You’ve read about them. You’ve sung about them. You’ve watched movies about them. For centuries, American folklore has sent our imaginations into overdrive with the tales of men who conquered the dangers of the wild terrain with their strength, wits, and superhuman gifts. Some were based on the archetype of a character, others were embellishments of real people, but all served to entertain and inspire by displaying abilities beyond the reach of normal mortals. Here are eight hyperbolized heroes who outlived the confines of their era to survive as legends for later generations to admire.
Few creations can match the prowess of Paul Bunyan, the titan of the North Woods who palled around with Babe the Blue Ox and was responsible for the formation of landmarks such as the Grand Canyon and the Great Lakes. For all the obvious hyperbole, the character may have been based on the real-life French Canadian lumberjacks Bon Jean and Fabian Fournier, the latter better known by the workers who traded tales at logging camps in the late 1800s.
Bunyan stories first appeared in print just after the turn of the century, but it was a marketing campaign by the Red River Lumber Company that introduced the behemoth woodsman to the masses during World War I. Collected stories soon appeared in book form, establishing a mythical mainstay that remains larger than life through the monuments in his honor that populate the northern landscape.
There’s no question that Davy Crockett, a three-term U.S. congressman from Tennessee, was a real man, if not the “half horse, half alligator” he allegedly claimed to be. Regardless, the folksy, bear-hunting lawmaker with scant formal education was an anomaly among his well-bred peers and was already a celebrity by the time the first Davy Crockett’s Almanack appeared in print in 1835.
The legend received another jolt when he was killed at the famed 1836 Battle of the Alamo, and by the 1840s, the Almanack was featuring more outlandish stories of its hero handily fighting off bears and alligators. Still, Crockett may well have faded into memory, were it not for his mid-1950s revival by way of the Disney TV series and movies that had children everywhere wearing coonskin caps and singing about the “king of the wild frontier.”
The black sheep of the American folklore canon, Johnny Appleseed achieved immortality not through acts of cunning or bravery, but by way of his ragtag clothing and peaceful rapport with all living creatures as he scattered his wares across the land. Ironically, the man behind the myth — John Chapman — did display immense courage, fortitude, and resourcefulness by traipsing thousands of miles across the eastern wilderness and establishing orchards to aid settlers in the first half of the 1800s.
A zealous proponent of the Church of the New Jerusalem who had no permanent home and largely refused to sleep indoors, the eccentric Chapman was already famous by the time he died in 1845. But his fame lived on through the exaggerations that became associated with his memory via the written “recollections,” poems, and children’s stories that circulated in the decades afterward.
Another flesh-and-blood man who saw his celebrity swell as the frontier mythos gained steam, Mike Fink earned renown as a keelboatman on the mighty Mississippi River in the early 1800s. Tall and powerful, he allegedly boasted he could “outrun, outshoot, throw down, drag out, and lick any man in the country,” though his brashness and heavy-drinking ways may well have contributed to his death in 1823.
Five years later, the first Fink tale appeared in The Western Souvenir, giving rise to several decades’ worth of stories that focused more on his reputation for practical jokes than shows of strength. While his legend dimmed by the end of the century, Fink also received a lifeline from Disney when he was presented as the arch-foe-turned-ally in 1956’s Davy Crockett and the River Pirates.
The personification of the rough-and-tumble cowboy who tamed the Old West, Pecos Bill supposedly was raised by coyotes, single-handedly invented the modern methods of ranching, and could be seen riding a cyclone when not astride his bucking horse, the Widow-Maker. Such an indomitable character was no match for any enemy, though at least one account says the end came after he saw a Yankee dressed as a cowboy and laughed himself to death.
The first published Pecos Bill stories appeared around World War I from the hand of Edward O’Reilly, who insisted he heard the outlandish tales as a child, though historians have since thrown that claim into doubt. Whatever his origin, Pecos Bill’s adventures are more than wild enough to earn him a distinguished place in the tall-tale pantheon.
One of the few Black heroes of American folklore, John Henry was said to be the strongest steel driver toiling on the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in the 1870s. When a steam-powered drill was introduced, Henry took it as a challenge to demonstrate man’s superiority over machine, winning the duel but working himself to death in the process.
As with other legends, historians have sought to uncover the source of the tale, with some claiming to have pinpointed a real John Henry and others determining that he was a composite of the anonymous hands who undertook the backbreaking labor. Regardless, his story struck a chord with audiences through the printed page and screen, and especially through the African American blues tradition that gave rise to work songs like “The Ballad of John Henry.”
A Bunyanesque character for the seafaring set, Old Stormalong stood 30 feet tall, according to some accounts, tangled with the Kraken of Norse mythology, and commanded a ship so large it had hinged masts to avoid colliding with the moon. It’s unknown who — if anybody — served as the model for the character, whose origins trace back to North Atlantic sea shanties of the 1830s and ’40s. While those early work songs presented “Old Stormy” as more of an everyman sailor, it was Frank Shay’s Here’s Audacity! American Legendary Heroes (1930) that brought him to life as a titanic superman of the surf, clearing the decks for his inclusion among the famous outsized figures of the genre.
As opposed to his rural counterparts, Big Mose was a hero of urban origins: A firefighter in New York City’s Bowery district, he supposedly stood 8 feet tall, boasted hands the size of Virginia hams, and uprooted streetcars and lampposts with ease. Once again, this was a character inspired by a legitimate person, a volunteer fireman, printer, and brawler named Moses Humphreys. And while the oral recounts were codified through the works of Ned Buntline, the Mose legend took root through a series of wildly popular stage plays in the 1840s and ’50s. Big Mose may not be as well known today as Davy Crockett and Johnny Appleseed, but his myth was every bit as formidable as the others’ during his pre-Civil War heyday.
Tim Ott
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Tim Ott has written for sites including Biography.com, History.com, and MLB.com, and is known to delude himself into thinking he can craft a marketable screenplay.
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It’s been a quarter century since the historic epic Titanic, directed by James Cameron, hit the big screen on December 19, 1997, and became one of the highest-grossing films of all time. A technical and artistic marvel, Titanic forever changed the cinematic landscape with its groundbreaking set design and special effects, won over audiences with its romantic plotline, and catapulted the careers of now A-listers Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
The film portrays the tragic sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic during its maiden voyage across the Atlantic on April 4, 1912, from the perspective of two young passengers of different social classes — Rose DeWitt Bukater (played by Winslet) and Jack Dawson (played by DiCaprio) — who fall in love onboard and are forced to navigate the deadly disaster unfolding in the background. Even 25 years later, the film holds multiple records and is etched in pop culture memory. But how much do you know about what went into making Titanic? From the massive, custom-designed set to Kate Winslet’s famous improvised scene and the film’s controversial ending, discover seven facts about Titanic in celebration of the film’s 25th anniversary.
No Film Has Won More Academy Awards Than “Titanic”
Titanic swept the 1998 Academy Awards, winning 11 of the 14 awards for which the film was nominated, including Best Picture and Best Director. That matched a previous record set in 1960 by the religious epic Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston. Only one other film since then has equaled Titanic’s awards haul — The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in 2004 — but as of 2022, none has exceeded it. In addition, no film to date has secured more than Titanic’s 14 nominations, a record the film shares with the 1950 comedy All About Eve and 2017’s La La Land.
Titanic was not only an awards success but also a box-office juggernaut. It held the worldwide record for highest lifetime gross for more than 20 years. The current record-holder is 2009’s Avatar, also directed by James Cameron, but Titanic still holds the No. 3 spot, just behind Avengers: Endgame. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Titanic kept playing in theaters for nearly 10 months after it was released.
