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Did you know... Peanuts can be used to make dynamite.
Obviously, peanuts are a tasty snack—as long as you're not allergic to them, that is. But did you know they can also be used to make dynamite? When extracted, peanut oil can be turned into glycerol, which can then make nitroglycerine, an unstable explosive substance used in dynamite. In a safer state, glycerol is also used for soaps, creams, and various food products.
Did you know... The largest volcano in the solar system is three times taller than Mount Everest.
Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on earth, reaching 5.5 miles into the sky. However, you'd need to stack three Everests on top of each other in order to create something as massive as Mars' Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system. The enormous volcano is 16 miles tall and stretches 374 miles wide—approximately the same size as the state of Arizona, according to NASA.
Nice to see you too.
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HYPE REMINDER!
The word ‘hundred' derives from ‘hundra' in Old Norse, which originally meant 120.
Did you know... An 11-year-old is responsible for naming Pluto.
In 1930, the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) was struggling to come up with a name for a newly-discovered planet. They considered Minerva, Zeus, Atlas, and Persephone—but it was 11-year-old Venetia Burney Phair who suggested Pluto, inspired by the god of the underworld. When the idea eventually reached RAS with the help of the girl's connected family—her librarian grandfather knew many astronomers—they loved it and ultimately decided to use the suggestion.
Did you know... Armadillos swallow air to become buoyant when they swim.
When armadillos go swimming, they don't need a flotation device to keep them from sinking—they are the flotation device. To stay afloat, the creatures swallow air to make themselves buoyant, according to the Library of Congress. However, they also have another option, which involves expelling air so they can sink and walk across the bottom of a body of water. Stunningly, armadillos can hold their breath for six minutes or more.
The Hubble Space Telescope is powerful enough to spot the light of a firefly at a distance of some 7,000 miles.
The average Olympic Games goes 156% over its budget.
Did you know... People write love letters to trees in Australia via email.
The city of Melbourne, Australia, wants to take care of its trees—so much so that in 2013, they assigned each one an email address so that the public could report any problems—like dangerous branches—that they noticed.
However, instead of sending messages about issues, people began writing love letters to the trees. "My dearest Ulmus," one note began, according to The Atlantic. "As I was leaving St. Mary's College today I was struck, not by a branch, but by your radiant beauty. You must get these messages all the time. You're such an attractive tree."
Did you know... Where the Wild Things Are was supposed to have been about horses—but the illustrator couldn't draw them.
Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are is a beloved children's book from 1963 that was inspired by the author's own childhood. But it wasn't always about the so-called "wild things." The book was originally going to be about a young boy who finds himself in a land filled with wild horses. Although Sendak's editor loved the idea, there was one problem: Sendak, who was also the book's illustrator, couldn't draw horses. However, he was able to draw "wild things"—and so the entire premise of the book changed.
Did you know... On Mars, sunsets are blue.
The sunsets we know are typically mellow yellow or fiery pink. But if we lived on Mars, we'd witness blue sunsets, as seen in a series of images snapped by NASA's Curiosity rover in 2015. As Mark Lemmon, a scientist who worked on the Curiosity team, explained to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, "The colors come from the fact that the very fine dust is the right size so that blue light penetrates the atmosphere slightly more efficiently."
Did you know... There's a Russian village where every resident is a tightrope walker.
Traversing a highwire may seem like a relatively uncommon ability. However, there's one Russian community where it's a perfectly normal thing to be able to do. In Tsovkra-1—a small, secluded village in the southern republic of Dagestan—everyone who's physically able can walk on a tightrope in a tradition that's existed for more than 100 years. It's even taught in school to the village children. Even though only 400 people still live in the region, at least 17 tightrope walkers from the area have found fame in circuses due to their impressive aerial abilities.
Did you know... Domino's Japan trained reindeer to deliver pizza.
Back in 2016, Domino's Japan wanted reindeer to do a little more than just pull Santa's sleigh—they wanted the animals to deliver pizzas to hungry customers. The company released a video of employees tying pizzas to the animals' backs and said customers would be able to track their pies via GPS.
Did you know... The world record for the tallest stack of doughnuts totaled more than 3,000.
Measuring almost 5-feet tall, the pyramid-shaped tower was made up of 3,100 doughnuts. According to Guinness World Records, the structure was "designed on a number of different software products to ensure its structural integrity." The organizers behind the project enlisted the help of a structural engineer and an architect, who eventually concluded a pyramid shape would give them "the best combination of stability and height."
Did you know... Benjamin Franklin was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Benjamin Franklin wasn't only a skilled writer, politician, and scientist—he was also an avid swimmer. Franklin began swimming as a child in Boston, which led to one of his first inventions: oval palletes worn on the hands so he could swim faster. His enthusiasm for the sport continued throughout his life and was so well-documented that he was eventually given an honorary induction into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Did you know... Only two national flags have the color purple on them.
