- Creatures
Ossicones are paired weapons on the heads of giraffes, male okapi, and some of their extinct relatives
- Food + Drink
Recipes for cream cheese can be found in U.S. cookbooks and newspapers beginning in the mid-18th century
- Technology
1 the Road is an experimental novel composed by artificial intelligence in the spirit of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road
- Human Body
Endometriosis, a condition in which tissue from the womb occurs in unusual locations, can cause bleeding into the chest during menstrual periods
- Creatures
males in two species of megabats have been observed to produce milk
- People
Mae Jemison, the first black woman in space, worked at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand and was a medical officer for the Peace Corps before becoming an astronaut
- Pop Culture
Japanese pop group Yaen, originally formed to perform a parody song on a television variety series, went on to produce three top-ten albums
- Creatures
black-sided flowerpeckers camouflage the outside of their nests with lichens
- History
the common-law wife of the ninth vice president of the United States was Julia Chinn, an enslaved woman
- Earth
The Congolian rainforest is the world’s second-largest tropical forest, spans six countries, and contains a quarter of the world’s remaining tropical forest
- Earth
The deepest known cave — measured from its highest entrance to its lowest point — is Veryovkina Cave in Abkhazia, Georgia, with a depth of 2,204m (7,231 ft)
- Creatures
Capybaras are semiaquatic mammals found throughout almost all countries of South America except Chile
- Earth
1888 eruption of Ritter Island reduced the 780-metre tall (2,560 ft) volcano to a height of just 140 metres (460 ft)
- History
Pliofilm, a pre-war food wrap, was used to waterproof firearms during the Normandy landings
- Earth
The Straits of Mackinac connect Lake Michigan to Lake Huron, which are hydrologically one
- Creatures
Rice’s whale is one of the most endangered cetaceans, with fewer than 50 adult individuals believed to remain
- History
A symbolic amount of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center after it was destroyed in the September 11 attacks was used in the construction of the USS New York
- Creatures
Boie’s frog resembles dead leaves on the floor of the forest
- Culture
Nora Ephron was the first writer to use the word “shit” in Esquire, in her 1972 essay “A Few Words About Breasts”
- space
spiral galaxy NGC 3393 hosts the nearest known pair of supermassive black holes
- Culture
Civil rights lawyer Deborah Archer is the first African-American to be president of the American Civil Liberties Union in its 101-year history
- Human Body
A sesamoid bone is a bone embedded within a tendon or a muscle, like your kneecap.
- History
Horse carcasses, and trash from three of New York City’s boroughs, were once processed at Barren Island, Brooklyn
- Language
The pilcrow, ¶, is a typographical character marking the start of a paragraph.
- History
Slovakia was the only country that paid for the deportation of its Jewish citizens during the Holocaust
- Culture
The Bangkok neighbourhood of Bang Rak is home to Buddhist temples, mosques, a Chinese shrine, and the city’s Catholic cathedral
- Human Body
An acidic pH (around 5.0) and low amounts of water make the epidermis hostile to many microorganic pathogens
- Politics
The English and French agreed to a draft treaty in 1354 to end what was to become the Hundred Years’ War, but the French reneged and the war continued for a further 101 years
- History
When New York City’s Harlem Ship Canal Bridge had to be replaced, it was floated down the river to become the University Heights Bridge
- Language
A Latin translation of Winnie-the-Pooh spent 20 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list
- Creatures
The Pallas’s cat fur is dense with up to 9,000 hairs per cm2
- Culture
A museum in Sendai, Japan was built around a 20,000-year-old campsite
- Politics
In 1981 Bernie Sanders won the election to become Mayor of Burlington, Vermont, by ten votes
- History
The infernal machine was a 25-barrel gun used in a failed assassination attempt on King Louis Philippe I in 1835
- History
New York City’s Grand Central Terminal was built at its current location because of a prohibition of steam trains in Lower Manhattan
- Food + Drink
Japanese rolled omelettes–Tamagoyaki–are made with rectangular pans
- Culture
Lake Kristi in North Carolina was built specifically to allow water skiing champion Kristi Overton Johnson to train
- Creatures
The Phinda button spider’s freshly laid egg sacs are bright purple
- Earth
Mexico has 160 species of oak trees.