The Watery Set of “Titanic” Held Nearly 17 Million Gallons of Water
The film’s epic story required an elaborate custom-designed set that cost an estimated $20 million to build. The set’s primary feature was a horizon tank, a specialized tank that allows filmmakers to film an ocean scene with a view of the horizon without plunging actors into the middle of an actual ocean. There are only a handful of these tanks in existence worldwide.
According to the technical journal JOM, the tank built for the film at Fox Baja Studios near Rosarito, Mexico (where the majority of the shots were filmed), was the largest shooting tank in the world at the time, containing nearly 17 million gallons of salt water. This allowed for a 774-foot-long set of the ship itself, although not everything was filmed in the giant tank. The dining room and the staircase, for example, were constructed on a hydraulic platform at the bottom of an interior tank, and were designed to be flooded with water piped in from the ocean.
After shooting wrapped on Titanic, Fox continued to use the giant tank for other sea epics, including Pearl Harbor (2001) and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), until they sold the studio in 2007 to a group of local investors. Since then, recent projects filmed there include the second season of Fear the Walking Dead and the Netflix projectSelena: The Series.
A Utah Video Store Once Charged $5 To Make “Titanic” More Family-Friendly
Titanic earned its PG-13 rating in particular with two famously sexy scenes between Rose and Jack — one in which Rose poses nude so Jack can draw her portrait, and another where the pair steam up the backseat of an automobile in the cargo hold. Even though all we see in the latter scene is a hand against a steamy window, it was too much for some viewers — so the owner of a small video storein Utah came up with a creative solution. Sunrise Family Video in American Fork, about 25 miles northwest of Provo, began charging customers $5 to edit one or both of the racy scenes out of their home VHS copies. For an extra $3, employees would cut out any other scene customers wanted removed. The service was apparently popular, even after Paramount Pictures threatened legal action — by September 1998, the wait time for the service was five weeks.
James Cameron Drew the Iconic Nude Portrait of Kate Winslet’s Character
In the film’s famous portrait scene, Rose instructs Jack to “draw me like one of your French girls.” But it wasn’t actor Leonardo DiCaprio who sketched the portrait of Rose reclining in her suite wearing only the “Heart of the Ocean” diamond — it was, surprisingly, James Cameron.
The director, also a talented sketch artist with a background in life drawing, used reference photos of Winslet to make the finished product, which he wanted to get exactly right. “I figured it was time to put all that time I spent doing life drawing to work,” he reflected in his book Tech Noir: The Art of James Cameron. In the film, the sketch eventually ends up in Cal’s safe, but in real life, it ended up in the hands of the highest bidder, going for a reported $16,000 at auction in 2011.
A Mysterious Poisoning Incident Plagued the Crew During Filming
While filming in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in August 1996, more than 50 people working on Titanic — including star Bill Paxton, producer Jon Landau, and director James Cameron — were sent to the hospital after eating a late-night meal and beginning to feel confusion, nausea, and other strange bodily effects. (Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio weren’t filming in Nova Scotia at the time.) It certainly didn’t help that the dish apparently responsible for the incident — a chowder that crew members alternately described as lobster, clam, or mussel — was apparently quite delicious.
It was later determined that the cause of the incident wasn’t food poisoning, but rather someone who spiked it with PCP, a hallucinogenic also known as angel dust. Paxton, Cameron, and set painter Marilyn McAvoy have all recalled the ensuing chaos in the press over the years. Cameron got lost on a set that he’d built himself and later got stabbed with a pen by another crew member feeling the effects. At one point, there was even a conga line. The person responsible has never been found, even though local police apparently investigated the incident for more than two years. Cameron suspected a disgruntled crew member who had been fired the day before for starting trouble with the caterers.
In a memorable scene from the film, Rose’s fiancé Cal (played by Billy Zane) grabs her arm as she attempts to run away from him, so she spits on him. The original script called for Rose to stick Cal with a hat pin — but Kate Winslet decided to spit in his face instead. Cameron called the move “genius,” a callback to the scene in which Jack taught her to “spit like a man.” Winslet reportedly swished K-Y Jelly around in her mouth beforehand for maximum effect.
Zane, however, wasn’t as thrilled about the change, especially after filming multiple takes. “There are few things you remember as well as being spat upon, let [alone] 17 times,” Zane told Entertainment Tonight in 1997. Still, he “felt being on the receiving end of that juice was better than preparing it in one’s mouth prior to launch.”
James Cameron Insists That Jack’s Death Was Necessary
One of the most controversial scenes in Titanic is Jack’s watery death at the end. Many contend that there was plenty of room for him to survive on the wooden board that Rose was floating on in the icy waters after the ship sank. The TV series Mythbusterseven aired an episode on the topic in 2012. The show ran multiple simulations to determine whether Jack’s survival was possible, but in most scenarios, they found that Jack’s death was inevitable, as the weight of their two bodies would have sunk the board too low in the water.
To James Cameron, however, the question misses the point entirely. “The script says Jack died. He has to die,” he said in response to the Mythbusters episode in 2012. “So maybe we screwed up and the board should have been a little tiny bit smaller, but the dude’s goin’ down.” Cameron doubled down on his stance in a 2017 interview with the Daily Beast: “Look, it’s very, very simple: You read page 147 of the script and it says, ‘Jack gets off the board and gives his place to her so that she can survive.’ It’s that simple.”
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Interesting Facts writers have been seen in Popular Mechanics, Mental Floss, A+E Networks, and more. They’re fascinated by history, science, food, culture, and the world around them.
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You can never have too many conversation-starters, and there are plenty of fascinating, wild, or just plain strange facts to go around. Sure, you could store some in the back of your mind for your next big dinner party or family holiday, but others refuse to be contained. They’re just too silly, weird, or absolutely confounding.
For example, did you know that one of the world’s most recognizable (and fully inanimate) landmarks grows in the summer, or that the dot on a lowercase “i” has a name? What about the fact that bananas are actually berries, or that one of our most beloved pets can be allergic to people? Get the full stories on these tidbits and more facts that are just too good to keep to yourself.
Bioluminescence, the strange biology that causes certain creatures to glow, is usually found at the darkest depths of the ocean where the sun’s light doesn’t reach. While these light-emitting animals seem otherworldly, the trait is actually pretty common — in fact, you’re probably glowing right now.
According to researchers at Tohoku Institute of Technology in Japan, humans have their own bioluminescence, but at levels 1,000 times less than our eyes can detect. This subtle human light show, viewable thanks to ultra-sensitive cameras, is tied to our metabolism. Free radicals produced as part of our cell respiration interact with lipids and proteins in our bodies, and if they come in contact with a fluorescent chemical compound known as fluorophores, they can produce photons of light. This glow is mostly concentrated around our cheeks, forehead, and neck, and most common during the early afternoon hours, when our metabolism is at its busiest.
If you love cats but can’t have one of your own because you’re allergic, the feeling may be mutual. It isn’t common, but cats can be allergic to people. The condition is rare in part because we humans usually bathe regularly and thus don’t shed as much dead skin or hair as other animals (and it’s somewhat unclear how much of a problem human dander may be for felines). That said, cats are fairly sensitive to chemicals and sometimes have a negative reaction to certain perfumes, laundry detergents, and soaps. Cat allergic reactions look much the same as the ones humans get — they may manifest as sneezing, runny noses, rashes, hives, or other uncomfortable symptoms. In rare cases, cats can even be allergic to dogs. (Maybe that’s why some of them don’t get along.)
