Category: Interesting Stories

Cast your mind back to high school math lessons, and you’ll no doubt be able to recall that prime numbers are numbers divisible only by themselves and 1—like 13, 17, 19, and 23. If you’re not a mathematician, that’s probably the only named set of digits that you can bring to mind, but prime numbers […]

In 2007, a team of scientists and engineers based at the English research company Surrey NanoSystems made an extraordinary breakthrough. Using a new technique involving so-called “vertically aligned nanotubules” tiny carbon-based structures that can be specifically arranged on their end the Surrey scientists produced the darkest, blackest substance known to science. They called their discovery […]

The battle between the decimal metric system and the more old-fashioned (and mathematically taxing) imperial system of weights and measures is a longstanding one. One of the many advantages of the metric system is its simplicity: units like meters and grams are counted in 10s, 100s, and 1000s, while the older imperial system—though more traditional, […]

Uprisings and rebellions have been sparked by all kinds of different grievances over the centuries—but among the most peculiar has to be a short-lived rebellion in the far southwest corner of Tudor England, which was essentially sparked by nothing more than the publication of a prayer book. The seeds of this particular rebellion were sown […]

You will likely have heard people say that something has taken place “since time immemorial.” It’s such a familiar phrase that it’s almost become a cliche—used to describe anything particularly ancient, well-established, aged, or longstanding. The word immemorial itself essentially means “unrememberable,” or literally “beyond all memory.” The term time immemorial, ultimately, describes any period […]

From working out the movements of the stars to building geometrically and architecturally-perfect pyramids, the Ancient Egyptians were certainly proficient at a great many things. But as advanced as their civilization was, unfortunately, they weren’t quite up-to-date enough to begin issuing passports to their citizens — and in the mid-1970s, that posed something of a […]

Before Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux became household names, Gordie Howe was the undisputed “King of Hockey.” And he still is to most hardcore hockey fans. Howe was truly an iron man and player who epitomized an era that many remember with fondness—when goal scorers weren’t afraid to get into fights and none of the […]

Since the blockbuster film Close Encounters of the Third Kind came out in 1977, people around the world have been searching the skies for life of people outside our planet. In some ways, the movie gave the UFO movement a bit of legitimacy, as it was seen by many to be filled with kooks and […]

The Sicilian Mafia, or Cosa Nostra, is well-known around the world through its fictional portrayal in books, film, and television. The Godfather movie trilogy (yes, even the last one) introduced millions of people to the arcane rituals and honor code of the Cosa Nostra, often portraying its members as sympathetic antiheroes. More recently, fans of […]

Nature has come up with some pretty interesting ways for animals to defend themselves from other animals. Some animals have natural camouflage that allows them to blend in with their backgrounds, while others are fast or move in herds for protection. Then, there is the bombardier beetle. The bombardier beetle actually refers to any one […]