Mary Shelley always maintained that she derived the name "Frankenstein" from a dream-vision, yet the name and what it means has been a source of many speculations. Literally, in German, the name Frankenstein means stone of the Franks. Frankenstein is the former name of Zbkowice Slaskie, a city in Silesia. There is a town called Frankenstein in ...Read more

Javelinas are very noisy animals among each other and squeal, snort, woof, and click their teeth to communicate.

As of 1940, a total of 90 patents had been taken out on shaving mugs.

The land area of the country of Greece is slightly smaller than Alabama.

There is no proof that Phineas Taylor Barnum ever said "there's a sucker born every minute." He did, however, say that "every crowd has a silver lining," and acknowledged that "the public is wiser than many imagine."

One of the deadliest diseases in the world is Japanese River Fever, with a mortality rate of more than 50 percent. It is found only near rivers in certain areas of Japan, China, Korea, Burma, and India.

Alchemy refers to both an early protoscience and an early philosophical discipline, both combining elements of chemistry, metallurgy, physics, medicine, astrology, semiotics, mysticism, spiritualism, and art. Alchemy has been practiced in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Persia, India, and China, in Classical Greece and Rome, in the Islamic ...Read more

Migrating geese fly in a V-formation to save energy. A goose's wings churn the air and leave an air current behind. In the flying wedge, each bird is in position to get a lift from the current left by the bird ahead. It is easier going for all, except the leader. During a migration, geese are apt

Dead sponges can resist bacterial decay for more than five years when submerged in fresh water.

The Veil nebula was formed by an explosion which took place over 30,000 years ago, when the first people lived on Earth.

The U.S. Mint was authorized to produce one-cent copper coins on April 2, 1792. Originally, there were four designs struck: the "chain" cent, the "wreathed" cent, the "flowing hair" cent, and the "liberty" cent.

One way birds learn is by trial and error. Scientists have discovered that many of their learned motor patterns are linked to appetite. For instance, young doves must learn to drink water. The pecking of domestic chicks improves about 30 hours after hatching. They snatch up a grain with increased efficiency. Simple trial-and-error learning is ...Read more

The ancient race game Snakes and Ladders originated in India it's undetermined exactly when. It's a game of morality with the bases of the ladders being located on squares representing various types of good and the more numerous snakes coming from squares representing various forms of evil. The squares of virtue on the original game are Faith ...Read more

When asked about the unexpected impact she had on the women's liberation movement with her 1970s blockbuster song "I Am Woman," singer Helen Reddy admitted, "I certainly didn't hear it as a hit. I didn't hear it as an anthem."

He did, but it's probably not the Robin you're thinking of. The editors at DC Comics had slowly had Dick Grayson's (the first Robin) character age over the years and the time came when he left Batman's side to become another hero, Nightwing. The Dark Knight took on a new sidekick, Jason Todd, a young street orphan whom he first encountered while...Read more

The Partridges had a brief resurgence in animated form which saw the family propelled into the future. The animated Partridges first appeared when the kids did a series of guest spots on Goober and the Ghost Chasers. That idea evolved into a CBS Saturday morning Hanna-Barbera-produced cartoon in

Brazil and the Côte d'Ivoire are leaders in the cocoa bean belt, accounting for nearly half of the world's cocoa.

The modern dinner plate is a fairly recent development. Until the 15th century, it was customary to eat on a thick slice of stale bread, called a "trencher," that soaked up the juice.

Jerk barbecue can be traced to the 1600s, when Jamaican runaway slaves preserved and cooked meat in dug-out pits and basted it with native herbs, spices, and chile peppers. The name "jerk" has uncertain origins. It is believed by some culinary experts to be derived from the Spanish word "charqui," which means dried meat, or from the French term ...Read more

As recently as half a century ago, there was no clear understanding as to why the sun shines. The discovery that it is due to nuclear-fusion reactions was not made until the 1930s, by Hans Beth and Carl von Weizsacker.