The Steel Behind Viking Blades
26. During the Viking age, Ulfberht swords were forged from exceptionally pure crucible steel imported from India. Their quality made them so prized that counterfeiters stamped the Ulfberht name on inferior blades to imitate the originals.
27. Asafoetida is a common ingredient in Indian cooking, but it has earned some unflattering names in other languages. In English, people have called it “devil’s dung,” while Turkish speakers have referred to it with an equally blunt insult.
28. Ancient Greeks likely viewed the Iliad and the Odyssey as part of a larger cycle of eight books by different authors. However, only Homer’s works survived in full, perhaps because they remained the most widely read.
29. In Greek literature, Odysseus returned home after 20 years in disguise as a beggar. Of all the household members, only his elderly dog Argos recognized him, wagged his tail, and then died.
30. Surgeons who play video games for at least three hours a week tend to work 27% faster and make 37% fewer errors. As a result, gaming has been linked to improved performance in the operating room.
31. During a 1994 blackout in Los Angeles, 911 received calls about a sinister-looking cloud in the sky. In reality, callers were seeing the Milky Way more clearly than ever.
32. In its earliest days, AIDS was first referred to as GRID, short for “Gay-Related Immune Deficiency.” It was also widely known as “gay cancer” before researchers understood the disease more fully.
33. Every $1 spent on NASA is estimated to generate $7 to $14 for the economy. As a result, the agency’s $17.6 billion annual budget can translate into an economic boost of as much as $246.4 billion.
34. In Japanese culture, “wa” reflects the idea that people should place the good of the group above individual interests. It remains a core value and an important part of social harmony in Japan.
35. Although Lawrence of Arabia runs for 227 minutes, it contains no speaking roles for women. Reportedly, it is still the longest film without any spoken dialogue from a female character.
How an Island Was Reimagined
36. In 1850, Charles Darwin and Joseph Hooker launched what is often described as the world’s first terraforming project on Ascension Island. Over time, they transformed an arid volcanic landscape into a self-sustaining ecosystem made up of introduced plants from around the world.
37. Long-term ketamine use can cause erectile dysfunction. Researchers have linked extended administration of the drug to this sexual side effect, which may persist with continued use.
38. The famous line “Beam me up, Scotty” never appeared in any episode of Star Trek. Although it became a pop culture staple, the exact phrase was never spoken on screen in the original series.
39. The actor who played Luca Brasi in The Godfather was actually a member of the Colombo crime family, reportedly sent to keep an eye on the production. Francis Ford Coppola cast him anyway, and his nervous habit of repeating lines to himself was built into the character.
40. Eadwig, who ruled England from 955 to 959, was allegedly pulled from his coronation feast to join his future wife and her mother in a scandalous encounter. He was only 15 at the time, which made the story even more notorious.
41. A 155-year-old Victorian mousetrap caught a mouse in a museum in 2016 after the animal wandered inside. Its creator, Collin Pullinger, had said the trap would last a lifetime when he made it in the mid-1800s.
42. Cats tend to prefer food at around 38 C, which is close to the temperature of fresh prey. As a result, they often reject cold food, since it can seem less appealing and may signal that the meal is no longer fresh.
43. Kailia Posey, known as the grinning girl meme from Toddlers & Tiaras, died by suicide at age 16. Her death drew widespread attention and sadness from people who recognized her from the viral image.
44. During college, Steve Wozniak used a blue box, an illegal phone-hacking device, to call the Vatican. He impersonated Henry Kissinger and asked to speak with the Pope, but the attempt failed because the Pope was asleep.
45. Robert Citron rose from college dropout to Orange County treasurer-tax collector despite limited math skills. He later helped drive the county into bankruptcy, making his financial decisions infamous.
Celebrity Sips Can Be Deceptive
46. Some beverage companies, including Monster, sell canned water that looks like an energy drink. As a result, celebrities may appear to be endorsing a soft drink when they are actually just drinking water.
47. During the Vietnam War, many soldiers wrote graffiti on their helmets as a form of personal expression and protest. Phrases such as “Born to Kill” and “War is Hell” often went unpunished, even though they violated military codes of conduct and uniform standards.
48. Leonardo DiCaprio was named after Leonardo da Vinci. His mother felt him kick for the first time while she was standing in front of a da Vinci painting, and the moment inspired the choice.
49. Logging, fishing, and aircraft piloting or flight engineering rank among the most dangerous jobs in the United States. By comparison, law enforcement and firefighting sit much lower on the list, and taxi drivers are more than twice as likely to be murdered on the job as police officers.
50. Wastewater treatment plants and drinking water facilities are not fully designed to remove pharmaceutical drugs from water. As a result, chemicals such as estrogen can reach waterways and affect aquatic life, especially by causing feminizing changes in male fish.
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