Facts & History

Discover how to improve your mood with these ways of lifting your spirits If you’ve been wondering how to improve your mood, rest assured, you’re not alone. While all of us can experience bad days from time to time when we feel upset, sad or disheartened, for some of us, it can be more long…

  In today’s world, we take animal domestication for granted. But from meat and dairy products to faithful companionship, domesticated animals have provided us innumerable products, services and hours of labor that have had profound effect on the history of humanity. At first, humans used animals merely for food. But eventually, we began to catch on…

  What Happens When You Touch Mercury Metal Mercury is a heavy, liquid metal once common in thermometers and other equipment. Have you ever touched mercury or been exposed to it? Were you fine or did you experience symptoms or exposure? Did you shrug it off or seek medical attention? Here are responses from readers: Info Is Exaggerated Mercury does not absorb…

  To conservationists, outdoor enthusiasts, and wildlife lovers, John Muir’s name evokes countless connotations. Known as an explorer, farmer, inventor, writer, and more, the Scottish-born naturalist made a lasting impact on the landscape of the United States, and his legacy lives on in all corners of the country. Born on April 21, 1838 in Dunbar,…

  While camping in Yellowstone National Park, you fall asleep to a symphony of crickets and rustling leaves beneath a brilliant full moon. A little while later, a high-pitched moan snaps you out of your slumber. You hear the noise again, and it immediately registers — a wolf’s howl. “No need to worry,” you think as…

  You can find all sorts of high school and college athletic programs named after wolves. And why not? In a mascot battle, North Carolina State University’s Mr. Wuf would surely vanquish Sammy the Slug of University of California-Santa Cruz. Grey wolves (Canis lupus) tend to organize themselves into social groups known as “packs,” with individual…

  There’s a quote attributed to EB White that goes, “Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one.” The list below appears to confirm that, with stories about geniuses who disappeared, geniuses who vanished, and, yes, some geniuses who seem to be some flavor of what people used to call,…

Time to flesh out the difference between these common phrases. Or should we say “flush out”? There are a lot of confusing grammar rules out there. So many, in fact, that it can be hard to keep up. Do you know the difference between lay vs. lie? OK vs. okay? “Flush out” or “flesh out”? You may have been…

  Understanding Contraceptive Choice, Federal Law, and the Constitution Limits on reproductive rights and decisions by women were mostly covered by state laws in the U.S. until the last half of the 20th century, when the Supreme Court began to decide court cases about bodily autonomy, pregnancy, birth control, and abortion access. The following key decisions in constitutional…

    The U.S. Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut struck down a law that prohibited birth control. The Supreme Court found that the law violated the right to marital privacy. This 1965 case is important to feminism because it emphasizes privacy, control over one’s personal life and freedom from government intrusion in relationships. Griswold v. Connecticut helped pave the way…

  Lunar Facts An enhanced image of the Moon taken with the NOAO Mosaic CCD camera using two NSF telescopes at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The Moon is superimposed on a separate image of the sky. (Image credit: NOAO/AURA/NSF) Did you know there’s no such thing as a full moon? No dark side, either. And if…

  Have you ever WONDERed what the world is made of? Look around you. What makes flowers? How about clouds? What makes the fork you eat? Or the food on your plate? Thanks to modern chemistry, we can learn what things are made of. Years ago, ancient people had their own ideas about what made up…

  How do you wake up in the morning? Does an alarm clock’s shrill scream alert you? Or is it a parent’s gentle voice and nudge that tells you it’s time to get up? For some, the signal of morning is the first rays of the Sun peeking in through the bedroom window. Once you’re up and moving about, how do…

  We were walking through the Wonderopolis forest the other day when we overheard an interesting conversation between a badger and a rabbit: Badger: Say, Roger, what’s that way up high in the sky over there? Rabbit: You mean by the bridge over the pond, Bruce? I think it’s an airplane. Badger: An airplane? I don’t think so. I thought it was a bird. Oh look! Here…

  “I have a dream.” “Four score and seven years ago.” Some speeches are so memorable we can quote them at will. But few of them are commencement speeches. How many of us can recall the commencement speech at our college graduation? What if a commencement speech was not something to be endured, but to be treasured? And…

  Think about all the days of the year you could be born. Counting February 29, which rolls around every four years on Leap Day, there are 366 possible days you could be born. If you meet a random person on the street, what’s the likelihood that she or he would share your exact same birthday? It’s not very likely, right? What are the odds that…

