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.
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This infamous gun battle in Tombstone, Arizona lasted just 30 seconds. But its legend, and America's obsession, has endured for more than a decade.
The African American servicemen known as "Buffalo Soldiers" are the subjects of both history and legend, but what is truth and what is lore?
The late Aleister Crowley liked being known as the "wickedest man in the world." But today he's most remembered as a brash cultist who was the father of a strange religion.
There's a huge police presence in the U.S. school systems today. But has that presence allowed educators to push off their management of school misconduct to the cops?
You probably recognize these right off the bat: Andrew, Katrina, Sandy and now Dorian. But when and why did we start giving hurricanes names?
A group of 21 U.S. kids are taking the government to court for failing to address the climate crisis. Can they possibly win?
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was just named world's busiest airport for the 21st time. So how has a city in the Deep South reigned king for decades?
Disney+ launches in early November and will give Netflix and other streaming companies a run for their money.
Many of Sigmund Freud's well-known theories have been discredited by modern psychiatry. Does that include the Oedipus complex?
Since "The Secret Annex" was first published in 1947, scholars have dissected every page and entry of Anne Frank's diary to put Anne and her work into a proper perspective. In doing so, a new image of Anne slowly has emerged.
Starlings are short and thick, with dark feathers and long, pointy bills. Collectively, however, they transform into something else entirely.
George P. Burdell has registered for classes, signed petitions and even lettered in football and basketball, but on the campus of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, he is the man who never was.
Is graphically recounting the horrors of the Holocaust the only way to honor the dead and educate the living about this tragedy? One sociologist doesn't think so.
Hypertrophy is just a super-science-y way to say you're building muscle. And there are lots of ways to do it.
There's been a steady uptick in Lyme disease across the United States since 1997, but the news isn't all bad.
Humans are a diverse lot. We can look distinctively different. But is that because of race or ethnicity?
Magda Herzberger is in her 90s and was silent for years about the horrors she witnessed. But today she speaks freely of the Holocaust, and with a sense of urgency.
Taekwondo features dramatic, aerial, jumping, spinning kicks, but it's also about building character.
The story of the "Portuguese Oskar Schindler" who lost everything trying to save thousands during the Holocaust is finally being told by descendants of those he saved.
Coroners and medical examiners both help investigate unusual or violent deaths. The two jobs are different, but deeply connected.