- History
Within six hours of Alabama radio station WFPA being served an eviction notice, the tower had been dismantled
- Culture
BECAUSE is the longest-running and largest conference for the bisexual community in the United States
- Technology
The correction fluid Wite-Out was invented in 1966
- Earth
The Tibetan Plateau contains the world’s third-largest store of ice
- Culture
France was the first country to adopt the 35-hour workweek
- Pop Culture
The film Fritz the Cat was the first X-rated animated feature
- Creatures
The brains of spider monkeys are weigh twice as much as the brains of howler monkeys of equal size
- History
The Berry Islands of the Bahamas were settled in 1836 by a group of freed slaves
- space
The fastest-spinning neutron star known is PSR J1748-2446ad and rotates at a rate of 716 times a second
- Creatures
The toxin found in the skin of the hooded pitohui, a bird from New Guinea, is the same as that found in poison arrow frogs
- Earth
The geology of the Grand Canyon area includes more than 40 identified rock layers
- Creatures
The Scaly foot gastropod is the only known animal to incorporate iron into its skeleton
- Culture
The practice of headshrinking has only been documented in the northwestern region of the Amazon rainforest
- History
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned literacy tests as a voting qualification in the US
- Earth
Rogue waves are common near Cape Algulhas off the southern tip of Africa
- History
Typhoon Kelly caused 452 landslides in Japan in 1987
- Language
Bae is a slang term of endearment primarily used among youth in North America
- Earth
Glacial periods, commonly referred to as ice ages, are actually cold intervals within an ice age
- Technology
The pun riddle “What do you call a spicy missile? A hot shot!” was generated by computer as part of computational humor research
- Food + Drink
The skin of the Austrian white wine grape Zierfandler turns red just before it is ready to harvest
- Language
the cyberpunk science-fiction genre was named after the 1983 short story “Cyberpunk” by Bruce Bethke
- Creatures
All aruncus sawflies are females, and breed asexually
- Language
The word “jazz” was originally a California baseball slang term and was first applied to a style of music in Chicago around 1915
- History
Oil Creek State Park in Pennsylvania is the site of the world’s first commercial oil well
- History
snow in Florida has been reported at least 34 times, including as far south as Homestead
- History
JMWAVE was a secret CIA base on University of Miami campus grounds during the 1960s
- History
Polish writer Gustaw Morcinek survived three Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War
- Creatures
Catfish of the genus Dekeyseria can rapidly change their colouration to fit their mood or their surroundings
- History
NYC’s skyscraper at 33 Thomas St was designed to be self-sufficient and protected from nuclear fallout for two weeks after a nuclear blast
- History
John Pollack collected 165,321 wine corks to create a boat with the help of 100 volunteers
- Sports
Since the Chicago Marathon began in 1977 a total of six participants have died
- Culture
Two Boats School is the only school on Ascension Island and provides education to all resident children aged 3–16
- History
The last naturally occurring case of smallpox (Variola minor) was diagnosed on 26 October 1977
- Human Body
Ephelides describes a freckle which is flat and light brown or red and fades with reduction of sun exposure
- Science
Fungi that can adopt a single-celled growth habit are called yeasts
- Sports
In 1998 Eleanor Robinson set a world record of 13 days, 1 hour, 54 minutes for a woman to run 1,000 miles
- History