  Ahh…there’s nothing like a relaxing day on the beach. As you soak up the Sun’s rays, the waters of the Gulf of Mexico beckon to you. Could there be a better way to cool down than to go for a swim in the refreshing salt water? Unbeknownst to you, though, a creature lurks nearby in those shallow, coastal waters. Three to four times the length…

  Mass hysteria has reared its ugly head for as long as humans have existed. Adolf Hitler worked enough people into a frenzy to justify the murder of millions of Jews. Jesus Christ, known by all as peaceful, if controversial, was brutally nailed to a cross because a few high-ranking officials felt threatened by him.…

  From time to time, we all get angry or upset. It’s human nature. How we act when we’re angry is very important. So is how we respond to others when they’re upset with us. Our behavior can either make things better or worse. Conflict is a natural part of everyday life. Resolving conflicts is…

  Do you ever make homemade cards for your friends and family members for special occasions, such as birthdays or anniversaries? A short poem paired with an original drawing can make someone’s day and turn into a keepsake they’ll treasure forever. After you give your homemade card to a loved one, you probably don’t give it much thought. But what if that person…

  Friday night is approaching and you can do whatever you want after a long week of school. What sounds most appealing to you? Would you prefer to read or play video games by yourself? Or would a slumber party with 10 of your closest friends sound more exciting? How you answer those questions might give psychologists some insight into your personality. If your friends were…

  Anna Jarvis, who founded Mother’s Day in 1908, passionately opposed its growing commercialization and eventually campaigned against the holiday.   Anna Jarvis, who had no children of her own, conceived of Mother’s Day as an occasion for honoring the sacrifices individual mothers made for their children. In May 1908, she organized the first official Mother’s Day…

  For a new investor, the stock market can feel a lot like legalized gambling. “Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets! Randomly choose a stock based on gut instinct and water cooler chatter! If the price of your stock goes up — and who knows why? — you win! If it drops, you lose!” Isn’t…

  Former Secretary of State George C. Marshall speaks on the second anniversary of his address at Harvard University where he outlined the Marshall Plan. He told his audience of representatives of the Marshall Plan nations, “There is much yet to be done.” President Harry Truman listens intently, left. It took Secretary of State George…

  Uncovering the woman behind Dorothea Lange’s famous Depression-era photograph.   It’s one of the most iconic photos in American history. A woman in ragged clothing holds a baby as two more children huddle close, hiding their faces behind her shoulders. The mother squints into the distance, one hand lifted to her mouth and anxiety…

  You probably know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Well, so does the moon — most of the time. Technically, the moon rising can actually vary depending on the phase of the moon and the time of the year, according to the Farmers’ Almanac. That means it could rise in…

  During Prohibition, gay nightlife and culture reached new heights—at least temporarily.   On a Friday night in February 1926, a crowd of some 1,500 packed the Renaissance Casino in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood for the 58th masquerade and civil ball of Hamilton Lodge. Nearly half of those attending the event, reported the New York Age, appeared to…

  Though Clinton admitted the policy was “not a perfect solution,” he presented it as a “major step forward” from the existing ban.   In 1993, when President Bill Clinton signed the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” into law, it represented a compromise between those who wanted to end the longstanding ban on gays serving in the…

  Monday is the only day of the week that is an anagram for single word, that word being “dynamo”. It’s a universally recognized fact that Mondays suck. What’s worse than hauling yourself out of bed and mourning the death of the weekend? Only to then make the long commute to work where you sit…

  Wondering how to improve your digestion? Our tips will help you to ease gas and bloating, increase your good gut bacteria and improve your overall wellbeing When it comes to how to improve your digestion, there are lots of things you can do to improve your gut health and keep your digestive tract running…

  Want to try a quick and fun experiment? Ask a few friends or family members to join you in a simple task: write out the first couple of lines of a favorite song or poem. When you’re all finished, set the papers in a row and compare them. Does everyone’s handwriting look the same? Or is it easy to distinguish each person’s handwriting from the others?…

  Before we get into today’s Wonder of the Day, let’s try something out. Grab a pencil and paper. Got them? Okay, now hold the pencil in the hand you usually write with. Write your name on the piece of paper. Well, that was easy! But now, switch. Hold the pencil with your other hand,…

  The bevy of diets available to consumers is overwhelming from Slim-Fast to the acai berry diet, there always seems to be a new diet hitting the market. But, as many people struggling to lose weight already know, dieters that follow fad diets are rarely successful. Even when a diet leads to weight loss, the…

