1Lene Hau
In 1999, during an experiment Harvard physicist Lene Hau was able to slow down light to 17 meters per second and in 2001, was able to stop light completely.
2. In 2001, India started building roads that hold together using polymer glues made from shredded plastic wastes. These plastic roads have developed no potholes and cracks after years of use, and they are cheaper to build. As of 2016, there are more than 21,000 miles of plastic roads.
3. Many PBS stations across the US switched to all children's programming after the September 11th attacks in order to "provide children a safe harbor from continuous news coverage of the attacks."
4. The word "procrastinate" comes from Latin meaning "to put off until tomorrow" and there is another word "perendinate" that means "to put off until the day after tomorrow."
5. The production company behind Shark Tank used to require contestants to give them 5% equity or 2% of the profits from their companies in exchange for appearing on the show. Mark Cuban threatened to quit over this rule, so producers got rid of it.
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6Cobie Smulders
Cobie Smulders who played Robin from How I Met Your Mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer which resulted in having surgeries to remove tumors all the meanwhile shooting season 3 of the show.
7. English king Charles I believed black cats to bring good luck, so he adopted one. On the day it had died, he lamented that his good luck was gone. The next day, he was arrested for high treason and was later executed.
8. A man named Andy George spent $1,500 and 6 months making a single sandwich completely from scratch. He did absolutely everything from making his own cheese to harvesting his own wheat. He made his own salt and made his own oil. He grew sunflowers and collected their seeds to extract fat.
9. The country of Chile is so long that it would stretch from the northernmost point of Norway all the way south to Morocco.
10. Seagulls can drink salt water, as well as fresh water, as they possess exocrine glands located in supraorbital grooves of the skull by which salt can be excreted through the nostrils to assist the kidneys in maintaining electrolyte balance.
11Hurricanes
Hurricanes used to be named only after women. After feminist groups protested over the implied slur that women alone were tempestuous and unpredictable, men’s names were also used for such weather phenomena beginning in 1979.
12. Not only did camels roam the Arctic, they actually originated in North America.
13. Juggalos are on the FBI’s official “top threat gangs” list, since 2011.
14. Feeding bread to ducks is actually one of the worst things you can feed them. The ducks no longer feel hungry but also receive no nutrients, causing malnutrition.
15. Due to animals matching the output of acorns, oak trees will have a "Masting" year. A masting year will see a tree produce tons of extra nuts to prevent all seeds being eaten. All trees in an area will do it at the same time for some unknown reason.
16Stuart Little
In the book, Stuart Little was actually a human who looked like a mouse, not an actual mouse.
17. Apollo 11 astronauts were quarantined for 21 days after returning from the moon to prepare for "the remote possibility that they are harboring unknown lunar organisms that might endanger life on earth"
18. Azure-winged magpies show 'human-like' generosity. They provide food to their group members spontaneously and without the other birds begging them. This so-called 'proactive prosociality' has long been believed to be a human hallmark.
19. Joseph Beyrle is the only man known to have served in both the US and Soviet armies during World War 2. He took part in the D-Day landings, was captured, escaped and joined a Soviet tank battalion soon after.
20. There is no trash collection on most of New York City’s Roosevelt Island because a pneumatic tube system sends 10 tons of garbage a day from trash cutes in buildings to a trash processing plant at 60 mph.
21SR-71 Blackbird pilots
Pilots of the SR-71 Blackbird were often tasked to fly over heads of state triggering a shockwave to remind countries what they were doing was against US policy.
22. During the USA's "Great Depression" in the 1930s, librarians in Kentucky rode around on horseback, dispensing books to over 50,000 families and 155 public schools: "one librarian had to hike her 18-mile route when her mule died."
23. In 2014, Walmart China had to recall donkey meat products because testing revealed they contained fox meat.
24. Humans are driving mammals to shift their activity from day to night making many of them nocturnal.
25. The plants we know as "peppers" (chili, bell, etc.) are only called that because Christopher Columbus thought they tasted like black pepper when he first tried them in the Caribbean.