Rudolph’s nose may have been red, but his eyes were blue — except in the summer, when they would have been golden. That’s because reindeer eyes change color depending on the time of year, which helps them see better in different light levels. Their blue eyes are approximately 1,000 times more sensitive to light than their golden counterparts, a crucial adaptation in the dark days of winter. Only one part changes color, however: the tapetum lucidum, a mirrored layer situated behind the retina. Cats have it, too — it’s why their eyes appear to glow in the dark.
Chocolate Chips Were Invented After Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ruth Wakefield was no cookie-cutter baker. In fact, she is widely credited with developing the world’s first recipe for chocolate chip cookies. In 1937, Wakefield and her husband, Kenneth, owned the popular Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. While mulling new desserts to serve at the inn’s restaurant, she decided to make Butter Drop Do pecan cookies (a thin butterscotch treat) with an alteration, using semisweet chocolate instead of baker’s chocolate. Rather than melting in the baker’s chocolate, she used an ice pick to cut the semisweet chocolate into tiny pieces. Upon removing the cookies from the oven, Wakefield found that the semisweet chocolate had held its shape much better than baker’s chocolate, which tended to spread throughout the dough during baking to create a chocolate-flavored cookie. These cookies, instead, had sweet little nuggets of chocolate studded throughout. The recipe for the treats — known as Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies — was included in a late 1930s edition of her cookbook, Ruth Wakefield’s Tried and True Recipes.
The cookies were a huge success, and Nestlé hired Wakefield as a recipe consultant in 1939, the same year they bought the rights to print her recipe on packages of their semisweet chocolate bars. To help customers create their own bits of chocolate, the bars came prescored in 160 segments, with an enclosed cutting tool. Around 1940 — three years after that first batch of chocolate chip cookies appeared fresh out of the oven — Nestlé began selling bags of Toll House Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels, which some dubbed “chocolate chips.” By 1941, “chocolate chip cookies” was the universally recognized name for the delicious treat. For her contributions to Nestlé, Wakefield reportedly received a lifetime supply of chocolate.
If the very idea of bullfights makes you see red, you’re not alone — even though bulls themselves can’t actually see the color. As is the case with other cattle and grazing animals such as sheep and horses, bulls’ eyes have two types of color receptor cells (as opposed to the three types that humans have) and are most attuned to yellows, greens, blues, and purples. This condition, a kind of colorblindness known as dichromatism, makes a bullfighter’s muleta (red cape) look yellowish-gray to the animals.
So why are bulls enraged by the sight of matadors waving their muletas? The answer is simple: motion. The muleta isn’t even brought out until the third and final stage of a bullfight. The reason it’s red is a little unsavory — it’s actually because the color masks bloodstains. In 2007, the TV show MythBusters even devoted a segment to the idea that bulls are angered by the color red, finding zero evidence that the charging animals care what color is being waved at them and ample evidence that sudden movements are what really aggravate the poor creatures.
If you asked for ketchup thousands of years ago in Asia, you might have been handed something that looks more like today’s soy sauce. Texts as old as 300 BCE show that southern Chinese cooks were mixing together salty, fermented pastes made from fish entrails, meat byproducts, and soybeans. These easily shipped and stored concoctions — known in different dialects as ge-thcup, koe-cheup, kêtsiap, or kicap — were shared along Southeast Asian trade routes. By the early 18th century, they had become popular with British traders. Yet the recipe was tricky to recreate back in England because the country lacked soybeans. Instead, countless ketchup varieties were made by boiling down other ingredients, sometimes including anchovies or oysters, or marinating them in large quantities of salt. One crop that the English avoided in their ketchup experiments was tomatoes, which for centuries were thought to be poisonous.
Across the Atlantic, Philadelphia scientist James Mease created the first tomato-based ketchup recipe in 1812. More than half a century later, Henry J. Heinz founded his food company in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania, initially selling pickles, horseradish, and more. The first commercial tomato ketchups — including Heinz’s 1876 product — relied on chemicals to preserve their freshness and color, including formalin and coal tar. But around 1904, chief Heinz food scientist G.F. Mason devised an all-natural blend that included tomatoes, distilled vinegar, brown sugar, salt, and spices. With the signature formula now established, the brand was able to meet the growing U.S. demand for hot dogs, french fries, and hamburgers.
The Inventor of the Stop Sign Never Learned How To Drive
Few people have had a larger or more positive impact on the way we drive than William Phelps Eno, sometimes called the “father of traffic safety.” The New York City-born Eno — who invented the stop sign around the dawn of the 20th century — once traced the inspiration for his career to a horse-drawn-carriage traffic jam he experienced as a child in Manhattan in 1867: “There were only about a dozen horses and carriages involved, and all that was needed was a little order to keep the traffic moving,” he later wrote. “Yet nobody knew exactly what to do; neither the drivers nor the police knew anything about the control of traffic.”
After his father’s death in 1898 left him with a multimillion-dollar inheritance, Eno devoted himself to creating a field that didn’t otherwise exist: traffic management. He developed the first traffic plans for New York, Paris, and London. In 1921, he founded the Washington, D.C.-based Eno Center for Transportation, a research foundation on multimodal transportation issues that still exists. One thing Eno didn’t do, however, is learn how to drive. Perhaps because he had such extensive knowledge of them, Eno distrusted automobiles and preferred riding horses. He died in Connecticut at the age of 86 in 1945 having never driven a car.
America has the eagle, England has the lion, and Scotland has the unicorn. And while the horned mythological creature may not actually exist, the traits it represents certainly do: Purity, independence, and an untamable spirit are all qualities Scotland has long cherished. Unicorns appeared on the country’s coat of arms starting in the 12th century, and were officially adopted as Scotland’s national animal by King Robert I in the late 14th century. For many years, the coat of arms included two of the legendary beings, but in 1603 one was replaced by a lion to mark the Union of the Crowns. Fittingly for the then-newly united England and Scotland, folklore had long depicted the two creatures as butting heads to determine which one was truly the “king of beasts.”
Scottish kings also displayed that fighting spirit, which may be why unicorns were generally depicted in Scottish heraldry as wearing gold chains — only the land’s mighty monarchs could tame them. Unicorns remain popular in Scotland to this day, with renditions found on palaces, universities, castles, and even Scotland’s oldest surviving wooden warship.
Green Bell Peppers Are Just Unripe Red Bell Peppers
If you’ve ever found yourself in the grocery store struggling to decide between red and green bell peppers — or even just wondering what the difference is between them — you may be interested to learn that they’re the very same vegetable. In fact, green bell peppers are just red bell peppers that haven’t ripened yet, while orange and yellow peppers are somewhere in between the two stages. As they ripen, bell peppers don’t just change color — they also become sweeter and drastically increase their beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin C content. So while the green variety isn’t quite as nutritious as its red counterpart, the good news is that one eventually becomes the other.