In 1976 civil rights activist Unita Blackwell became the first African-American woman to be elected mayor in the state of Mississippi
- Creatures
A tick finds a potential host by detecting its breath and body odors, or by sensing its vibrations or changes in temperature
- Earth
Mount Erebus is the second-highest volcano in Antarctica but the southernmost active volcano on Earth
- Sports
The Miami Dolphins have not won a playoff game since the 2000 season
- Pop Culture
David Bowie wrote the lyrics to his 1987 song “Time Will Crawl” after hearing of the Chernobyl disaster
- Creatures
The thick-billed ground pigeon eats seeds regurgitated by the magnificent bird-of-paradise
- Creatures
The sea snake barnacle is short-lived because it does not usually survive when its host sheds its skin
- History
The first recorded human cannonball act was an 1877 London performance by 14-year-old Rossa Matilda Richter
- Language
In the Sasak language, the verb “to eat” differs depending on the social status of the speaker and the addressee
- Creatures
Pangolins are believed to be the world’s most trafficked mammal
- History
The United States gave nuclear weapons to Britain as part of Project E
- Creatures
The blob sculpin is the first egg-laying, deep sea fish known to provide parental care
- Food + Drink
Banana pasta is lower in calories and fat, higher in protein, and less expensive to produce than whole wheat pasta
- History
Louise Nixon Sutton was the first African-American woman to be awarded a PhD in mathematics by New York University in 1962
- Science
The largest producers of chromium ore in 2013 were South Africa (48%), Kazakhstan (13%), Turkey (11%), India (10%)
- Food + Drink
The word “pizza” (Italian: [ˈpittsa]) first appeared in the town of Gaeta, then still part of the Byzantine Empire, in 997 AD
- Science
The speed of sound is around 767 miles per hour (1,230 kilometers per hour)
- Pop Culture
Inkubo (Incubus) is a 1966 black-and-white American horror film spoken entirely in the constructed language Esperanto
- Human Body
It takes the average body around 12 hours to completely digest eaten food
- Earth
Tulips are perennials (a plant that lives for more than 2 years), they bloom in spring, usually for only 3-7 days
- Culture
The mango is the national fruit of India, Pakistan and the Philippines. It is also the national tree of Bangladesh.
- space
The planet Mercury has an orbital period around the Sun of 88 days, the shortest of all the planets in our Solar System
- Earth
Hyperion is the name of a redwood tree in California that was measured at 115.61 meters (379.3 feet) tall
- Creatures
In order for a new wolf cub to urinate, its mother has to massage its belly with her warm tongue
- History
The Mercedes Ladies were the first all-female rap group
- Earth
The Congo River in Africa is the world’s second largest river and the world’s deepest river (220 m)
- Creatures
A group of toads is often called a knot
- Technology
The trumpet has only three valves but can produce 45 distinct notes
- Earth
The Amazon canopy is so dense in some parts that the ground is in permanent darkness.
- Human Body
Muscle makes up around half of the total human body weight
- Food + Drink
Quebec generates two-thirds of the globe’s syrup
- Food + Drink
Casu marzu is a type of cheese that contains live maggots, intentionally added to enhance the fermentation process
- Creatures
Unlike many other songbirds in North America, both the male and female cardinals can sing
- space
The Sun orbits around the center of our Milky Way galaxy once every 240 million years
- Human Body
For every pound of fat gained, you add seven miles of new blood vessels
- History
The very first St. Patrick’s Day parade was not in Ireland. It was in Boston in 1737.
