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

Wandering albatrosses spread their wings, clack bills, and shake heads in a ritual dance. Bonds between courting birds may last the whole of a 50-year lifetime.

Recycled glass uses only two-thirds the energy needed to manufacture glass from scratch. That means for every soft drink bottle that is recycled, enough energy is saved to run a television set for an hour and a half.

The Bermuda Triangle, also known as the Devil's Triangle, is an area of the north Atlantic Ocean where it is popularly believed a significant number of ships and aircraft have disappeared under highly unusual circumstances. It has become popular through its representation by mass media as an area of paranormal activity where the known laws of ...Read more

Right behind Christmas and Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday ranks as the third-largest occasion for Americans to consume food, according to the National Football League.

When a snail hatches from an egg, it is a miniature adult, shell and all. The shell grows with the snail, and the snail never leaves the shell.

One Laysan albatross, tracked by biologists at Wake Forest University, flew more than 24,843 miles in flights across the North Pacific to find food for its chick in just 90 days — a flight distance equivalent to circling the globe.

Mother-of-pearl is not always white. It can be pink, blue, purple, gray, or even green. Nor is it produced only by the pearl oyster. The abalone and the pearl mussel both have shells that are lined with fine-quality mother-of-pearl.

Parts of the human anatomy have evolved into common expressions in American speech. A few examples include: A good head on his shoulders; the shoe's on the other foot; a heart of gold; chip on his shoulder; a nose for crime; turn the other cheek; a pain in the neck; rub someone's nose in it; a price on his head; apple of his eye; snap his head ...Read more

Electrical hearing aids were invented in 1901 by Miller R. Hutchinson.

The Roman emperor Commodus had all of the dwarfs, cripples, and freaks collected in the city of Rome and had them brought to the Colosseum, where they were ordered to fight each other to the death.

West Virginia’s largest and most beautiful caverns, Seneca Caverns, are located in West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountain range. Seneca Caverns were discovered in 1760, and tours began in 1930. The Seneca tribe used the caverns in the 1600s and 1700s for ceremonies and as refuge from winter storms and enemy tribes. Spectacular natural ...Read more

The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.

The only U.S. president born on the Fourth of July was Calvin Coolidge. The three presidents who've died on the Fourth of July were Thomas Jefferson and John Adams (both died in 1826), and James Monroe in 1831.

Residents of Hawaii outlive residents of all other states, while Louisianans are the most prone in the U.S. to die an early death.

In Syria, Christmas gifts are distributed by one of the Wise Men's camels. The gift-giving camel is said to have been the smallest one in the Wise Men's caravan.