It was while he was examining urine, seeking the philosopher's stone (the magic elixir needed to change base metals into gold), that German chemist Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus.

Because of its use as a staple of U.S. Navy messes since the mid-nineteenth century, the humble white bean was christened "navy bean."

For many years, the fig has been used as a coffee substitute. The fruit contains a proteolytic enzyme that is considered an aid to digestion and is used by the pharmaceutical industry.

If the Earth's axis was not tilted, there would be 12-hour days everywhere, and no seasons. At the poles, the sun would always be on the horizon.

While, certainly, the vote on July 2 was the decisive act, July 4 is the date on the Declaration itself. Jefferson's stirring prose, as edited by the Congress, was first adopted by the vote of the 4th. It was also the first day Philadelphians heard the official news of independence from the Continental Congress, as opposed to rumors in the ...Read more

Created in 1888, De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd. is the most successful cartel arrangement in the annals of modern commerce. While other commodities, such as gold, silver, copper, rubber, and grains, fluctuated wildly in response to economic conditions, diamonds have continued, with few exceptions, to advance upward in price every year since ...Read more

It was reported that Napoleon carried chocolate with him on his military campaigns, and always ate it when he needed a boost of energy.

Descartes came up with the theory of coordinate geometry by looking at a fly walk across a tiled ceiling.

In every hour that one listens to the radio in the United States, one hears approximately 11,000 spoken words.

Preppy (also spelled preppie) is a chiefly American adjective or noun traditionally used to describe the characteristics of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs) who attend or attended major private, secondary university-preparatory schools commonly associated with New England and the northeastern United States. These characteristics include ...Read more

sPresident Calvin Coolidge, thirtieth U.S. president, liked cats and would often walk around the office with his yellow cat draped over his shoulders like a fur piece.

The town of Fort Atkinson, Iowa was the site of the only fort ever built by the U.S. government to protect one Indian tribe from another.

The smallest visible sunspots have an area of 500 million square miles, about fifty times the size of Africa. The largest sunspots have an area of about 7,000 million square miles.

Lord Byron had four pet geese that he brought everywhere with him, even to social gatherings. Byron, though considered one of the most dashing and attractive men of his time, was overweight and had a club foot.

In Greek mythology, the rainbow was considered to be a path made by a messenger (Iris) between Earth and Heaven. In Chinese mythology, the rainbow was a slit in the sky sealed by Goddess Nuwa using stones of five different colours. In Hindu mythology, the rainbow is called Indradhanush, meaning the bow of Indra, the God of lightning and thunder....Read more

Eddie Arcaro, one of the greatest jockeys in horse race history, rode 250 losers before he won his first race. Ultimately, Arcaro won 4,779 races -- including five Derby winners, six in the Preakness, and six in the Belmont Stakes, on such famous horses as Whirlaway, Citation, and Kelso.

A bowl of lime Jell-O, when hooked up to an EEG machine, exhibited movement which is virtually identical to the brain waves of a healthy adult man or woman.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, during an interview on NBC-TV's Meet the Press in June 1988, remarked, "There's nothing wrong with having a big ego. It's all right to have a Rolls Royce ego so long as you don't have a bicycle brain. If they coordinate, you can work it out pretty well."

Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.

In 1507, the first globular map was published showing the Western Hemisphere. It was printed at St. Die in the Vosges Mountains of Alsac, and it was the first map to use the term "America."