AOL has officially ended its dial-up internet service, one of the web’s earliest access points, after more than 35 years. Launched in 1989 as America Online, the service used modems to convert computer data into audio signals that traveled over telephone lines, often accompanied by the now-iconic dial-up tone. By 1999, AOL had more than 18 million subscribers and a market capitalization of $222 billion, and was synonymous with logging on during the early days of the Internet era. Broadband began to eclipse dial-up in the mid-2000s, offering speeds thousands of times faster than AOL’s 56 kilobits per second. Yet as recently as 2023, about 163,000 Americans were still using the service.
True Spies
Operation Game Over
How do you take on a $260 billion criminal industry?
Andrea Crosta left a high-tech career and Homeland Security investigations to launch Earth League International, a hybrid NGO built to track the world’s fourth-largest criminal enterprise: environmental crime. At the time, up to 40,000 elephants a year were being slaughtered for ivory. Andrea wasn’t willing to stand by.
Using undercover agents in Africa and Asia, Crosta’s team mapped smuggling routes from Tanzania’s ports to Vietnam’s villages and Hong Kong’s carving houses, where illegal ivory was laundered as “legal” stock. One local investigator was almost caught when traffickers searched his bag for a hidden camera. Another recruit, code-named Omega, infiltrated ivory networks inside China.
The mission revealed how traffickers exploited corruption and bureaucracy to conceal their activities. Join Andrea Crosta in this week’s podcast selection, 'Operation Game Over', to go undercover in a global trade where greed leaves no one safe.
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How did a comic strip about a boy and his beagle become a global phenomenon?
Seventy-five years after its first appearance, Peanuts remains a beloved creation in pop culture. Debuting in 1950, Charles Schulz’s comic strip introduced Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and a cast of characters whose humor and quiet melancholy reflected Schulz’s own life. He drew nearly 18,000 strips over the course of half a century, expanding from seven newspapers to more than 2,600 worldwide and reaching roughly 355 million readers in 75 countries.
To mark the anniversary, the Charles M. Schulz Museum has launched a yearlong retrospective, publishers are releasing new collections, and even farmers are joining in with Peanuts-themed corn mazes across the country.
What secrets lie within America’s most restricted zones?
From desert bunkers to private islands, the United States is home to some of the most restricted places on Earth. Deep in New Mexico’s Jornada del Muerto, the Trinity site marks the world’s first atomic explosion. In Virginia, “The Farm” quietly trains CIA operatives in the arts of espionage, while Mount Weather stands ready as a hidden government command center. North Brother Island, once a quarantine zone in New York’s East River, is now a decaying sanctuary sealed off to all but the birds. Even Coca-Cola keeps a vault to guard its own brand of secrets under lock and key.
Step inside some of America’s most restricted sites in this SPYSCAPE article.
Give your party guests an unforgettable experience designed to engage, entertain, and inspire. Our dedicated staff will be on hand to help, and you'll even get your own special roped-off zone to celebrate.
Citizen scientists across the UK have discovered hundreds of new sites for rare fungi, expanding knowledge about some of the country’s most vibrant species. As part of Plantlife’s annual Waxcap Watch survey, 850 volunteers searched graveyards, farms, and gardens for the elusive waxcap mushrooms that thrive in old, undisturbed grasslands.
Findings already revealed 300 new sites of the pink waxcap (Porpolomopsis calyptriformis), a globally vulnerable species, and 18 new locations of the violet coral (Clavaria zollingeri). The discoveries mark a major expansion from previous records; just over 1,000 pink waxcap and 183 violet coral sites were previously known. The survey runs through December.
What does it take to be crowned the fattest bear in Alaska?
Chunk, a 500-kilogram brown bear from Katmai National Park, has clinched this year’s Fat Bear Week title after outpacing 11 rivals. The annual competition invites online voters to choose the bear that “best exemplifies fatness and success” as they bulk up for winter hibernation.
Viewers followed the action through live streams along Katmai’s Brooks River, where contestants were spotted fishing for salmon and sizing each other up. Chunk sustained an injury during mating season in June but still managed to gain weight for the showdown. By autumn, adult male bears can pack on a quarter of their body weight, often exceeding 540 kilograms. Chunk defeated the reigning heavyweight by more than 30,000 votes.