When folks learn that one of cotton candy’s creators cleaned teeth for a living, jaws inevitably drop. Born in 1860, dentist William J. Morrison became president of the Tennessee State Dental Association in 1894. But Morrison was something of a polymath and a dabbler, and his varied interests also included writing children’s books and designing scientific processes: He patented methods for both turning cottonseed oil into a lard substitute and purifying Nashville’s public drinking water. In 1897, Morrison and a fellow Nashvillian — confectioner John C. Wharton — collaborated on an “electric candy machine,” which received a patent within two years. Their device melted sugar into a whirling central chamber and then used air to push the sugar through a screen into a metal bowl, where wisps of the treat accumulated. Morrison and Wharton debuted their snack, “fairy floss,” at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 (better known as the St. Louis World’s Fair). Over the seven-month event, at least 65,000 people purchased a wooden box of the stuff, netting Morrison and Wharton the modern equivalent of more than $500,000.
Gold is present in low levels throughout the Earth. It’s been found on every continent except Antarctica, as well as in the planet’s core, the oceans, plants, and in humans, too. The average human body of about 150 pounds is said to contain about .2 milligrams of gold, which we excrete through our skin and hair. Babies less than 3 months old tend to have more gold in their manes than older people, thanks to the precious metal being passed along in human breast milk. And while no one’s suggesting we should mine the gold in hair or breast milk (as far as we know), researchers are studying whether gold — and other metals — might be recovered from human waste.
Berry classification is a confusing business. People began referring to some fruits as “berries” thousands of years before scientists established their own definitions, some of which are still debated. Today, little effort is made to teach the public about what botanically constitutes a berry, so here’s a bit of help. It’s generally accepted that all berries meet three standards: First, they have a trio of distinct fleshy layers (the outer exocarp, middle mesocarp, and innermost endocarp); second, their endocarps house multiple seeds; third, berries are simple fruits, meaning they develop from flowers with a single ovary.
Blueberries and cranberries are true berries, as their names imply. Other berries may surprise you: Avocados, eggplants, grapes, guava, kiwis, papayas, peppers, pomegranates, and tomatoes are all, botanically speaking, berries. Bananas are berries, too, since they meet all three requirements. The exocarp of a banana is its peel, while the mesocarp is the creamy middle surrounding the seedy, also-edible endocarp. With seeds growing on the outside, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries are, confusingly given their names, neither berries nor simple fruits. Instead, they are called aggregate fruits, because they grow from multiple ovaries of the same flower.
Next time you find yourself arriving at Grand Central Terminal, feel free to inform the person sitting next to you that the architectural landmark is radioactive — and, once their expression changes, be sure to also tell them that it’s only by a harmless amount. Located in midtown Manhattan, New York’s most-beloved transportation hub (sorry, not sorry, Penn Station) was built between 1903 and 1913 out of granite, which contains higher levels of uranium than most other stones. Still, the levels aren’t all that high: The average person is exposed to 360 millirems of radiation per year, 300 of which come from natural sources, and Grand Central employees would absorb about 120 millirems at work over the course of a year.
Credit: Unsplash+ via Getty Images
Bees Can Recognize Human Faces
Humans have known about bees for a long time: 8,000-year-old cave paintings in Bicorp, Spain, show early humans scaling trees to collect honey. But modern scientists wanted to know if bees recognize us, which is why researchers have put the insects’ microscopic brains to the test. In a 2005 study, honey bees were trained to memorize pictures of human faces by scientists who rewarded them for correct matches with droplets of sugar water. While a bee’s-eye view isn’t as clear as our own gaze, the buzzing insects were able to correctly differentiate between faces up to 90% of the time — even two days after first seeing them, and when the sweet incentives were removed.
The emerging research into bee brains shows that not all living creatures need the complex brain systems humans have in order to recognize and recall environmental differences, but some researchers say that’s not entirely shocking. The Apis mellifera (aka the European honey bee) can visit up to 5,000 flowers in one day, distinguishing between buds that give off beaucoup nectar and those that don’t. So, it makes sense that bees have some form of working memory. And unlocking how bee brains work has practical applications for both us and them: Tech developers may be able to fine-tune artificial intelligence systems (in part by understanding how such tiny brains work so efficiently), and entomologists can better focus on supporting these crucial insects, which are responsible for an estimated 80% of food crop pollination.
There’s Only One Species of Cactus Found Wild Outside the Americas
There are nearly 2,000 known species of cacti, all of which are native to the Americas alone — except for one. That would be Rhipsalis baccifera, also known as the spaghetti cactus or the mistletoe cactus, which grows wild in India, Sri Lanka, and Africa, as well as parts of the Americas. Even stranger than the idea of a single cactus species thousands of miles away from its prickly relatives is the fact that scientists aren’t exactly sure how R. baccifera ended up in the Eastern Hemisphere to begin with. The epiphytes (also called air plants) are remarkably resilient, able to survive without soil by drawing moisture from the air, and the many theories attempting to explain their broad distribution fit their strange nature.
One explanation is that birds snacked on the white berries containing R. baccifera’s seeds somewhere in South America before flying all the way to Africa, where they passed those seeds and essentially planted the cactus on the other side of the world. Problem is, scientists don’t know of any berry-snacking birds that could have actually made that journey. Another theory suggests that sailors used the cactus, with its fetching long green branches, to decorate their living quarters while journeying across the Atlantic from Brazil, then left them behind upon arriving in Africa. Yet another theory posits that the plant could have existed way back when Africa and the Americas were part of one supercontinent called Gondwana — which then broke up around 184 million years ago, leaving a little cactus on both sides. However, it’s unlikely the plant existed all those years ago. The truth is, we’ll probably just have to embrace the mystery of it all.
Few flavors complement each other like lemon and lime, with many a refreshing treat (hello, Sprite!) combining both for maximum effect. The two citrus fruits have some key differences, however, including the fact that limes sink while lemons float. You may have noticed this if you’ve ever put lime and lemon slices in a glass of water or cocktail, and the reason is simple: Objects only float if they’re less dense than the liquid they’re placed in, and while both limes and lemons have densities close to that of water, limes are denser than their yellow counterparts. That remains true whether the lemon or lime in question is whole, peeled, or sliced — a lemon will always float, and a lime will always sink.
That’s not the only difference between these citrus fruits, of course. Whereas lemons grow well in moderate climates, limes fare better in tropical and subtropical areas. Limes also tend to be smaller, which helps distinguish them from lemons even when they sometimes take on a yellowish hue as they ripen. And though the two are almost identical on a nutritional level, lemons are sweeter — which is probably why you can think of a lot more lemon-flavored candies than lime-flavored ones.
There are an estimated 75,000 palm trees in Los Angeles, all of which have one thing in common: They aren’t native there. Despite being an L.A. icon on par with the Hollywood sign and Dodger Stadium, the tropical tree is no more a native Angeleno than, well, the Dodgers. Not unlike the Hollywood sign, palms were originally a marketing technique for developers hoping to attract newcomers to the area in the late 19th century. They got the idea from the French Riviera — another area palms aren’t actually native to — where like-minded developers had successfully used them just a few decades before to cultivate an image of glitz and glamour. In addition to being beautiful, palms are surprisingly easy to uproot and transport from their native tropical and subtropical environments in the Middle East, Mexico, and elsewhere, so tens of thousands of them were planted all across the California city that had once been desert scrubland.
It seems fitting that one of Los Angeles’ most enduring symbols was essentially a branding strategy chosen for its aesthetic appeal, doubly so because palm trees’ association with the city was (and is) further cemented by their ubiquity in the many films shot there. After all, most of the directors, actors, and studio executives who made Hollywood what it is today weren’t originally from the City of Angels either.
