Animals

One evening, while rushing for dinner after a long day at the lab, Constantin Fahlberg, a chemist at Johns Hopkins, forgot to wash his hands that had traces of benzoic sulfimide. This compound made his dinner taste sweet, and that's how he discovered the artificial sweetener Saccharin. June 3, 2019

Charles Darwin ate many of the animals he discovered. Seeking out "birds and beasts which were unknown to human palate." May 31, 2019

The blue whale is not only the largest animal currently on the planet, but the largest animal to have ever existed May 11, 2019

Over 150 wallabies are living wild in a forest in France, they escaped a zoo in the 70's and are adapting quite well May 5, 2019

Farmers in USA are hacking their John Deere tractors with Ukrainian firmware, which seems to be the only way to actually *own* the machines and their software, rather than rent them for lifetime from John Deere. May 4, 2019

Einstein failing a math exam is a myth. He failed the entrance exam to Zurich Polytechnic because he did poorly on botany, zoology and language sections. April 24, 2019

In ancient Hawaiʻi, men and women ate meals separately and women weren't allowed to eat certain foods. King Kamehameha II removed all religious laws that and performed a symbolic act by eating with the women in 1819. This is when the lūʻau parties were first created. April 16, 2019

Cats were kept on ships by Ancient Egyptians for pest control and it became a seafaring tradition. It is believed Domestic cats spread throughout much of the world with sailing ships during Age of Discovery(15th through 18th centuries). April 11, 2019

Researchers at Harvard and Columbia concluded that Sarcasm promotes Creative Thinking because both the expressers and recipients of sarcasm need to overcome the contradiction between the literal and actual meanings of the sarcastic expressions. April 8, 2019

In 1948, a man wore 30-pound, 3-toed lead shoes and stomped around a Florida beach in the night. The footprints lead people to believe that a 15-foot tall penguin was roaming their lands. He kept up the prank for 10 years, visiting various beaches. The hoax wasn't revealed until 40 years later. April 6, 2019

There is a group of wolves in British Columbia known as "sea wolves" and 90% of their food comes from the sea. They have distinct DNA that sets them apart from interior wolves and they're entirely dedicated to the sea, swimming several miles everyday in search of seafood. April 6, 2019

How Did Marie Curie Attend College? April 3, 2019

An Australian bird, called the rainbow lorikeet, routinely gets drunk from spring to summer. The small birds drink the fermented crimson flower nectar from the Weeping Boer-bean tree. When intoxicated these birds make loud drunken noises which many people find bothersome. March 31, 2019

Dalmatians are the official firehouse dog because, in the 1700's, they would run alongside horse-drawn carriages keeping pace, even at full sprint, and protect the horses from other dogs or animals that could spook them. March 31, 2019

An opossum broke into a Florida liquor store and got drunk. A liquor store employee found the animal next to a broken and empty bottle of bourbon.It appeared disoriented, was excessively salivating and was pale. The staff gave it fluids and cared for her as she sobered up. March 27, 2019

If you remove a box turtle from the wild and don't put them back in the location you found them they will most likely die looking for their home March 21, 2019

When a poacher's snare killed one of their own, two young gorillas teamed up to find and dismantle traps in their Rwandan forest home. They saw what they had to do, they did it then moved to dismantle next trap. March 20, 2019

Tigers cannot purr. To show happiness, tigers squint or close their eyes. This is because losing vision lowers defense, so tigers only purposefully do so when they feel comfortable and safe March 17, 2019

There was a Russian woman named Mariya Oktyabryskaya whose husband was killed by Nazi's in WW2, so she sold her house for a tank. With permission from the Soviet union, she went to kill Nazi's with her own tank, avenging her husband death. March 16, 2019

One of the reasons tipping spread in the U.S. was because restaurant owners refused to pay black Americans after the 15th amendment. March 16, 2019