- Human Body
Your salivary glands produce two to six cups (0.5-1.5 liters) of saliva a day
- Food + Drink
The laetiporus sulphureus mushroom is also known as “chicken of the woods”
- Pop Culture
The clothes Ice Cube wears in the first scene of Friday are the same he wears in the final scene of Boyz n the Hood
- Creatures
A lion’s roar is the loudest of any big cat and can be heard up to 5 miles (8 km) away
- space
A moonquake is the lunar equivalent of an earthquake
- Culture
The Japanese name for Japan is “Nihon” or “Nippon” which means “sun origin
- Human Body
Kids grow a bit faster in the spring than during other times of the year
- History
The early Egyptians built the Great Sphinx so that it points directly toward the rising sun on the spring equinox
- History
The word ‘cancer’ comes from the Latin for ‘crab’ – just like the zodiac sign
- Creatures
Some type of moths have no mouths and don’t eat once emerging from their cocoons
- History
Interracial marriage in the United Sates was banned in 1664 and not overturned until 1967
- Science
Uranium is 40 times more naturally abundant than silver
- Creatures
Moles can dig up to 18 feet in one hour
- Sports
The Indianapolis 500 is a car race on a 2.5 mile oval circuit and consists of 200 laps
- Creatures
Manatees, like their elephant relatives, continuously replace their teeth throughout their lives
- Culture
The reason rapper Flavor Flav wears a clock from his neck is because time is “the most important element in our life”
- Science
Water expands by 9% when it freezes
- Creatures
A pygmy hedgehog’s heart beats between 180-280 times per minute
- History
The United States had open borders from its inception until 1882
- space
Surrounding Jupiter’s core is an ocean of liquid hydrogen about 1,000 kilometers deep
- Human Body
On average, we lose 50 to 100 strands of hair a day from the scalp
- Creatures
The Norwegian Lundehund is the only dog that has six toes on each foot
- Creatures
Cats have over 20 muscles that control their ears
- Pop Culture
When 2pac was in jail Jim Carrey wrote letters to him to help him laugh and smile
- Science
Light from our Sun takes 5.5 hours to reach Pluto
- Earth
It can take more than 500 years to form two centimeters of topsoil
- Pop Culture
Before Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. was known to the world as Lil Wayne, his rap moniker was Shrimp Daddy
- Sports
The first NFL game played outside of the United States was August 16th, 1976 in Tokyo, Japan
- Culture
Since 1996, the US presidential candidate whose likeness sells the most Halloween masks has won the election
- Language
The letters in the word “listen” can be rearranged to spell “silent”
- Culture
It estimated that the total number of ants alive in the world at any one time is between one and ten quadrillion
- Human Body
Unconsciousness will occur about 8-10 seconds after loss of blood supply to the brain
- Food + Drink
Espresso translates from Italian to mean “pressed out”
- Creatures
A gentoo penguin can swim at a speed of 36 kilometers per hour (22 mph)
- space
It takes Neptune 164.8 Earth years to orbit the Sun
- Creatures
One single teaspoon of soil contains 1 billion bacteria & 120,000 fungi & 25,000 algae
- Creatures
Mice have facial expressions which communicate their mood to others
- Earth
Rings in trees are narrower in years of low rainfall
- History
Humans have left 96 bags of urine, feces, and vomit on the moon
- Human Body
A single strand of human hair can support up to 100 grams in weight
- History
Moss was used as a bandage during the First World War to prevent blood loss
- Earth
Requirements for a blizzard: at least 3 hours with sustained wind speed of 35 mph and visibility less than 1/4 mile
- Creatures
The Bee Hummingbird is the smallest living bird in the world, with a length of just 5 cm (2 in)
- Food + Drink
Pineberry is a strawberry cultivar with a pineapple-like flavor, white coloring, and red seeds
- Human Body
Cartilage continues to grow until the day you die, and your earlobes elongate from gravity
- Creatures
The stenocara gracilipes beetle survives by collecting water on its bumpy back surface from early morning fogs
- Creatures
Pseudoscorpions are tiny arachnids with a flat, pear-shaped body resembling a scorpion, only 2-8 millimeters in length
- Creatures
Hedgehogs have about 5000 spikes, each lasting about a year before falling out and regrowing
- space
On a clear night with no moon and little light pollution, a person with very good eyesight may be able to see 2000-2500 stars
- Culture
The fresh heart of a puffin is eaten raw as a traditional Icelandic delicacy
- Science
Glass is 100% recyclable and can be recycled endlessly without loss in quality or purity
- space
The highest mountain in the known universe is Olympus Mons, a giant volcano on Mars, over 15 miles tall
- Food + Drink
The McRib sandwich contains about 70 ingredients
- space
Jupiter’s moon Ganymede has its own magnetic field and is larger than the planet Mercury
- Creatures
The word orangutan is derived from the Malay and Indonesian words orang (person) and hutan (forest) – person of the forest
- Science
In a 100-year period, a water molecule spends 98 years in the ocean, 20 months as ice, about 2 weeks in lakes and rivers, and less than a week in the atmosphere.
