424 facts
A complete sentence needs a person or thing doing an action. In this sentence, "I" is the person and "am" is the action. Other short sentences like "Go!" are shorter but do not nam...
These devices used gravity to pull water through a small hole at a constant speed. People tracked the time by looking at marks on the container that showed how much water had moved...
It takes Pluto 248 Earth years to complete one full trip. Because it is so far away, it moves slowly and has a very long path to travel.
Before this, people could only leave messages for others using the exact same computer. Tomlinson used a network called ARPANET to move digital messages from one machine to another...
Most sharks hunt alone, but they sometimes gather in large groups to eat, mate, or migrate. These groups can include hundreds or even thousands of sharks in one area.
One hundred grams of strawberries have about 58.8 milligrams of Vitamin C. The same weight of oranges has about 53.2 milligrams. Eating eight large strawberries gives an adult thei...
Each hair on your head grows for a few years and then takes a break. When a hair follicle rests, the old hair falls out so a new one can grow in its place. Since you have about 100...
Before refrigerators existed, people had to harvest ice from frozen lakes in the winter. They stored it in deep underground pits to keep it from melting until summer. This process...
A large group of bananas growing on a plant is called a bunch. One bunch can hold up to 20 hands, which means it can have 200 individual fingers.
He received the nickname Chuck while serving in the United States Air Force. He kept the name when he started his career as a martial artist and actor.
He is known for martial arts and acting but is also a successful author. He has written his life story, novels, and books about his personal beliefs.
Italian laws prevented the crew from filming a long fight scene inside the real Colosseum. The filmmakers took photos of the landmark and built a matching set at a studio in Hong K...
The program is called Kickstart Kids. It uses martial arts to teach students discipline and respect during their regular school day. This helps them stay away from trouble and focu...
He was stationed at Osan Air Base in 1958 and found the physical training difficult. He began practicing a local style called Tang Soo Do to get stronger and more disciplined.
Elsie Eiler is the only resident and holds every government job. She is the mayor, clerk, and treasurer. She even votes for herself in every election.
Antonio Stradivari built this violin in 1721. It is valuable because it is in nearly perfect condition. Most old violins show wear from centuries of use, but this one was kept by c...
Israel's first president died and the government wanted a famous leader to take his place. Einstein turned down the offer because he believed he was not good at working with people...
The mountain sits on two giant pieces of the Earth's crust called tectonic plates. These plates are slowly crashing into each other and pushing the land upward.
The pizza traveled on a Russian rocket to reach the astronauts. It was a marketing project that took a year of planning with space scientists.
The 180th meridian is the line that separates the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Because some of Alaska's islands cross this line, they are technically located in the Eastern Hem...
This change helps the oyster colony survive. Larger oysters become female because they have more energy to produce millions of eggs.
In 1888, Bertha Benz stopped at this pharmacy to buy fuel during the first long-distance car trip. At the time, gasoline was sold in small bottles as a cleaning fluid.
The name Sanitas comes from the Latin word for health. Doctors created the cereal as a plain food for patients at a health spa in Michigan.
Trainers gave Thomas Hicks small doses of strychnine and alcohol because they thought it would boost his energy. This mixture is actually toxic and nearly killed him by the time he...
Dolphins must choose when to breathe, so they cannot fall completely asleep. One half of the brain stays awake to control breathing and watch for sharks while the other half rests.
This happens because of inertia. Objects naturally resist changes to their movement. On Earth, things slow down because invisible forces like air and friction push against them.
Venus has a thick atmosphere made of carbon dioxide that traps heat. This gas acts like a heavy blanket that prevents heat from escaping into space. Even though Mercury is closer t...
This diet was high in carbohydrates. It helped fighters grow a thick layer of body fat to protect their organs from shallow sword cuts.
Two mountain ranges block all wet air from reaching the desert. This creates a double rain shadow that keeps the ground completely dry.
Before this, people only consumed chocolate as a liquid drink. Fry mixed melted cocoa butter with cocoa powder and sugar to create a paste that could be molded into a solid shape.
He rode in an electric car through Hartford, Connecticut, on August 22, 1902. This event helped people see cars as a real way to travel instead of just a dangerous hobby.
Each berry contains four small air chambers. These chambers make the fruit light enough to float and springy enough to bounce when they hit a hard surface.
He gave a two-hour speech in the cold without a coat or hat. He became ill shortly after and was the first president to die while in office.
This state is called the triple point. It happens when the conditions are exactly right for water to be a solid, a liquid, and a gas all at once.
A wombat's pouch opens toward its rear instead of its head. This prevents the pouch from filling with soil as the mother tunnels underground.
Gravity on Earth constantly pushes down on the human spine. In space, this pressure disappears, allowing the discs between the backbones to expand and stretch out.
The other seven planets are named after ancient deities like Mars, the god of war. Earth's name comes from Old English and Germanic words that mean 'the ground.'
The planet's soil contains a lot of iron. When this iron mixed with small amounts of water and oxygen long ago, it turned into iron oxide. This is the same chemical process that ma...
It is made of billions of tiny animals called coral polyps. These animals build hard skeletons that join together to form a massive underwater system over 2,300 kilometers long.
Ancient Sumerians wrote the 'Hymn to Ninkasi' to honor their goddess of brewing. The poem contains specific steps for turning barley bread into an alcoholic drink. Modern brewers h...
A central brain handles big decisions and memory. Each arm has its own mini-brain that lets it move, touch, and taste things on its own. This allows the arms to hunt or explore wit...
Before this, the Oscars were private dinner parties. NBC paid $100,000 to broadcast the 25th ceremony so fans could see movie stars live for the first time.
Margaret Herrick worked for the Academy and saw the gold trophy in 1931. She said the figure reminded her of her Uncle Oscar. People in Hollywood liked the name and started using i...
She won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in the 1973 movie Paper Moon. She competed against adult actors instead of receiving a special award just for children.
He broke a world record that had lasted for 19 years. To earn this title, he had to beat some of the best players in the world and reach a high skill score.
This puzzle is called the Knight's Tour. There are trillions of different paths a knight can take to complete this challenge on a standard 64-square board.
In chess, the King is never captured or killed. The game ends immediately when the King has no way to escape an attack. This makes him helpless rather than dead.
Garry Kasparov lost the six-game match against the IBM supercomputer. This was the first time a machine beat a reigning world champion under tournament conditions.
This bird weighs between 1.6 and 1.9 grams, while a U.S. penny weighs 2.5 grams. It is the smallest bird in the world and lives only in Cuba.
About 90% of Libya lies within the Sahara Desert, characterized by vast stretches of sand and rock. This extreme aridity limits habitation mostly to coastal areas near the Mediterr...