to create Library Dads.

Library Dads is a community of Atlanta fathers that get together on weekends twice a month to take their children to the library. At these “Library Link-Ups” the dads get to bond with their children and participate in read-aloud story time. It’s not only a bonding experience from father to child and a promotion of literacy, but a “brotherhood” of dads looking for community and friendship.

Keep ReadingShow less
The wild all-female bartending competition Speed Rack is the best bar scene innovation in years

Ivy Mix and Lynnette Marrero, renowned bartenders and co-founders of Speed Rack, an all-female and femme speed bartending competition.

Elyssa Goodman

The wild all-female bartending competition Speed Rack is the best bar scene innovation in years

“We have no women bartenders, where are all the women?” Lynnette Marrero remembered.

The decorated bartender and mixologist worked a cocktail festival many years ago where some 30 women put it together behind the scenes. But when it came time for a film crew to record female bartenders, they were at a loss. She didn’t want it to happen again and neither did fellow renowned bartender Ivy Mix. “It was an a-ha moment, of what can we do to showcase these women?”

Keep ReadingShow less
A photo of a parent's hand holding a child's hand, a photo of a scientist in a lab

A dad fighting to cure a rare neurodevelopment disorder named after his daughter has announced a major breakthrough.

Photo credit: Canva

Dad fighting to cure rare genetic disorder named after his daughter announces breakthrough

When he isn’t working as a lobbyist, Sacramento’s Joe Lang spends much of his spare time fighting to find a cure for Jordan’s Syndrome, the highly rare neurodevelopment disorder named after his daughter. After learning Jordan was among a small handful of children with the condition, which can result in significant intellectual disability, Lang made it his life’s mission to fund research—and that tireless work has now resulted in a breakthrough, with Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi announcing plans to start a clinical trial into potential treatment.

"When my daughter, Jordan, was finally diagnosed after years of testing, it became my family’s mission to cultivate and grow a supportive community with the shared goal of advancing the understanding of this disorder and progressing towards potential treatment options,” said Lang—who co-founded the nonprofit foundation Jordan’s Guardian Angels with his wife, Cynthia—in a statement announcing the trial. "While we know this is just the beginning, this is a profound moment for our community, and we are hopeful for our children’s futures and the future of rare disease drug development."

Keep ReadingShow less
A photo of two people look at each other confused, with a Reddit comment pasted on top

People with autism shared things they considered "normal" until neurotypical folks told them otherwise.

Photo credit: Canva, with screenshot of comment by Reddit user sharkboi42069

People with autism share the 5 unique behaviors they thought were 'normal' for everyone

There are lots of behaviors I once thought were universal. For example, I recently learned that not everyone has an internal monologue running through their head all day long—a fact that, frankly, I’m still struggling to process. In a recent viral thread, people with autism shared things they thought were "normal" until a neurotypical told them otherwise. It’s an absorbing read top to bottom, with the responses exploring everything from body language to conversational style to following social rules and etiquette.

One of the top comments on r/AskReddit relates to "maladaptive daydreaming," which Cleveland Clinic describes as a "mental health issue that causes a person to lose themselves in complex daydreams," usually as a "coping mechanism for other mental health conditions or circumstances."

Keep ReadingShow less
A man looks through binoculars
man using black binoculars at daytime
Representative photo by Forest Simon on Unsplash

Video captures scientists' euphoria after spotting bird believed extinct for 140 years

From mammoths to saber-toothed cats, extinct creatures have fascinated us for decades. But the idea of a supposedly extinct species reappearing after more than a century is nearly unimaginable. That’s exactly how a group of scientists felt during an expedition in Papua New Guinea, where they spotted the black-naped pheasant pigeon—a bird that was thought to be extinct for 140 years. Their elation, captured in a viral video, was shared on Reddit by u/rarepredator in the r/interestingasfuck group, where it’s generating buzz across social media.

“Suddenly I was confronted with this image of what at that time felt like a mythical creature,” shared Jordan Boersma, the expedition's leader, with the National Audubon Society. “It was, without exaggeration, the most surreal moment of my life.” The camera trap had captured an unmistakable image of the elusive pheasant pigeon, which hadn’t been seen since 1882. John Mittermeier of the American Bird Conservancy, who co-led the expedition, echoed the wonder: “To find something that’s been gone for that long, that you’re thinking is almost extinct, and then to figure out that it’s not extinct, it feels like finding a unicorn or a Bigfoot. It’s extraordinarily unusual.”

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2025