Charles Darwin said humans descended from monkeys. Darwin coined the term “survival of the fittest.” Darwin was the first person to theorize evolution as the origin of species. Darwin did not believe in God. Darwin played shortstop for the New York Yankees. These are just few of the common myths that are associated with Charles Darwin. (Well, maybe not playing […]
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Unless you didn’t quite get enough info from the title- yes, it is entirely possible for a chicken to lay an egg that contains another fully developed egg, what we now officially dub an Xzibit Egg. A wonderfully bizarre Matryoshka doll made of protein and disgusting (when you think about it) deliciousness. As you may or may not know, a […]
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Prior to his role as Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Willard Smith (yes, Willard) enjoyed a successful career as a rapper under the pseudonym, “The Fresh Prince” as part of a duo with Jeffrey “DJ Jazzy Jeff” Townes. The partnership, performing under the rather unimaginative name of DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, made Smith a […]
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Mark R. asks: Why do drawn hearts look nothing like real hearts? Who first drew them this way? The heart symbol is one of the single most enduring and widely recognised symbols in modern culture. But where did it come from? Something like the familiar heart symbol goes back many thousands of years. Specifically, several pieces of pottery going back […]
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Elizabeth F. asks: Is white gold really gold? If it is, how do they make it white when it’s an element? The purest form of gold is, of course, golden and is referred to as 24 karat gold. Pure gold is much too soft for use in jewelry and can even be dented by simply pressing your fingernail hard against […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn about the only woman to ever bat during an official Major League Baseball game. In the second half of the show, you’re also going to learn why we sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the 7th inning stretch of baseball games, as well as the truth about what actually inspired the […]
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The legendary Roald Dahl’s book Charlie & Chocolate Factory from 1964 (and its subsequent two film adaptations from 1971 and 2005) told the story of a magical candy factory and its eccentric and mysterious owner Willy Wonka. A chocolate river, gum that is a whole turkey dinner, never-ending gobstoppers, and, of course, the singing and dancing oompa-loompas are just a […]
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Hollywood often makes up stories about nigh-unkillable, enemy-stomping individuals who laugh in the face of certain death, only to deliver that death to countless bad guys instead. In real life, if you put a single individual up against a large contingent of well armed soldiers, the soldiers tend to effortlessly dispatch said individual, no matter how much courage and determination […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Bizarre Mating Practices of the Arabian Camel Some people are into feet, others like dressing up in furry costumes, and a rare few will even get scatological (See: Mozart’s Much Less Family Friendly Works). But when it comes to weird […]
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Considering how most dogs in the Western world these days are treated as a member of the family, it’s often easy to forget that the vast majority of our furry friends up until very recently were bred for a specific purpose. Perhaps no dog was bred for a more specific purpose than the now extinct, turnspit. The turnspit was so named […]
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While not thought to be directly related to modern Valentine’s Day traditions, the beginnings of celebrating love (of a sort) in February date back to the Romans. The feast of Lupercalia was a pagan fertility and health festival, observed from February 13th through the 15th, that was celebrated at least as far back as 44 BCE (the year Julius Caesar […]
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The first Earthlings sent into space were brave, calm under pressure, and heroic. They were also not human and many of them were furry. Yes, before Apollo 13, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Yuri Gagarin, humans sent fruit flies, monkeys, and dogs into space to determine if living beings could survive the trip. These tests helped prove that, given a […]
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In this episode, you’re going to learn about who invented jeans, what inspired their creation, and how they became so popular. In the Bonus article, you’re also going to learn why women’s bikes traditionally have slanted crossbars. [TRANSCRIPT: Jeans | Bikes] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes | RSS/XML You can also find more episodes by […]
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Some people are into feet, others like dressing up in furry costumes, and a rare few will even get scatological (See: Mozart’s Much Less Family Friendly Works). But when it comes to weird sexual practices, it would be difficult to top the mating rituals of the one-humped camel. Also known as the Arabian camel and dromedary, Camelus dromedarius is found […]
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This is a weekly wrap of our popular Daily Knowledge Newsletter. You can get that newsletter for free here. The Invention of the Piano The names that come to mind at the mention of the Italian Renaissance are the likes of Medici, Da Vinci, and Galileo. Few, however, know the name Bartolomeo Cristofori, an accomplished craftsman who lived and worked […]
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With the Super Bowl this weekend, we thought we’d do a “Football facts” roundup to help you impress your buddies with amazingly interesting Football knowledge. 891) Buffalo wings were invented sometime around the 1960s by either John Young or Frank and Teressa Bellissimo in Buffalo, New York. The spreading of this tasty appetizer was relatively slow until Football stepped in. […]
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In this episode, we’re plunging down the rabbit-hole trying to separate myth from fact to discern who was France’s most famous prisoner, the Man in the Iron Mask. In the Bonus Fact, you’re also going to learn some interesting things about what inspired Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. [TRANSCRIPT] Don’t miss future episodes of this podcast, subscribe here: iTunes […]
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Matt T. asks: I was in southern California a while back and managed to pick up an AM radio station from Washington, but only at night. I’ve experienced the same thing at night in Washington picking up an L.A. radio station. In the day, it doesn’t work. So my question to you is why do radio signals seem to travel […]
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