I learned this today. The Western Roman Empire ended in 476 and the Eastern Roman Empire ended in 1453. The state of Rome became a republic in the 6th century BC and started to expand throughout Italy. By the 3rd century BC, it had taken over all of Italy and started to look for other […]
#184 When did the Roman Empire end? Read More »
I learned this today. Mars could be terraformed, but it would require more money than any government would be able to spend. Terraforming is the process by which an uninhabitable planet is transformed into a habitable planet. This would require modifying the atmosphere, temperature, ecology, and adding water. Carl Sagan came up with the idea
#183 Could Mars be terraformed? Read More »
I learned this today. Pineapples grow from a small shrub and not on a tree. The majority of fruits grow on trees. Some that don’t grow on trees grown on a hanging vine, like grapes. Some grow directly on the ground. Watermelon and other melons grow on the ground, but they are technically berries, and
#182 How do pineapples grow? Read More »
I learned this today. Some metals are not magnetic because the magnetic poles of the atoms within them point in different directions and are weakly repelled by both poles of the magnet. There are different kinds of magnets. Some are permanent magnets, some are magnetized metals, and some are electromagnets. Magnetized metals are magnetic only
#181 Why are some metals not magnetic? Read More »
I learned this today. The Stetson hat was designed by John B. Stetson in 1865. We have an image of cowboys wearing Stetson hats, but they didn’t really start wearing them until the later part of the 19th century. Cowboys have existed in America for several hundred years and the tradition itself came from Spain.
#180 Where did the Stetson hat come from? Read More »
I learned this today. There is a carefully choreographed sequence of steps that enable us to vomit. Vomiting is a form of protection. It is the body’s way of getting rid of threats or things it feels might be dangerous. This could be a poison, it could be a chemical, it could be a virus
#179 How do we vomit? Read More »
I learned this today. Depending on who you ask and what fossils you look at and what you define as “human”, there have been between eight and twenty-one different species of human on this planet. All but one of them are now extinct. If you are like me, you probably think of ancient homo sapiens
#178 How many species of human have their been? Read More »
I learned this today. The Hindenburg airship probably caught fire because of a static electric charge that ignited the highly flammable hydrogen it was filled with. The Hindenburg was actually called LZ 129 and was one of two giant airships in the Hindenburg class. Its sister ship was called the Graf Zeppelin. They were 245m
#177 What happened to the Hindenburg? Read More »
I learned this today. Rasputin managed to gain so much influence over the tsar of Russia because he appeared able to cure the tsar’s son of his hemophilia. Rasputin was a peasant who managed to rise to become one of the most powerful people in Russia before and during World War 1. In the end
#176 How did Rasputin gain so much influence over Tsar Nicholas II of Russia? Read More »
I learned this today. Technically the first parachute jump was in 852. A man called Armen Firman, in Spain, jumped off a tower using a cloak as a parachute. Apparently, it did slow him down enough to avoid death and serious injury. Having a parachute seems obvious, but I am thinking from a world where
#175 When was the parachute invented? Read More »