We tend to think of dung beetles as lowly creatures, right down to their name. In spite of their earthbound status, however, they do something downright cosmic that no other animal we know of does: navigate using the Milky Way. While “dancing” atop their balls of dung, they orient themselves by looking up at the night sky, catching a glimpse of the bright strip of light our humble galaxy generates, and then moving relative to its position. They do this by taking what scientists call “celestial snapshots” and storing the images in their tiny little dung-beetle minds, a surprisingly fast process that allows them to hightail it away from the dung piles they scavenge. (As for daytime gathering, they move using special photoreceptors in their eyes that allow them to see a symmetrical pattern of polarized light emanating from the sun.) Doing so quickly is imperative — there’s a lot of competition for dung out there, and daddy dung beetles need to move quickly to bury the excrement, which they later feed to their babies. The insects move rapidly in straight lines away from the dung piles, which seems to minimize the likelihood of meeting other creatures of the same kind and getting into a dung-related squabble.
There are around 8,000 species of dung beetles on Earth, 600 of which roll such balls; the others burrow directly beneath the piles of dung and store their quarry in tunnels. Most of them prefer the dung of herbivores, who tend not to digest their food that well. And while most dung beetles are lucky enough to live under dark skies that help them see the Milky Way, light pollution is a growing concern that could throw off their celestial compasses — that is, unless we become more considerate of our dung-rolling neighbors.
The Scientific Name for the Western Lowland Gorilla Is “Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla”
Living things are categorized by a taxonomy system you may have learned about in school, starting with kingdom (e.g., animals, plants) and ending with species (e.g., Homo sapiens). Scientific names are usually expressed using their last two or three categories: genus, species, and, if there is one, subspecies. The western lowland gorilla is in the genus Gorilla, which contains the largest apes. It’s also the species gorilla, which refers to western gorillas (the eastern gorillas are G. beringei). (Western gorillas aren’t the only creatures to have an identical genus and species name; a red fox is Vulpes vulpes.)
Gorilla gorilla also contains two subspecies: G. gorilla diehli, the Cross River gorilla, and G. gorilla gorilla, the western lowland gorilla. You might say the western lowland gorilla is the most gorilla: It’s in the genus gorilla, the species gorilla, and the subspecies gorilla, making its scientific name Gorilla gorilla gorilla.
When the Eiffel Tower was first built in 1889, it was the tallest building in the world at 312 meters tall, or a little more than 1,023 feet. Today, it’s around 60 feet taller because of the radio and TV antennas at its peak, and while nothing’s going to make it the tallest building in the world again, its exact height varies by a few inches depending on the time of year. That’s thanks to a scientific phenomenon called thermal expansion. In general, when a substance heats up, its atoms become more active and move farther apart, making its volume larger. Some substances are more sensitive to thermal expansion than others, including metals like iron. Because the Eiffel Tower is made up of almost pure iron — and there’s a lot of it — hot weather leads to some different measurements. In the summer, the tower not only grows (by as much as 6 inches), but also gets a little lopsided; because the sun only hits one side, it tilts ever-so-slightly away from the sun.
It’s Illegal to Own Just One Guinea Pig in Switzerland
The “dignity of living beings,” including animals, is enshrined in the Swiss Constitution, so Switzerland has some incredibly detailed animal protection laws, including a provision that social creatures cannot be kept alone. This includes not only guinea pigs, but many other animals, including mice, chinchillas, parrots, and lovebirds. Other animal no-gos in Switzerland include extreme breeding, cropping dog ears, and, with very few exceptions, animal testing.
So what happens if you have two guinea pigs and one dies? You could get another guinea pig, which would require buying a ton of subsequent guinea pigs as each one dies, or just hope nobody rats you out. Alternatively, one Swiss animal lover actually started a service that lets you rent a friend to keep your remaining guinea pig company for the rest of its life.
The Dot Over the Small Letter “I” Is Called a “Tittle”
Remember to cross your t’s and tittle your i’s! Those little dots over letters such as the lowercase “j” are called “tittles,” a term that dates back to the 12th century. It can also refer to any other modifying marks on a letter, known as diacritic marks — that includes things like the two dots of an umlaut, the accent over the “e” in fiancé, the squiggly line (also known as a cedilla) under the “c” in façade, or the tilde over the “n” in piñata or jalapeño. In its earliest use, it referred specifically to the character ÷, which was once used as an abbreviation for the Latin word est, but is now often used as a division sign.
You know that look dogs get when they’re requesting attention, some of your dinner, or just a little eye contact — the one that pulls at your heartstrings? That look requires two muscles that connect the brow to either edge of the eye. Most domesticated dogs have these muscles, but their closest wolf relatives don’t. Older breeds that are a little closer to wolves may just have one.
Humans respond much more positively when animals have features, such as widening eyes, that remind us of human infants, and dogs use those muscles far more often when a human is paying attention. Dogs branched away from wolves 33,000 years ago when they started their relationship with humans, so it’s likely that those muscles evolved specifically because they gave dogs an advantage when interacting with human beings.
Thousands of Plastic Yellow Duckies Were Lost at Sea — and Found All Over the World
One day in January 1992, a crate slipped off a cargo ship into the Pacific Ocean while en route to Tacoma, Washington, from Hong Kong. This isn’t particularly unusual — thousands of shipping containers fall into the ocean each year — except that it was full of roughly 29,000 floating bath toys in four shapes and colors. Blue turtles, red beavers, green frogs, and yellow ducks, each around 3 inches long, emerged from their disintegrating cardboard packages and started drifting.
Ten months later, hundreds of them started washing up in Alaska, but many of them continued their oceanic journey. In the early 2000s, they hit the shores of New England. Some took a southern turn early on and ended up in Hawaii, while others traveled as far as Europe. Researchers ended up using them to study current patterns, and according to calculations by oceanic scientists, some of them may have circumnavigated the globe, while others likely became part of a Texas-sized convergence of lost plastic known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
After decades of text messaging and home internet use, acronyms like “LOL” (“laughing out loud”), “IMO” (“in my opinion”), and “FTW” (“for the win”) have made their way into “IRL” (“in real life”) speech — but it may surprise you to know that one of the most common ones, “OMG,” predates even the earliest forms of the Internet. It even had the same meaning: “Oh my God.”
Its first recorded use dates back to 1917 in a letter to Winston Churchill from British admiral and former sea lord John Fisher, who was expressing some annoyance around naval tactics. “I hear a new order of Knighthood is on the tapis,” he wrote. “OMG (Oh! My! God!) — Shower it on the Admiralty!!”
It’s worth noting that, while “OMG” usage tends to be associated with younger people, Fisher was in his mid-70s when he authored the letter.
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Whether it’s an old fashioned or a classic daiquiri, every spirited sip got its start somewhere — though mixologists may argue about the true origins of these famous concoctions. (New York and London, for example, both lay claim to creating the first cocktail.) Here are 10 of our favorite cocktails and the bars that made them famous. Cheers!
In 1919, Count Camillo Negroni bellied up to the bar at Café Casoni and asked for something stronger than his usual Americano (Campari, club soda, and vermouth). Fosco Scarselli obliged, replacing the club soda with gin, and the Negroni was born. While the ownership and name have changed a few times, you can still visit the original space on Piazza della Libertà, now known as Caffè Lietta. (Our advice for mixing the perfect version at home? Put Stanley Tucci in charge of the bar.)
Ernest Hemingway had more than one favorite bar, but in Cuba, it was El Floridita. The bar was founded in Havana’s Old Quarter in 1817, and it was already an institution as la cuna del daiquiri — the cradle of the daiquiri — when the famous author walked in. After sampling the original, Hemingway requested “more rum, less sugar” from legendary barman and owner Constantino Ribalaigua. You can still order a Papa Doble, Hemingway’s favorite, while sitting next to his life-sized statue.
