Poverty traps occur when poverty itself prevents people from acquiring the resources to escape it.

Chocolate was once used as currency by the ancient Aztecs.

Elvis Presley never wrote any of his own songs.

During his entire lifetime, Vincent Van Gogh is known to have sold only a single painting.

The sitar, fundamental to Indian classical music, has 21 strings — 7 played and 14 sympathetic.

The Tour de France covers approximately 3,500 km over 21 stages and is widely considered the hardest endurance race in sport.

The Parthenon has no straight lines — all horizontals slightly curve upward and columns lean slightly inward to appear straight to the human eye.

More people die each year from hunger than from all forms of violence combined.

Gagaku, Japan's imperial court music, is the world's oldest surviving orchestral tradition, dating to the 7th century.