Those two countries are Dominica, which uses purple in its flag's central image of a sisserou parrot, and Nicaragua, which includes a purple stripe in a rainbow that's featured on the national coat of arms at the center of the flag.
Did you know... There's a shrimp-like creature that makes aluminum armor to protect itself.
The pressure of the deep sea is so intense that it would crush the bodies of any critter not equipped to withstand it. That's why Hirondellea gigas—a small, shrimp-like amphipod—adapted to form a layer of aluminum hydroxide gel to cover its exoskeleton, acting as a kind of pressure-resistant armor, according to 2019 research published in the journal PLoS One.
Did you know... Your dog knows when someone isn't trustworthy.
You may be able to tell when your furry BFF is thrilled to see you, but your dog probably knows even more about you and other people than you do about them. Not only do dogs have innate instincts to protect their humans, but a 2015 study published in the journal Animal Cognition suggests that pups can even tell if a person is untrustworthy based on their behavior.
Did you know... Mount Rushmore cost less than $1 million.
Featuring the faces of former presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, Mount Rushmore was designed and supervised by sculptor Gutzon Borglum and his son Lincoln Borglum—who took over after his father passed away—between 1927 and 1941. And while the highly recognizable landmark was a sprawling and complex project, it cost just $989,992.32 to erect—adjusted for inflation, that's about $17 million.
Did you know... The shortest scientific –ology word is "oology."
Scientists and researchers who work in the field of oology are strictly focused on bird eggs. It is the shortest -ology in science and is a subset of ornithology, the study of birds. And ornithology is a subset of zoology, the study of animals.
Did you know... More than 800 languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea.
It's hard to imagine anyone being able to speak—or even understand—all of the 850-plus indigenous languages that are spoken in Papua New Guinea. And in reality, most people don't. Many of the languages in the country—such as Nihali—are only spoken and understood by a few thousand people in the world. Still, the sheer number of languages that exist in Papua New Guinea make it one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world.
I see, we have a new player in Numbers Cult!
Did you know... The majority of polar bears live in Canada—not in the Arctic.
There are an estimated 22,000 to 31,000 polar bears around the world, according to the World Wildlife Fund. And while you can find the beasts in a range of regions in the Arctic circle, including Greenland, Norway, Russia, and Alaska, the majority of them—around 60 to 80 percent—call Canada home.
Did you know... The smallest unit of measurement in the universe is the Planck length.
If you want to find the very smallest things around, you'd need to track down something that's the size of the Planck length. It's the smallest possible size of anything in the known universe at a mere 1.6 x10-35 meter across, which is the equivalent of around a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a centimeter (or a decimal point followed by 34 zeroes and a one).
Under the laws of quantum physics, this would be the size of quantum foam, or the tiny wormholes that give space a foam-like structure. If this is beyond you, don't worry: You'd probably need a very advanced degree to fully understand that concept.
Did you know... The first breakfast cereal had to be soaked overnight before it could be eaten.
It's probably safe to assume that when you reach for your favorite cereal in the morning, you can simply pour some in a bowl and start eating it. But in order to consume the first manufactured breakfast cereal, which was created in 1863, you had to soak it in milk overnight just to make it edible. The cereal was made of graham flour that had been baked into brittle cakes, then crumbled up and baked again. Not surprisingly, "it was not an immediate success," according to The New York Times Magazine.
Did you know... The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated the same year Nintendo was founded.
You might assume that Paris' Eiffel Tower is much older than Nintendo, a company famous for manufacturing popular video game systems. But in reality, the iconic Parisian landmark was inaugurated the very same year that Nintendo was founded: 1889. While the tower was being formally introduced to the public at the World's Fair, a playing card company that would eventually become Nintendo was being launched in Kyoto by Fusajiro Yamauchi.
Did you know... The world's largest Barbie collection includes more than 15,000 dolls.
In 1996, Bettina Dorfmann received her first Barbie—a Midge doll, in fact. By 1993, she was collecting them seriously. And in the 26 years since, she's managed to get her hands on more than 15,000 different versions of the iconic doll, including a rare original Barbie from 1959. In addition to collecting them, Dorfmann also runs a hospital for broken Barbies where she fixes or replaces broken limbs and untangles matted hair.
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Did you know... A former NASA scientist invented the Super Soaker.
With the job of NASA engineer on his resume, Lonnie G. Johnson would already be considered an impressive person by anyone's standards. However, not only did he help develop the U.S. Air Force's stealth bomber program, according to the Daily Press, but he also invented the Super Soaker water gun in the 1980s.
Inspired while trying to develop an eco-friendly heat pump, Johnson eventually licensed his design to Larami Corporation—later acquired by Hasbro—and the classic squirt gun went on to generate sales that were truly out of this world. He reportedly made so much money from the toy that he was able to fund his own research and development company, which focuses on clean energy.