Kentucky gentlemen know from bourbon, so it’s no surprise that this Don Draper-approved cocktail hails from the Bluegrass State. Dubbed an “old fashioned” for the squat tumbler in which it’s served, this potion consisting of bourbon, sugar, bitters, and orange peel is said to have been invented at the private Pendennis Club in Louisville before making its way to New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
Everyone argues about this one, but most cocktail historians agree that the bloody mary (appetizingly nicknamed “the bucket of blood”) was born in 1920s Paris, when bartender Ferdinand “Pete” Petiot began experimenting with vodka at Harry’s New York Bar. The spirit, which he found tasteless, was popularized by Russian émigrés fleeing the revolution. Some canned tomato juice and a few spices later, he arrived at the brunch staple we know and love today. Butch McGuire’s in Chicago takes credit for the celery stick swizzle, but the angel who added a slice of crispy bacon remains a mystery.
Boozy and bubbly, this cocktail of gin, champagne, and lemon is named after a 75- millimeter World War I field gun and carries a combat-worthy kick. The invention of legendary barman and cocktail book author Harry MacElhone (who brought Harry’s New York Bar to Paris), the French 75 is essentially a Tom Collins, but with champagne replacing the original’s club soda topper.
The “shaken or stirred” debate has nothing on the origin of America’s most iconic cocktail, which is vigorously argued by both of the nation’s coasts. The historic town of Martinez, California, swears the gin-and-vermouth classic was created as a celebratory Champagne replacement for a gold miner who struck it rich. New Yorkers insist it’s solely the invention of the bar staff at the Knickerbocker Hotel, named after the Martini in Martini & Rossi vermouth. As for us? We’ll think about it while we have another.
Creole apothecary Antoine Peychaud is said to have served up a melange of his own bitters and his favorite cognac (Sazerac-de-Forge et fils) in a coquetier, or egg cup, in 1838. Over the years, rye whiskey replaced the cognac, and an antiques store replaced the apothecary at 437 Royal Street, but you can still sip a fine version at the Roosevelt Hotel’s historic Sazerac Bar.
Would a daisy by any other name taste as good? When the tequila is flowing, memories get fuzzy and the tales grow taller with every round. Regardless of whether this icy delight was invented by a barman-turned-milkman at the now-defunct Tommy’s in Juarez or at the still-kicking Hussong’s Cantina in Ensenada, this refreshing blend of tequila, Cointreau, and lime was popularized by Southern California liquor distributors who introduced agave-based spirits north of the border — and we’re forever grateful.
Along with the fog cutter and many, many more Polynesian-inspired cocktails, we owe the invention of the zombie cocktail to a man named Ernest Gantt. He returned from bumming around the South Seas post-Prohibition, dubbed himself Don the Beachcomber, and opened the world’s first tiki bar in 1934. Heavy on rum, fruit juices, and fun, these potent potables offer a kitschy taste of vacation. While the original Don’s is long gone, zombie aficionados can still live the dream at Hollywood’s Tiki-Ti, serving nostalgia (and mai-tais) since 1961.
One legend says that this cocktail was first served at a party for Sir Winston Churchill’s mother, Lady Randolph Churchill, at New York City’s Manhattan Club. That venerable lady can no longer confirm or deny, but the Manhattan Club still defends its claim to this heady combination of whiskey, vermouth, and bitters. While the original site at 96 Fifth Avenue now holds an apartment building, and the social club was dissolved in 1979, you can make this venerable cocktail at home, courtesy of another Manhattan institution, The New York Times.
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She was a true Hollywood luminary, the headliner of such classic films as The Philadelphia Story (1940), The African Queen (1951), and Look Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967). Yet Katharine Hepburn was far more than a screen persona propped up by a camera and lights: She clashed with studio executives over her refusal to dress like a typical starlet, navigated her own way out of professional slumps, and largely lived and loved as she saw fit over a career that spanned more than six decades. Here are six facts about this one-of-a-kind leading lady.
Fresh out of Bryn Mawr College in the late 1920s, the ambitious but unrefined actress struggled to hold on to several of the stage roles she relentlessly pursued. She was fired from productions of The Big Pond, Death Takes a Holiday, and The Animal Kingdom, and was briefly replaced before delivering a breakout performance in 1932’s The Warrior’s Husband. Even after making a successful leap to Hollywood with celebrated turns in 1933’s Morning Glory and Little Women, Hepburn was humbled by a widely panned return to Broadway that year in The Lake, and bought out her contract to avoid the embarrassment of continuing with the production on tour.
Hepburn Endured a Close Call With the Leopard of “Bringing Up Baby”
Hepburn spent several scenes with a dangerous co-star in 1938’s Bringing Up Baby, and it wasn’t Cary Grant. She initially got along pretty well with Nissa the leopard — the titular “Baby” of the screwball comedy — who enjoyed nuzzling his head into Hepburn’s perfume-laden negligee. However, a leopard never changes its spots, and something in its primal brain was triggered when the leading lady changed to a dress weighted with metal pieces to enhance its swirling capabilities. As she recalled in her memoir Me: Stories of My Life: “[O]ne quick swirl and that leopard made a spring for my back, and [the trainer] brought that whip down right on his head. That was the end of my freedom with the leopard.”
Raised by parents who encouraged the athletic development of their children and provided the financial means for doing so, Hepburn and her siblings engaged in a wide array of sports while growing up. She was particularly adept at golf, thanks to the private lessons she received as a teenager, and more than held her own in high-level competitions before pursuing her acting career. Hepburn also was known for her daily workouts on the tennis court by the time she was an A-list star, and continued to play regularly into her 80s. Fans can watch the screen great show off her natural skills in both sports in the 1952 comedy Pat and Mike.
Credit: George Rinhart/ Corbis Historical via Getty Images
Hepburn Enjoyed Instant Chemistry With Longtime Co-Star and Lover Spencer Tracy
Upon meeting 5-foot-9 Spencer Tracy shortly before they were to begin shooting 1942’s Woman of the Year together, the 5-foot-7 Hepburn remarked that she would refrain from wearing high heels in his presence. Tracy soon had his revenge: After Hepburn knocked over a glass of water during an early take, Tracy continued with his lines while handing her a handkerchief, essentially forcing her to wipe up the mess while in character. It was that sort of spirited interaction that fueled their unparalleled screen chemistry over nine films, as well as their open-secret, real-life romance, which endured from their first production until his death in 1967.
It wasn’t quite Jackie Chan territory, but Hepburn insisted on doing her own stunts to preserve the authenticity of her shoots. Yes, that’s her dangling from Grant’s grasp off the scaffold at the end of Bringing Up Baby, and that’s her tumbling into an unsanitary Venetian canal in Summertime (1955). Furthermore, advancing years did little to dampen her enthusiasm for such exertion: She endured horseback rides across treacherous terrain for Rooster Cogburn (1975), less than a year after undergoing hip surgery, and insisted on doing her own dives into frigid waters for On Golden Pond (1981), a few weeks after having an operation for a separated shoulder.
For all her early successes in films like Morning Glory and The Philadelphia Story, Hepburn didn’t fully hit her stride until reaching an age when many actresses struggle to land quality roles. She received the bulk of her 12 Academy Award nominations after age 40, and three of her record four Oscar wins after turning 60. Additionally, Hepburn picked up the first of her two Tony nominations just before turning 63, and claimed her lone Emmy five years later. It was partly due to that record of longevity, and her embrace of both the joys and vulnerabilities of aging in her performances, that inspired the American Film Institute to name her the top female screen star of all time.
