February 22, 2023Behind the HeadlinesAnother earthquake rocked Turkey, while former Pres. Jimmy Carter opted for hospice care. Here’s some context behind these and other recent headlines.Carter in HospiceThe news that former Pres. Jimmy Carter is receiving hospice care at home was announced on Saturday. But what exactly is hospice and where did the idea originate?Earthquake in TurkeyTurkey was hit by a magnitude-6.4 earthquake on Monday, just two weeks after the devastating magnitude-7.8 earthquake on February 6 that resulted in more than 40,000 deaths.Who Is Liable?Is a technology company liable for what’s posted on its platform? That’s the question being raised this week as the Supreme Court hears arguments on two cases that could reshape Sec. 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The law shields tech firms like Google or Facebook by putting the onus on individual users.Goodbye GreyOn Thursday the popular series Grey’s Anatomy bids farewell to its star, Ellen Pompeo, who played the show’s main character, Meredith Grey, for 19 seasons.A New Cold War?Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin has described the collapse of the Soviet Union as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century.” That event marked the end of the Cold War, the clash of superpowers that had dominated international relations in the second half of the 20th century. Although the 21st century has been largely characterized by the rivalry between the U.S. and China, Putin’s attempts to recreate the Soviet empire through invasions of Georgia and Ukraine —and Pres. Joe Biden’s strong support of Ukraine—have renewed concerns about a new Cold War.Why Didn’t the Cold War Turn Hot?John Waterman—Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesWhy Did the Soviet Union Collapse?Reuters/NewscomWho Is Winning the War in Ukraine?Dmytro "Orest" Kozatskyi—AFP/Getty ImagesDiscover MorePutin Has Suspended Participation in This Nuclear PactVideo: How Did the Cold War Lead to the Internet?Popular on BritannicaARTICLESMalaysia Airlines flight 370 disappearanceVirgoAsh WednesdayPresidents’ DayLentShow More FEATURESHow Did Helen Keller Fly a Plane?What Is Known (and Not Known) About the Bermuda TriangleWhich Religion Is the Oldest?Did George Washington Really Say, “I Can’t Tell a Lie”? Why Are There Only 28 Days in February?Show More LISTS12 Greek Gods and Goddesses12 Novels Considered the “Greatest Book Ever Written”Brain Games: 8 Philosophical Puzzles and Paradoxes5 Wacky Facts about the Births and Deaths of U.S. PresidentsSecret Service Code Names of 11 U.S. PresidentsShow More HouseholdInvestingRetirementWhat the SECURE Act 2.0 Means for You and Your Retirement When the Economy Goes South: Recessions Explained My Stock Is Drifting Down. Should I Buy the Dip? Should You Itemize Tax Deductions or Take the Standard Deduction? Featured Videos See All VideosDiscover why Black History Month takes place in FebruaryRapper Roy Kinsey discusses the Great Migration and creating an audio genealogy of Black historyDon't forget these women writers of the Harlem RenaissanceWitness Barack Obama taking the presidential oath and delivering his inaugural address, January 20, 2009Black Pioneers of GovernmentStacey AbramsThe first Black woman to win a major party’s gubernatorial nomination, Abrams is especially known for her work involving voter rights.Thurgood MarshallAs an attorney, he argued the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, and would later become the first Black Supreme Court justice.Shirley ChisholmThe first African American woman to be elected to Congress, Chisholm was a founder of the National Women’s Political Caucus.Wes MooreBefore becoming the first Black governor of Maryland, he was a Rhodes scholar, combat veteran, and investment banker. Know Better with Britannica PremiumStep 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. Learn MoreTrending Quizzes See All QuizzesGuess the Animal Eyes QuizCan you tell these creatures just by looking at their peepers?What’s On Your Money QuizDo you have the skills to know your bills?The Love QuizRomance and physical attraction in history, literature, and science…what’s not to love?Name That Historical Figure!Put faces to some of history's biggest names.Commonly Confused Words Vocabulary QuizTake a (break/brake) and (pore/pour) over this (cash/cache/cachet) of questions about commonly confused words.Name That Thing: FoodA quiz to sink your teeth into.Name That Color!Can you tell chartreuse from vermilion?Where in America is That?Crisscross the U.S. by placing these famous landmarks.Name That Magnified Object!Can you figure out what these common items are when they're extremely magnified?One-Hit Wonders QuizSo-called “one-hit wonders” achieve fame for only a brief period of time. Can you name the artists of these hit songs?The first animal domesticated by humans was the dog, possibly as early as 30,000 years ago.See All Good Facts Get One Good Fact every day:
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Browse by CategoryEntertainment & Pop CultureEntertainment and leisure activities have been a part of culture in one form or another since the ancient times. Dance performances, live music, and storytelling have a long tradition throughout history, even as the styles and available methods of delivery have shifted dramatically.FeaturedpuppetryWalnuts: Fact or Fiction?Isn’t It Obvious?Geography & TravelPlanet 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.FeaturedmountainWhy Is Ireland Two Countries?World Capitals QuizHealth & MedicineThe 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.Featuredhuman eyeCharacteristics of the Human BodyHuman Bones: Fact or Fiction?Lifestyles & Social IssuesIt'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.FeaturedarchaeologyWhy Is Women’s History Month Celebrated in March?The gender gap in economics is huge – it’s even worse than techLiteratureWith 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.FeaturedliteratureMohamed Mbougar Sarr: Senegalese novelist’s win is a landmark for African literaturebell hooks will never leave us – she lives on through the truth of her wordsPhilosophy & ReligionHumans 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.FeaturedConfuciusThich Nhat Hanh worked for decades to teach mindfulness, approached death in that same spiritWhy church conflict in Ukraine reflects historic Russian-Ukrainian tensionsPolitics, Law & GovernmentThe 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.FeatureddemocracyLessons in realpolitik from Nixon and Kissinger: Ideals go only so far in ending conflict in places like UkraineReliable death tolls from the Ukraine war are hard to come by – the result of undercounts and manipulationScienceHow 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.Featuredphilosophy of scienceMerry and Bright: 8 Jolly Christmas PlantsWhy Is a Group of Molecules Called a Mole?Sports & RecreationPhysical 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.FeaturedgolfWhat Is a Modern Pentathlon?7 Significant Political Events at the Olympic GamesTechnologyHumankind 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.FeaturedtechnologyHistory of Flight QuizEmpire State Building QuizVisual ArtsThese 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.FeaturedMesopotamian art and architectureWhat is adaptive clothing and how can it make life easier for people with a disability?Famous Paintings QuizWorld HistoryDoes 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.FeaturedSouth African WarWhy the discovery of Cleopatra’s tomb would rewrite historyThanksgiving Quiz
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