460 facts
The city of Istanbul is located in both Europe and Asia. A narrow body of water called the Bosphorus Strait separates the two sides. People can travel between the two continents in...
This role was one of the most powerful positions in the royal court. The Groom spent hours alone with the King and became his most trusted advisor. He controlled who could talk to...
Changes in Earth's movement brought heavy rain to North Africa. This turned the dry sand into a grassy area where hippos and crocodiles lived. Ancient people even painted pictures...
George Washington chose the location and design but finished his term before the house was ready. When Adams moved in during the year 1800, only six rooms were finished. His wife,...
Low-frequency rumbles travel through the earth faster than through the air. Special sensors in elephant feet pick up these movements. This helps them find other herds or sense dist...
Sharks appeared in the fossil record long before the first plants grew into trees on land. Their body design is so successful that they survived four of the Earth's five major mass...
People sat together on long stone benches with no privacy. After using the sponge, they rinsed it in a bucket of salt water or vinegar and left it for the next person to use.
Engineers found the insect trapped in a mechanical part of the Harvard Mark II computer. They taped the moth into their logbook and called it the first actual case of a bug being f...
The brain reacts to the habit of taking medicine and the act of being cared for by a doctor. This routine triggers the body to release its own natural painkillers. Even if you know...
Frank Epperson left a cup of soda powder and water on his porch with a stirring stick inside. The temperature dropped below freezing, and the liquid turned into a solid block of ic...
Special hairs on a fly's legs detect chemicals the moment they touch a surface. This helps the fly find energy-rich food instantly without needing to use its mouth first.
The highest mountains and deepest oceans on Earth are tiny compared to the size of the whole planet. If you held a miniature Earth in your hand, you would not be able to feel the b...
The scan happened in 1974 at a supermarket in Ohio. Before this, cashiers had to type every price into a register by hand. Barcodes allowed computers to identify products and price...
Soviet scientists found Laika on the streets of Moscow and chose her because she was small and calm. Her mission proved that living things could survive the launch and weightlessne...
Their beaks are built to work like a strainer only when they are inverted. They pump water through their mouths to trap tiny plants and animals while letting the water flow back ou...
When a baker spins dough, the movement pulls the edges outward from the center. This creates a flat, even shape that cooks at the same speed in a hot oven.
Cheese is made by separating milk into solid lumps called curds and a liquid called whey. Makers use special enzymes or acids to make the milk proteins clump together into these so...
It covers about 20 square feet on an average adult. This organ protects your insides from germs and helps control your body temperature. You grow a completely new outer layer of sk...
These gas bubbles get trapped inside a stretchy protein called gluten. As the yeast produces more gas, the gluten stretches like a balloon and makes the dough grow larger. This pro...
An adult human has 206 bones in total. Each foot contains 26 bones, meaning your two feet hold 52 bones. This high number of bones helps your feet stay flexible and strong.
The old queen and thousands of worker bees leave their hive to find a new home. They are usually calm during this time because they have no honey or babies to protect.
This happens because the Moon takes about 27 days to spin once on its axis and about 27 days to travel once around Earth. Because these speeds match, the same side always faces our...
Gravity pulls gas and dust together until the center becomes hot enough to start nuclear fusion. This process turns hydrogen into helium and releases the light and heat we see from...
The other 13% contains all the nutrients like fat, protein, and sugar. This high water content keeps the milk liquid so it is easy for calves to drink and digest.
It covers about 63 million square miles. This is enough space to fit every continent on the planet inside it with room left over.
Orville Wright flew the plane while his brother Wilbur ran beside it. This short trip at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, proved that a machine could fly under its own power.
The muscles that move your fingers are located in your forearm and palm. These muscles pull on long strings called tendons that connect to your finger bones.
One nostril does most of the work while the other one rests. This switch happens every few hours and is controlled by your nervous system.
Early cars shared the road with horse-drawn carriages and pedestrians. This policy helped the driver pay for damages if they caused an accident. It was based on older insurance rul...
A giant underwater mountain range called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is constantly making new ocean floor. As the ground pulls apart, melted rock rises up and cools to create new land b...
Joseph Nicéphore Niépce took this photo in 1826 using a metal plate coated with special chemicals. Because the camera shutter stayed open for so long, the sun moved across the sky...
These two organs clean your entire blood supply dozens of times daily. They remove waste and extra water while keeping the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy.
Jupiter is the largest planet, but it rotates at about 28,000 miles per hour. This fast movement makes the planet's middle bulge out, giving it a slightly flattened shape.
The brain controls breathing automatically so the body gets oxygen without needing to think about it. This process brings in fresh air and removes carbon dioxide waste.
The government chose a single time called Beijing Time to help the country feel more united. This means people in the far west see the sun rise as late as 10:00 AM during the winte...
A full planet must be the dominant object in its orbit. Pluto shares its path around the Sun with many other icy objects in a region called the Kuiper Belt.
Gravity pulls these two massive star systems together at 250,000 miles per hour. They will eventually merge into one giant galaxy, but the stars are so far apart they will likely p...
Grapes lose weight when stems, skins, and seeds are removed. It takes a large amount of fruit to produce a small amount of juice for fermentation.
These 46 chromosomes come in 23 pairs. You get one half of each pair from your mother and the other half from your father.
Orville Wright flew the Wright Flyer for only 12 seconds and traveled 120 feet. This was the first time a person flew a powered machine that they could actually steer. They used a...
The river releases about 209,000 cubic meters of freshwater into the ocean every second. Its massive basin covers 40% of South America and collects huge amounts of tropical rainfal...
Saturn's strong gravity pulls in passing space rocks and keeps them trapped in orbit. These moons vary in size from the giant Titan to small rocks the size of a sports stadium.
Most body parts grow a lot as you get older, but eyes stay almost the same size. This is why babies often look like they have very large eyes compared to their faces.
The island sits on the North American tectonic plate near Canada. However, it is a territory of Denmark, which is located thousands of miles away in Europe. This happened because V...
Light is the fastest thing in the universe, but stars are incredibly far away. It takes a long time for their light to travel across space to Earth. When you see a star, you are se...
This race was about 192 meters long and was called the stade. The games were held every four years in Greece to honor the god Zeus.
Older buildings used thick stone walls to hold up their weight. This building used a metal skeleton to carry the load, which allowed it to be much taller and lighter.
Water helps brain cells send signals and stay healthy. It also carries nutrients to the brain and flushes out waste.
The fourth smokestack was a fake added to make the ship look more powerful and balanced. It was used for kitchen ventilation and storage instead of carrying smoke from the engines.
About 4% of all cheese made is shoplifted. It is expensive, small enough to hide, and stays fresh for a long time, which makes it easy to resell.