B.Nice26 asks: Is there really such a thing as a truth serum? It sounds like something taken directly from the pages of Harry Potter—truth serum, or drugs that “make people tell the truth.” Somewhat recently a U.S. judge approved the use of truth serum on James Holmes, the accused Aurora, Colorado “Batman” shooter. So clearly the answer to your question […]
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F. Morse asks: What is the difference between a horse and a pony? Ponies and horses are both equines. In general, a horse is an equine that stands about 14.2 hands high or more and a pony is an equine that stands under that mark, give or take depending on region; for instance, in Australia the dividing line is 14 […]
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Today I found out the origin of pretzels. A common origin story of pretzels is that they were created by a monk around 610 in Italy. According to The History of Science and Technology, the monk baked strips of dough that he folded into a shape resembling a child crossing its arms in prayer. He would give these treats, which […]
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Myth: Frequently wearing a hat will cause permanent hair loss. I was once told by my mother that wearing a hat would cause me to go bald. I’m not sure if she actually knew what causes baldness or if she simply didn’t like my Seattle Seahawks hat (stupid Pittsburgh Steelers fans!). Either way, the idea that wearing a hat will […]
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Today I found out about the history of the Rosetta Stone and how hieroglyphics were first translated. Hieroglyphics were elaborate, elegant symbols used prolifically in Ancient Egypt. The symbols decorated temples and tombs of pharaohs. However, being quite ornate, other scripts were usually used in day-to-day life, such as demotic, a precursor to Coptic, which was used in Egypt until […]
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Jamie K. asks: What ever happened to the ancient library in Alexandria? Great question! For those not familiar, I’ll start with a little background on the subject. The Library of Alexandria was founded by either Ptolemy I or his son, Ptolemy II, sometime in the third century B.C. Libraries were nothing new to ancient civilizations, though places to keep etched […]
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Mark asks: How does blood actually function, like how exactly does it nourish the body and what’s the difference between the different blood types? There are several different types of blood. Contained within them are several different types of cells, and countless molecules that give our bodies the needed nutrients to work effectively. The two main types of cells within […]
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TechWizard / Shutterstock.com J. Henning Buchholz / Shutterstock.com SeanPavonePhoto / Shutterstock.com If you liked these, check out more free quick-facts here. You might also be interested in QI’s 1,227 QI Facts to Blow Your Socks Off. Text Version: Fact 476: “School” comes from the Ancient Greek “skhole”, which meant “leisure or spare time”. Fact 477: A “tittle” is nothing dirty, […]
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Today I found out dogs and cats are typically right pawed or left pawed. This is according to two studies, one done at the Ataturk University in Turkey (in 1991) and another at the University of Manchester in England (in 2006). According to the Ataturk University study, the majority of domestic cats are right pawed (50%), 10% of them are […]
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Ryan asks: Who invented ice cream? No specific person has officially been credited with inventing ice cream. Its origins date back as far as 200 B.C., when people in China created a dish of rice mixed with milk that was then frozen by being packed in snow. The Chinese King Tang of Shang is thought to have had over ninety […]
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If you’ve ever been to London, or even seen a picture of London, you’ve probably seen the giant clock tower at the corner of the Palace of Westminster. This tower is one of London’s major icons, ranking right up there with red double-decker buses, the London Eye, and Platform 9 ¾. Contrary to popular belief, the clock tower itself is […]
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Today I found out the origin of the Canadian flag. Oh, Canada—a member of the British Commonwealth and the land of maple syrup, lumberjacks, and bagged milk. The country’s flag, a red field with a white square in the centre featuring a red maple leaf, is among Canada’s most well-known emblems. As such, it might surprise some people to learn […]
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Today I found out men wore high heel shoes long before women. The first high heel wearers are believed to have been Persian horseback warriors sometime around the ninth century. The extended heel was reportedly developed specifically for riding, to keep the rider’s foot from slipping out of the stirrups. It also helped to hold the rider steady when standing […]
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He died nearly 800 years ago, and yet we all still know his name. From 1190 to 1227, Genghis Khan ruled an empire that eventually stretched from Russia to China. He is responsible for millions of deaths, but he also unified warring factions and brought peace and security to 5000 miles of trade routes. The complicated legacy of his Mongol […]
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We are all familiar with the colloquialism “gaydar” which refers to a person’s intuitive, and often wildly inaccurate, ability to assess the sexual orientation of another person. In the 1960s, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) attempted to use a slightly more scientific, though equally flawed, approach- a machine to detect if a person was gay or not. This was […]
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If you liked these, check out more free quick-facts here. You might also be interested in QI’s 1,227 QI Facts to Blow Your Socks Off. Text Version: Fact 449: While often used as the poster woman for “how things were different back in the day” with models and actresses, Marilyn Monroe’s body dimensions according to her tailor were 35 inch […]
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Today I found out the origin of the phrase “once in a blue moon” and what a blue moon actually is. “Once in a blue moon” today means “very rarely,” though it used to mean something that was absurd, right along the lines of “when pigs fly.” The first known recorded use of a form of the phrase is in […]
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Like so many later-comedians, Bill Cosby described himself in school as “the class clown”. Born in 1937, William Henry Cosby worked at several different jobs growing up, including selling produce, stocking shelves in a supermarket, and apprenticing in a shoe repair store. He served four years in the U.S. Navy and later entered Temple University on a track and field […]
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