Candy made from pieces of barrel cactus was outlawed in the U.S. in 1952 to protect the species.

Absolutely -- Despite his brutish appearance, Conan uses his brain as well as his brawn. Due to his travels abroad, he has vast experience in other trades, especially the thiefly one; he is also a talented commander, tactician and strategist, as well as a born leader. In addition, Conan speaks many languages, including advanced reading and ...Read more

Scientists can condense matter to greater densities and temperature than those at the center of the sun. Fusion-energy research at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California uses 20 laser beams to concentrate on targets so tiny that dozens can be gathered on the head of the pin.

Sixty-two degrees Fahrenheit is the minimum temperature required for a grasshopper to be able to hop.

In England, the most commonly used guide dog for the blind is the Yellow Labrador Retriever.

The AK-47 is simple, inexpensive to manufacture and easy to clean and maintain. Its ruggedness and reliability are legendary. The large gas piston, generous clearances between moving parts, and tapered cartridge case design allow the gun to endure large amounts of foreign matter and fouling without failing to cycle. This reliability comes at the...Read more

A popular myth traces the early history of coffee to Ethiopia, where Coffea arabica originates. According to the myth, a goatherder named Kaldi observed goats that became elated and sleepless at night after browsing on coffee shrubs and, upon trying the berries himself, experienced the same

In Victorian England, turkeys were popular for Christmas dinners. Some of the birds were raised in Norfolk, and taken to market in London. To get them to London, the turkeys were supplied with boots made of sacking or leather. The turkeys were walked to market. The boots protected their feet from the frozen mud of the road. Boots were not used ...Read more

Lucy Burns. Lucy Burns was an active militant suffragist in both the United States and Great Britain. According the {book;} 'Notable American Women' by Sidney R. Bland, Lucy Burns spent more time in prison than any other suffragist.

St. Bernard of Menthon, who built way stations for tired medieval travelers in the Alps, is the patron saint of mountain climbers. The dog breed was also named for St. Bernard.

Octopoteuthis deletron engages in something known as attack autotomy. It deliberately snaps off its own limbs, leaving them behind so they can kill at will while master is away. As far as we know, this is the only animal that does it.

Ants stretch when they wake up. They also appear to yawn in a very human manner before taking up the tasks of the day.

Genuine ivory does not only come from elephants. It can come from the tusks of a boar or a walrus.

A tanka is a Japanese verse form of 31 syllables in five unrhymed lines, the first and third having five syllables each, and the others seven.

The hottest day ever in Canada was July 5, 1937 when the mercury soared to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in Midale and Yellowgrass, Saskatchewan. But that's downright chilly compared to the United States where the temperature hit 56.7 (135 F) degrees Celsius on July 10, 1913 at Death Valley, California, and Al'azizyah, Libya, where ...Read more

During the fifteenth century, Venice ordained that local Italian prostitutes would bare their breasts while soliciting at open windows overlooking the city’s famous canals and walkways. The ruling was intended to separate the city’s “professional” women from the general female citizenry, and to encourage young men to purchase the ...Read more

Prior to the invention of lawn mowers, lawns were cut with scythes, but this operation was ineffective unless the lawn was wet. The sale of lawn mowers got a great boost when lawn tennis came into vogue in England in 1870.

Drosophila, the small fruit-fly, has been warmly received by the scientific community, mainly owing to the giant-sized chromosomes possessed by the cells of its salivary glands. These chromosomes, which can stretch to more than a mile long when unraveled, allow scientists to study DNA using only

In 1832 the Scottish surgeon Neil Arnott devised water beds as a way of improving patients' comfort.

More than 7,000 magnets are on display at the Guinness World of Records Museum and Gift Shop, located on the Las Vegas Strip. The exhibit is a portion of the more than 26,000-magnet collection of Louise J. Greenfarb, dubbed “The Magnet Lady,” whose accumulation was designated by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's “Largest ...Read more