  Sports executive and civil rights champion Effa Manley was a passionate advocate for baseball players from the Negro leagues.   Effa Manley, the only woman in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, was an advocate for Black athletes, a passionate supporter of baseball in the Negro leagues, a champion for civil rights and equality…and far…

  Ease muscle tightness from home with a trigger point massage If you’re searching for relief from tight muscle knots, a trigger point massage could be just the solution. Targeting knots or ‘trigger points’ in your body, a trigger point massage helps to soothe tightness and relieve pain. Knots tend to form due to repetitive…

    Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an abolitionist, human rights activist and one of the first leaders of the woman’s rights movement. She came from a privileged background and decided early in life to fight for equal rights for women. Stanton worked closely with Susan B. Anthony—she was reportedly the brains behind Anthony’s brawn—for over…

  On April 2, 1931, minor leaguer Jackie Mitchell fanned the Yankees’ sluggers in an exhibition, a feat widely celebrated. But was it a stunt or legit?   In the depths of the Depression, Joe Engel, the “Baron of Baloney,” would do almost anything to promote his minor league baseball team. The owner of the Chattanooga…

    May 9th observes Moscato Day & Lost Sock Memorial Day. We are now on the 129th day of the year, congratulations for making it this far into 2022. There are 236 days left until next year. This day in history was certainly a day of firsts covering many areas like health, transport and much more.…

  Did you know that Lennie Small from “Of Mice and Men” is based on a real person who was in an asylum in California? The 1937 publication by John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, is a timeless story of life and liberty. The 107-page novella follows the four-day adventure of George and Lennie as they…

  The oldest lighthouse still operating in the US is located at Sandy Hook Unit in New Jersey and was built in the 18th century. Most commonly nicknamed “The Garden State,” New Jersey was the 3rd state to join the United States of America on December 18, 1787. It has a population of 8,882,190 people (as of…

  Computers. Smartphones. Jewelry. Skyscrapers. Automobiles. Look around you! Everywhere, you’ll see objects that couldn’t exist without metal. Can you imagine life without this strong, shiny substance? Even the human body needs metal! It uses cobalt to make red blood cells. Zinc helps the immune system. High levels of mercury and copper can cause major problems. Even your…

  Picture it: You’re walking through your favorite store. You browse the video games, then turn the corner. There they are. At the end of the aisle. Gleaming in the fluorescent light. The headphones your parents won’t buy for you. You understand that they’re expensive, but you just want these headphones so badly. Looking around, you realize you’re alone…

  Have you ever heard someone talk about “the calm before the storm”? If you’ve seen storms up close, you know there’s usually nothing calm about them! So what are people talking about? The calm — sometimes called a lull — before the storm is a common phrase. It refers to a period of peace or rest that comes…

  The cornerstone of feminism and gender equity at large is the issue of choice. Starting in 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Enovid for sale with a doctor’s prescription, introducing the first birth control pill onto the market. Soon after, in 1964, the Civil Rights Acts prohibited employment discrimination based on sex, establishing legal precedence for women to…

  From everyday violence to acts of terrorism and acts of God, many of us are weary from the seemingly relentless accounts of atrocities and acts of selfishness happening in the world around us. Spending the day reading the news, you might not guess that humans are, to some extent, predisposed to acts of kindness and feelings…

  In 1962, famed American pollster Gordon Gallup surveyed 1,813 married, white women around the country for a snapshot of contemporary middle-class motherhood. From their responses, some of which were filtered through husbands uncomfortable with their servile spouses speaking publicly, Gallup concluded that housewives enjoyed the plum position in society. Unlike their male counterparts who had…

  Have you ever WONDERed how doctors diagnose their patients? What about how mechanics find out what’s wrong with a car? The truth is, these two occurrences often have something in common. They both employ Occam’s Razor. Have you ever heard someone say, “Keep it simple”? That’s the basic idea behind Occam’s Razor (or Ockham’s Razor). It’s…

  Every first Saturday in May is the Kentucky Derby, when the first race in the Triple Crown series is run at Churchill Downs in Louisville. It’s a storied horse race, with traditions like big hats and cocktails, specifically the mint julep. This Churchill Downs staple — a cocktail with bourbon, fresh mint, ice, sugar and…

  If you’ve been WONDERing with us for a while, you already know a bit about DNA. You may know it influences many things about you, including your eye color. Maybe you’ve read that scientists could one day edit DNA. Perhaps you’ve even learned that your DNA can make music. You probably also know that DNA makes up your genes and…