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A crowd of workers gathered at a May Day event in New York City, early 20th century.

May Day isn’t just for Maypole-dancing anymore. Here's how May 1 evolved from a pagan holiday to a communist day of remembrance.

Michele Debczak










Grab your magnifying glass.

We give you an obscure word with four definitions—one correct, three made up. Can you identify the correct one?

Ellen Gutoskey


There have been 23 Pope Johns, but only one Pope Francis.

For centuries, men assuming the top job in the Roman Catholic Church kept their birth names. That changed with Pope John II.

Paul Park


A coronal mass ejection from the sun

Get ready to feel small: The sun is 99.8 percent of the mass of the solar system. Here are more colossal facts about our star.

David W Brown


An aerial view of a sinkhole in Wales that appeared in December 2024.

Sinkholes have gulped down suburban homes, Corvettes, the White House lawn, a sizable chunk of Louisiana, and even people. How does the ground just open up like that?

Roma Panganiban