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The late 1940s and 1950s were a strange time in the United States. With the rise of the Soviet Union, the U.S. government and the public became increasingly paranoid. Senator Joseph McCarthy stoked fears of communists lurking in every neighborhood, and many citizens built in-home underground fallout shelters in hopes of surviving an impending nuclear war. On the military front, the U.S., desperate to stay ahead of the Soviet Union in the nuclear arms race — especially following Russia’s launch of Sputnik in October 1957 — devised some truly bizarre nuclear weapons tests and programs. How bizarre? Well, one such project aimed to detonate a nuclear bomb on the Moon, simply as a show of U.S. strength. Here are the details on that strange-but-true plan and other forgotten top-secret U.S. nuclear weapons projects from that era.

For many people, sending out a stack of Christmas or holiday cards to those on their mailing list is one of the most cherished traditions of the holiday season. The only thing better for some is receiving cards from family and longtime friends, complete with a recent family photo and a Christmas letter. So how did this tradition of exchanging cards get started in the first place? The practice began more recently than you might think. Here’s a look at how this tradition started, along with some other surprising facts about Christmas cards.

The names and numbers strike fear into the hearts of commuters and travelers across the United States. The Dan Ryan Expressway. I-95. The 405. The Connector. For all the benefits the U.S. Interstate Highway System has brought since its inception in 1956, it’s also created traffic congestion the system’s original designers could never have imagined. And it may get worse. Traffic officials warn the 47,182-mile system is showing signs of severe stress. Tens of billions of dollars are needed just to maintain existing interstates and bridges, and countless more billions are needed to widen and/or improve existing interstates to keep up with growing traffic. Following is a look at the 10 busiest interstates in America, based on federal and state highway statistics and other sources.

December is great for those who love the holiday season, but it’s a cruel joke for those who love warm weather, hiking, biking, swimming, etc. It gets dark before you leave work. You get home from work and it feels like the middle of the night. It’s an especially bad time for the millions of people who are depressed to some degree by seasonal affective disorder (SAD). So it’s time to get away for a vacation to somewhere warmer, somewhere fun. … and somewhere that won’t kill your travel budget for next summer. You’ve undoubtedly heard about a few obvious warm-weather travel destinations for winter, such as Miami, Phoenix, Key West and Orlando. Here are a few you might not have considered.

Where were you the first time you heard Michael Jackson’s Thriller? Or how about when you first heard Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit? Chances are, you didn’t realize you were listening to a song creating a revolution in music. It’s much simpler to look back at more than a half-century of pop music and identify the songs that changed everything. These songs either introduced a new musical style or production technique, and in many cases launched a number of subgenres, not to mention artists. Here’s a look at 10 songs that rocked the music industry.

Business analysts have long recognized the cyclical nature of the retail industry, but you don’t need an MBA to notice the seismic shifts happening in retail today. New industries and products are being born, as once-thriving businesses fade. In every case, changing behavior is behind these industry trends, and in most cases, new technology is driving these changes. Tablets, smart phones and similar devices have made life increasingly portable and, arguably, more efficient. That’s good for us, but not so good for many established businesses. Below are five business models that are going through tough times — and the future doesn’t hold much promise, either.

One of the most enduring themes in the modern science fiction/horror genre is the zombie apocalypse. While zombies can be found in ancient lore and voodoo legends, modern zombies, as personified in entertainment such as the movie Shaun of the Dead and AMC’s The Walking Dead, can be traced back to the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead. Zombies have been seen as a metaphor for communism, apathy, and runaway consumerism in modern culture; there’s just something unsettling about a virus or bacterium that can get inside our skulls and manipulate us for its own nefarious purposes. But as the saying goes, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, so here are five strange but true zombie-like afflictions from the animal kingdom, including several that strike humans.

Israel doesn’t have the resources to field a large military, given its population of only 8 million and a land area roughly the size of New Jersey. Yet Israel’s military is widely regarded as one of the finest in the world. According to GlobalFirepower.com, Israel has the 10th most powerful military in the world. The country created its Israel Defense Forces in May 1948 specifically with national defense in mind. Israel has a relatively small number of infantry, a small coastal naval force instead of a blue-water navy and no heavy bombers to project power over long distances. These limitations make it unsuited to take on much of a sustained offensive or expeditionary posture in the Middle East, let alone the globe. But factors such as training, technology, a tight partnership with the United States and high morale act as force multipliers that increase the IDF’s power far beyond its small numbers. Here’s a look at how this small country became an elite military power.

A stunning turn of events in November 2012 disappointed many Americans. No, we’re not talking about the presidential election, but the news that Hostess, longtime maker of the beloved Hostess Twinkie, would shut down after a bitter labor dispute. But for Americans with a junk food craving, fear not. In the land that gave the world McDonald’s, potato chips, hot dogs, and numerous brands of candy, there is plenty more junk food to go around. Here’s a quirky, by-the-numbers look detailing Americans’ prolific consumption of junk foods and other unhealthy foods. Before we begin, we’ll mention this Centers for Disease Control estimate: almost 36 percent of U.S. adults are obese … and that rate is on the rise.

When you think of Thanksgiving, chances are you envision turkey and Pilgrims. At that first Thanksgiving table in 1621, the Pilgrims had much for which to be thankful. They were celebrating a good harvest, but they were also thankful to be alive; of the 102 passengers who survived the treacherous voyage from Plymouth, England to Plymouth Harbor aboard the Mayflower the previous fall, more than half had succumbed to disease. As a result, of those 102 Mayflower passengers, only 29 are known to have descendants. The Mayflower Society, an organization dedicated to the preservation of Pilgrim history, estimates 35 million people are descended from those 29 brave souls. While that number represents some 11 percent of the current U.S. population, only about 25,000 people have been able to trace their lineage back to those brave voyagers and, in turn, qualify to join The Mayflower Society. However, a surprising number of famous people are counted among those descendants.