HowStuffWorks Newsletter
Michelle Konstantinovsky is a San Francisco-based journalist who's written on everything from the Beagle Brigade and border walls to cricket farms and TV scheduling for HowStuffWorks. She earned her master's degree from U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and she's written on health and wellness topics for outlets including Cosmopolitan, O: The Oprah Magazine, Marie Claire, Teen Vogue and more. Michelle loves music, manatees and terrible teen movies from the early 2000s.
The prehistoric looking alligator gar is sometimes referred to as a "living fossil" and, while it may look threatening, it's harmless to anything larger than itself.
Every year, the city of Santa Fe collectively shouts "Burn him!" and sets fire to Zozobra, the enemy of all that is good.
It's been 101 years since the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. Why did it take so long for women to get the right to vote in the United States?
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How did the Greek goddess Lamia, once said to be a queen of Libya, become a child-murdering monster feared for her malevolent nature?
On July 20, 2021, Wally Funk will blast off. Her trip to space has been delayed since 1961, when the 'Mercury 13' Woman in Space Program was cancelled.
Manatees are so gentle and sweet they'll break your heart, but in 2021, there have been more manatee deaths than in any year in previously recorded history. Why are these gentle giants dying in such unprecedented numbers?
The lyre is a small U-shaped harp that has appeared all over the world, from the ancient Greco-Roman culture, to India, Africa and beyond. Do people still play this ancient stringed instrument?
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Nearly every living cell is made of DNA, and every chromosome contains exactly one molecule of DNA. But not all cells are made of the same number of chromosomes.
A fertilized egg travels through the fallopian tube, implants in the uterus and nine months later, a bouncing baby is born. But what happens if the egg implants and begins to grow somewhere other than the uterus?
Muir was personally involved in the creation of Yosemite, Sequoia, Mount Rainier, Petrified Forest and Grand Canyon national parks and earned the title of "Father of Our National Park System."
In our modern vernacular, the phrase "that's just semantics" has somehow become shorthand to insinuate the speaker has argued something trivial or unimportant. But what does it really mean?
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Ubiquitous in the 1970s, the papasan chair has a colorful history.
The dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore is the largest masonry dome ever built and still defines the city of Florence over 500 years later.
Primary colors are the blocks from which all other colors are built. But there's a lot more to know about them than the basic red, yellow and blue we learned about in kindergarten.
Cultures all over the world have treasured turquoise for its color and rarity for thousands of years — from Native American jewelry and Aztec and Mesoamerican art to King Tutankhamun's death mask.
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You've probably heard of the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, but do you know the difference?
These majestic trees send their roots down in pillars from branch to ground, can form a canopy over 80 feet high and can live to be 250 years old.
The practice of shamanism has mystical and spiritual connotations, but it's not tied to any specific religion or creed. So, what exactly is shamanism?
Bach was and is a towering figure in musical history, but what is it that makes him so great?
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Like many other Chinese-Americans, Anna May Wong endured racism during her lifetime. But she persisted and eventually broke down barriers to become the first Chinese-American film star.
She was said to be the most beautiful woman in Greece and the bearer of the "face that launched a thousand ships." But who was Helen of Troy, really?
Frédéric Chopin gave only 30 public performances of his stunning piano works during his lifetime, but his influence on the soul of classical music was immeasurable.
Lady Day, as her fans called her, had a captivating vocal style. But it's the way she poured her life into her songs that made her so memorable. Here are five songs you should know.
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An intrepid world traveler, skilled mountaineer and noted archaeologist, Gertrude Bell broke all the rules at a time when women lived under the oppressive thumb of Victorian-era England.
Mochi is a super-chewy traditional Japanese delicacy, made from mochigome, a short-grain glutinous rice.