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In the Northern Hemisphere, the month of August means fun in the sun — the last hurrah of summer before “back to school” rolls around and the rush toward Halloween and the winter holidays picks up steam. There are a lot of interesting tidbits about August, so grab some sunscreen and a Popsicle while we share six of them in honor of our (now) eighth month.
August is a month that knows its way around a calendar. Not only was it not initially the eighth month, but it also didn’t always have 31 days. The Roman calendar borrowed heavily from complicated Greek lunar calendars when it first began; the Roman year originally had 10 months containing 304 days total, with the new year commencing on the first of Martius, the month we now call “March.” Sextilis (which eventually became August), originally the sixth month, had 29 days. Subsequent reforms added two additional months, bumping some month names to spots that no longer agreed with their new position in the calendar. (For example, “September” means “the seventh month,” but it is now the name of the ninth.)
Some of these inconsistencies remain. Julius Caesar (namesake of the month July) instituted further calendar reforms, eliminating leap months and declaring that most years contain 365 days (except for leap years). When the Julian calendar was introduced in 45 BCE, Sextilis got 31 days. Rome’s first emperor, Julius’ great-nephew Augustus Caesar, renamed Sextilis “August” — by then the eight month — in honor of himself in 8 BCE.
“After Lammas Day, corn ripens as much by night as by day,” or so goes the saying. In the British Isles and northern Europe, August is a month for bringing in the harvest of summer. The first of August is the holiday of Lammas, a Cross-Quarter Day that marks the halfway point between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox. The Celts celebrated Lammas as Lughnasadh, while the early Christians transitioned the pagan rites into a “loaf mass,” where villagers took loaves baked with grains from the first harvest to be blessed.
The so-called “dog days of summer” aren’t named that because of hot dogs, but because between July 3 and August 11, the sun rises and sets with Sirius. The brightest star visible from Earth, Sirius is part of the constellation Canis Major (“Greater Dog”) and is often referred to as “the Dog Star.” (August 26, however, is National Dog Day … so every dog does have its day in August.) Sirius was worshipped as the goddess Sopdet in ancient Egypt, as its position in the night sky predicted the flooding of the Nile River.
Sirius isn’t the only star show happening in the August sky — the Perseids meteor shower is at its peak, and the Kappa Cygnids also make an appearance.
August is an eventful month, packed with anniversaries both celebratory and sad. The Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus and a crew of 90 men set sail from Spain on August 3, 1492, arriving in North America in October of the same year. The world gasped on August 22, 1911, the morning after Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece the “Mona Lisa” was stolen from the Louvre. (It was recovered two years later.) On August 6 and August 9, 1945, U.S. forces detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — the only use of nuclear weapons in war. And in 1963, more than a quarter of a million people gathered in Washington, D.C., to hear Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. give his “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28.
Credit: Heritage Images/ Hulton Fine Art Collection via Getty Images
August Is a Big Month for Volcanoes
Although modern research may change the date, history has long recounted that the apocalyptic eruption of southern Italy’s Mount Vesuvius (near present-day Naples) occurred on August 24, 79 CE. The volcano’s fury killed between 13,000 and 16,000 people, completely destroying the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Much better documented is the August 26, 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait. Although the island of Krakatoa was uninhabited, the resulting fallout and tsunamis caused the deaths of around 36,000 people, making it one of the deadliest volcanic events in recorded history. In August 2022, Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano erupted near Reykjavik. And olive-green peridot, one of August’s birthstones, is forged in the fires of volcanoes.
European Cities Put Out the “Gone Fishin’” Signs in August
Europeans enjoy a generous amount of vacation time, and August is a favored time for residents of major cities to escape overheated streets — and the tourists who crowd them. August also coincides with school holidays, so locals go on vacation (preferably to the shore or cooler mountains) right along with foreign visitors. While some services will remain open to cater to tourists, many of the best restaurants and shops will simply shut their doors so staff can go off on their own happy holidays.
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Smell is our most powerful sense. Because smell is intimately entwined with memory in the human brain, the scent of something can trigger memories long thought forgotten. So while sightseeing may seem like an intuitive way to create lasting memories of places you visit around the world, don’t forget to employ your nose for some of that long-term memory work. Just as famous “sights” adorn a city — whether it be stunning architecture, ancient ruins, or jaw-dropping nature — so too do particular smells. In fact, some cities produce such an olfactory sensation that they’ve become known for it, for better or for worse. Here are seven cities around the world famous for their distinctive scents.
Grasse, in southern France’s Provence region, is the perfume capital of the world, and its streets are as sweet-smelling as the fragrances exported from here. The smell comes from nearby fields filled with jasmine, lavender, and May rose — all used in the perfumes local manufacturers send worldwide. This current aroma is a welcome change from what the town was best known for during the Middle Ages: leather crafting (and the pungent tanned animal hides and lye used in the process). That began to change in the 1700s, when glove-makers introduced a process to make their leather products smell better. After taxes on leather crushed the industry in the town, many tanneries transitioned to perfume-making. In 2018, UNESCO recognized Grasse’s perfume cultivation on its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
On the other side of the smell spectrum is Rotorua, New Zealand, some 125 miles southwest of Auckland. Thanks to nearby geothermal vents, the city often smells like rotten eggs due to low levels of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the air. Although the chemical can be toxic to humans in high doses, studies examining long-term residents of Rotorua show that the area’s mild concentration poses no danger — in fact, it may even have health benefits. One study from 2017 found that locals had improved motor response times during a test screening for Parkinson’s disease. Rotorua’s high level of geothermal activity, and its abundant geysers, thermal mud pools, and natural springs, have also made it a popular tourist destination.
For decades, motorists driving Interstate 5 through Tacoma, just south of Seattle, were greeted by an unpleasant scent, much like Rotorua’s rotten egg odor. However, Tacoma’s scent was of a more unnatural variety: a combination of pollution from adjacent Commencement Bay — once considered one of the 10 worst toxic waste sites in the U.S. — and the noxious air pouring from smokestacks of nearby industries, such as paper mills and smelting factories. In a 1984 cover story for Rolling Stone, New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen revealed that he canceled a show at the Tacoma Dome because “something in the air” made him “sick to his stomach.” Whether it was the loss of the Boss or just an increase in environmental awareness, Tacoma has cleaned up its act, and the stench has lessened considerably — but its memorable nickname, the “Aroma of Tacoma,” will live on in history.
Located about 30 miles southeast of San Jose, California, Gilroy is known for one thing and one thing only: garlic. The crop was established in the area in the mid-20th century, and the unmistakable odor it produced quickly turned into the joke of the town. But Gilroy decided to go all in on garlic and held the first annual Gilroy Garlic Festival in 1979. By the time of the first festival, the garlic-growing industry had moved inland, but the factories that dehydrated and processed the bulbs were still in Gilroy, supplying the town with a consistent garlic aroma. The summer celebration now attracts upwards of 100,000 attendees, making it the world’s largest garlic festival. Gilroy is also home to other garlicky attractions, from the Garlic City Café to the Garlic Farm Inn and the Garlic Twirl amusement park ride at Gilroy Gardens.