- Creatures
A cockroach can live for weeks without a head
- Earth
Antarctica’s highest peak is Mount Vinson, with an elevation of 16,066 feet
- History
In 1893 New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world in which all women had the right to vote
- Language
A group of prisoners is called a pity
- space
Light travels at the speed of 670,616,629 miles per hour.
- Creatures
The nautilus is a “living fossil” having survived almost unchanged since the Triassic period (200-250 million years ago).
- Food + Drink
1 pound of chocolate requires 3,170 gallons of water
- Science
Tyrian purple was a dye made from murex sea snail mucus and gets brighter in sunlight (instead of fading).
- Science
1 gallon of water weights about 8 pounds.
- Creatures
During chillier seasons, worker honey bees can live for a few months. But in the summer, they rarely last longer than six weeks.
- Science
A calorie is a measurement of the amount of energy needed to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius
- Creatures
The water opossum is also the only living marsupial in which both sexes have a pouch.
- Human Body
The women’s one mile world record holder is Svetlana Masterkova (Russia) with a time of 4 minutes 12.56 seconds.
- History
The most commonly used letter in the English language is “e”
- Creatures
The electric eel’s vital organs take up only 20 percent of its body. The rest of its body contains the organs that allow it to produce a 600 volt shock.
- Creatures
Boops boops is a type of fish (also called the bogue)
- Creatures
A ‘paddywhack’ is a ligament of sheep and cattle – often dried to make a dog treat.
- Creatures
A mosquito can beat its wings up to 600 times per second
- Science
Snowflakes are not unique, they come in only 35 different shapes
- Food + Drink
Potatoes and onions should not be stored together. Onions give off gas that will accelerate sprouting.
- Pop Culture
Genuphobia is the fear of knees and/or kneeling.
- Science
Placebo pill color can be a factor in their effectiveness; “hot-colored” pills work better as stimulants and “cool-colored” pills work better as depressants.
- Human Body
Compression (rubbing) of the eyeballs can slightly lower your heart rate, which is called the oculocardiac reflex
- Pop Culture
Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda after the The Legend of Zelda video games
- Creatures
A type of Cyclosa spider creates decoy spiders in its webto confuse or distract predators
- Science
A bolt of lightning can reach 53,430 degrees Fahrenheit, which is five times hotter than our sun
- Human Body
Identical twins do not have matching fingerprints
- Human Body
The average person has about 10,000 taste buds and they’re replaced every 2 weeks or so
- Science
The average cloud droplet is .02mm in diameter, about five times thinner than of a sheet of paper.
- Creatures
The giant armadillo can have up to 100 teeth, the most of any land mammal
- History
Alaska used to have four time zones. In 1983 it was changed to two
- Human Body
Caffeine causes an initial contracting of artery walls but then relaxes them to allow for greater blood flow
- Earth
The Hamza River in Brazil is 4,000 meters underground and 6,000 kilometers long, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean deep under the surface.
- History
After having a part of his frontal lobe removed, Paul Kern didn’t sleep for 40 years
- Pop Culture
The Beatles song “A day in the Life” has an extra high-pitched whistle, audible only to dogs
- Creatures
Tardigrades (“water bears”) can survive the vacuum of outer space and go without food or water for more than 10 years
- Food + Drink
It is estimated that three liters of water is used to package one liter of bottled water
- Science
In one day, one large tree can lift up to 100 gallons of water out of the ground and discharge it into the air
- Creatures
Dolphins let only one half of their brain sleep at a time. If both halves were to sleep at the same time they would forget to breathe, then suffocate and die.
- Science
“Hibernation” involves sleeping through winter, while sleeping through summer is “estivation”
- Creatures
Earthworms are hermaphrodites; each earthworm contains both male and female sex organs, however they still require a mate to reproduce
- Food + Drink
1 bottle of Goldschläger has approximately 13mg of gold leaf, currently worth about $0.66.
- Pop Culture
In the mid-1960s, Slumber Party Barbie® came with a book called “How to Lose Weight.” Tip: “Don’t eat.”
- History
The 50-star American flag was designed by a high school student for a class project. His teacher gave him a B–.