John is a freelance writer based in the suburbs of Atlanta. A longtime sports scribe with too much time covering college sports, the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball, he now writes on science, health, history, current events and whatever other weird non-sports stories that he and the editors at HowStuffWorks dream up. He has a journalism degree from Arizona State, a wife, a son, a dog that sheds too much and a bad case of eyestrain.
Recent Contributions
Want to see Super Bowl LVII in person? It won't be easy. But we'll show you how to get into the best position to catch a Hail Mary ticket or two.
Humans are a diverse lot. We can look distinctively different. But is that because of race or ethnicity?
By John Donovan
The Anti-Defamation League identified more than 2,700 antisemitic incidents throughout the U.S. in 2021 — the most on record since the ADL began tracking incidents in 1979. Where is all this hate coming from?
By Sarah Gleim & John Donovan
Advertisement
The Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 just subpoenaed former president Donald Trump. What happens if he ignores the subpoena?
By John Donovan
Alex Jones must pay families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting nearly $1 billion in damages for defamation. What are the legal standards of defamation and how do you meet it in a court of law?
By John Donovan
Emmett Till's vicious kidnapping and lynching still stands out among the thousands of lynchings in the U.S. after the Civil War. What was it about his murder that made the world stand up and take notice?
By John Donovan
Jim Thorpe overcame almost insurmountable obstacles, from a rough childhood to racial discrimination, to become one of the world's greatest athletes of all time.
By John Donovan
Advertisement
College sports just wouldn't be the same without those silly costumed humans (and live animals) parading around the sidelines pumping up the fans.
By John Donovan
Though it's been around for more than 150 years, Juneteenth was still a mystery to many. But now, it's become the newest federal holiday in the U.S.A.
By John Donovan
The soldiers who stand vigil over the Tomb are the Sentinels of The Old Guard, a hand-picked group dedicated to honoring the memory of those who gave their lives for their country.
By John Donovan
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was just named world's busiest airport for the 23rd time. The Atlanta hub held the title for 22 consecutive years before it was knocked out of the No. 1 spot in 2020.
By John Donovan
Advertisement
A pair of physicians determined that the great British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton died from a hole in his heart.
By John Donovan
The MOAB is the largest nonnuclear bomb ever used by the U.S. So what makes it OK to drop this bomb and not a nuclear warhead? We dive in to find out.
By John Donovan
Super Bowl Sunday is a football fan's nirvana: the game of games, in which the season's champion is decided once and for all. Read all about the biggest football game of the year.
By Kevin Bonsor & John Donovan
Arne Johnson stabbed a man to death in 1981. His intended legal defense? Guilty by reason of demonic possession. Did it work?
By John Donovan
Advertisement
Magda Herzberger was just a teen when she and her family were sent to Auschwitz. It was the last time she saw her father. Now 77 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, we tell her story of survival and why we must never forget.
By John Donovan
He's the most decorated American Winter Olympics athlete, with eight Olympic medals. But after he retired from skating at age 28, he had to make a hard pivot and reinvent who he was.
By John Donovan
More than 50 years after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a lone bullet while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, questions still remain. Was James Earl Ray the sole gunman, or was it a conspiracy?
By John Donovan
The NCAA scrapped the Bowl Championship Series in favor of a playoff system. But does it truly crown a national champion in college football?
By John Donovan
Advertisement
The North Shore is known as the "Seven Mile Miracle" because of the epic surfing within a 7-mile stretch. It's also where the Triple Crown of Surfing competition runs from Dec. 21 until Jan. 21, 2022.
By John Donovan
Automaker Rivian has the potential to disrupt the EV market like no company has since Tesla. But can it dethrone Elon Musk's car company as the dominant maker of EVs?
By John Donovan
Camden County in South Georgia was once considered as a backup site for launching the Apollo missions. Now this quiet county could be the next big launching site to space.
By John Donovan
Dog owners know: Their four-legged friends are stuck to them like Velcro. But why? Are they afraid of being left behind, or is it something else?
By John Donovan
Advertisement
Indigenous women have been going missing and been murdered along an infamous stretch of highway in British Columbia since the 1960s. But not much is being done to find them — or who killed them.
By John Donovan
Odysseus is the hero of the epic Greek poem "The Odyssey." But by today's standards, he might not be considered a hero at all.
By John Donovan