26Nobel Peace Prize
The other Nobel Prizes are given out in Sweden; however, it remains a mystery as to why the Peace Prize is presented in Norway. In his will, Alfred Nobel, whose name is attached to the prizes, stated that this was how things should be. He did not elaborate on his reasoning.
27. More than 1,500 grains of asteroid dust were carried back to Earth in 2010 by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa after it traveled more than a billion miles. A solar flare knocked out its solar panels, two reaction wheels failed, two engines lost power, the mini-lander was lost, the planned sample system didn't deploy, and the spacecraft lost touch with Earth for a month, yet it still managed to succeed. This was the first occasion that asteroid material (from Itokawa) was brought back to Earth.
28. In dog agility competitions, the dogs don't practice the course in advance. At each tournament, the courses are different, and the handlers (without their dogs) only get to study the layout the day before. The dog literally sees the course for the first time as they run it.
29. On his deathbed, Pope Innocent VIII (Papacy 1484–1492) was administered breast milk since he was unable to digest anything else. In fact, it was fairly common for doctors back then to prescribe breastfeeding for sick adults.
30. Queen Sophie of the Netherlands was buried in her wedding attire because she considered her life to have ended on the day she married King William. Their marriage had been very turbulent.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
31Sleep Misperception
Sometimes people who have trouble sleeping can experience what's known as "sleep misperception," when they believe they were up all night while in reality they slept for hours.
32. Lyrics and vocals for "Crazy" (2006) by Gnarls Barkley were performed in a single take. That wasn't all: it was CeeLo Green's first time trying to sing the lyrics. The song climbed to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a huge success in many other countries.
33. The Women's United Soccer Association was the first women's soccer league in the world to treat its players like professionals and pay them a salary. After losing almost $100 million over its first several years of operation, the league shut down in 2003.
34. The night before Emperor Hirohito's surrender during World War 2, broadcast army officers launched a coup. Officers took over the Imperial Palace in an attempt to erase all records of the emperor's surrender and eliminate any remaining officials who stood in their way. The coup was thwarted when the record was leaked to the press and the armed forces refused to support the coup.
35. As a token of their appreciation for Queen Victoria, British soldiers stole a Pekingese puppy from the Chinese royal palace towards the conclusion of the Second Opium War and presented it to her. She named it "Looty."