The capital of Scotland, Edinburgh not only has a rich history but also a rich smell. Its pungent, malty odor stems from the city’s booze-making legacy, which became established in the late 18th century. Several distilleries still dot the greater Edinburgh area, the largest of which is the North British Distillery Company in the suburb of Gorgie. In 2009, the local government finally mandated that local distilleries install “odor control towers” to manage the stench produced by the alcohol-making process. Longtime residents of Gorgie decried the move, with one saying that “it’s nice that the city has its own smell” and another that they “found it quite pleasant.” Maybe it’s just an acquired taste — or in this case, smell.
Thankfully, a particular section of Chicago, Illinois, bucks the sour-smelling trends of other cities on this list. Along a stretch of the Chicago River — where exactly depends on wind speed and direction — Chicagoans are treated to the sweet smell of chocolate thanks to the Blommer Chocolate Company, located in the Fulton River District northwest of the Loop. In 2014, a local resident even began mapping the chocolate smell by measuring its approximate range and cross-referencing with weather patterns from the National Weather Service. When the factory had to shut down its retail space during the COVID-19 pandemic, local residents worried that the chocolate aroma was next on the chopping block, but fortunately, a spokesperson for the company confirmed, “The smell will continue.”
If you’re a fan of cereal, Buffalo, New York, is your town. For 80 years, General Mills has manufactured Cheerios (called Cheeri-Oats when the product was invented back in 1941) in the upstate New York city, and the toasted oat smell still permeates Buffalo’s streets to this day. The oats are baked along the Buffalo River, and the winds from Lake Erie blanket the town in a cereal aroma — from Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Chex, or whatever part of a balanced breakfast the nearby plant is making that day. The town doesn’t seem to mind, as the local tourism board has even held events celebrating the odor, and one local clothing brand sold T-shirts proclaiming, “My city smells like Cheerios” — a badge of pride woven in cotton.
Darren Orf
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Darren Orf lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes about all things science and climate. You can find his previous work at Popular Mechanics, Inverse, Gizmodo, and Paste, among others.
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A summer evening wouldn’t be the same without the twinkling light of fireflies. The familiar insects can live almost anywhere there’s a patch of grass or stand of trees, blinking their bioluminescent bellies to attract mates and signal to other fireflies. Here are some key facts you should know about these charismatic creatures.
More than 2,000 species of fireflies haunt damp woodlands, forests, wetlands, suburbs, and city parks on every continent except Antarctica. About 160 species live in the U.S. and Canada, and their populations overlap so much that several species might be seen in one backyard at the same time.
Though fireflies are quite diverse in their appearance and behavior, they all belong to the Lampyridae family within the order Coleoptera, which consists of beetles and weevils. Anatomically, fireflies and other beetles have hardened wing covers, called elytra, that differentiate them from flies and other types of insects.
Whether You Call Them “Fireflies” or “Lightning Bugs” Depends on Where You Live
If you live in the American West or New England, you likely know the members of Lampyridae as “fireflies.” Those in the Midwest and South, however, probably think of them as “lightning bugs.” Jason Keeler, an assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at Central Michigan University, tweeted a possible explanation for the geographic choices. He noted that the “firefly” regions experience the United States’ highest wildfire activity (in the West, at least), while the “lightning bug” areas have the most lightning strikes.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, since the 16th century, fireflies have also been called fireworms, salamander flies, firebugs, glow flies, lightning beetles, and meadow flies.
Not all fireflies produce light, but the ones that do give off their glow thanks to a biochemical reaction. Their light is produced when an enzyme, luciferase, interacts with a chemical called luciferin, oxygen, and ATP — a protein that facilitates energy production. Fireflies likely control their blinking patterns by regulating the amount of oxygen feeding the chemical reaction.
Luciferin and luciferase interact so well together that scientists use them in medical applications, including immunological and gene expression assays, drug tests, and cancer research, according to a 2019 article in the journal BioScience. In one example, researchers have injected luciferase into cancer cells to see whether immunotherapies are killing them off.
Entomologists call fireflies’ illumination “cold light” because 100% of the energy used to produce it is turned into actual light, and none is lost as other forms of energy. By comparison, a traditional incandescent light bulb converts 20% of its electricity into light and loses 80% as heat. Even modern LED light bulbs aren’t as efficient as fireflies.
Fireflies Communicate by Flashing in Unique Patterns
Each firefly species flashes with its own Morse code-like sequence, which members of the species use to signal potential mates. In North America, male fireflies will typically fly back and forth across a small area, blinking rhythmically, while the females perch in grass or shrubs and respond to the males with their own light. Eventually, the male will make his way over to the female by following her glow. Non-bioluminescent fireflies use pheromones instead of light to attract mates.
A few species even synchronize their light show. Among Photinus carolinus, a species native to the southern Appalachians, the males blink in unison during their mating season, creating a major tourist event in Great Smoky Mountains National Park every June. A species seen in South Carolina’s Congaree National Park, Photuris frontalis, synchronizes intermittently in flight.
A firefly begins its existence as a faintly glowing egg in moist soil or leaf litter. About three weeks after the egg is laid, the firefly larva emerges and remains in its damp habitat, gobbling up worms, slugs, and other invertebrates. It eats and grows for two years, and then enters the pupal stage of its development. Over the next three weeks, the pupa metamorphoses into an adult firefly (similar to a caterpillar turning into a butterfly). Only then does the firefly finally emerge from its underground habitat and fly free.
Artificial light affects organisms that are active during twilight or at night. According to a 2018 study, 47% of the U.S. and 88% of Europe experience light pollution from artificial sources at night, which may account for the decline in many insect populations, including fireflies. LED signage, municipal street lights, vehicle headlights, and even cellphone screens have the potential to obscure fireflies’ flashing signals, temporarily blinding or disorienting them, or limiting their courtship. More research is needed to understand how fireflies are coping with our modern world.
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Not all inventors fit the image of the white-haired, bespectacled eccentric scribbling out notes while surrounded by beeping machines and steaming beakers. Some are gorgeous actors or gifted musicians who achieve fame and fortune in their chosen fields, yet still are motivated to fulfill a need or solve a problem afflicting the public. Here are six such celebrities who found the time between photo shoots, interviews, and the demands of their day jobs to follow their personal passions to the patent office.
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Marlon Brando
He may not have originated the “method acting” technique, but Marlon Brando was an innovator when it came to his enthusiasm for drumming. Late in life, the Oscar winner devoted his energy to developing a conga drum that could be tuned by way of a single lever at the bottom, as opposed to the usual five or six bolts along the top. Although he received four patents prior to his death in 2004, Brando likely needed to put in more work to make his creation a reality; one drum manufacturer interviewed for a 2011 NPR article indicated that the actor’s design was practical, but not cost-effective enough for production.
During her Hollywood heyday, Hedy Lamarr was known as “the most beautiful woman in the world,” a designation that ignored the impressive brain power behind those green eyes. Determined to aid the Allied cause during World War II, Lamarr teamed with composer George Antheil to devise a radio transmission technique that defied enemy disruption efforts by randomly jumping to different frequencies. Although it was initially dismissed by the U.S. Navy, the secret communication system is now recognized as a precursor to the wireless technology that fills our everyday lives. Lamarr also dabbled in more mundane creations, like an improved stoplight and dog collar, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.
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Eddie Van Halen
While he is rightly celebrated for dazzling solos for his namesake band, Eddie Van Halen was also a craftsman who constantly sought out ways to improve the guitar-playing experience for himself and others. In 1987, the rocker patented his musical instrument support, a plate that props up a guitar against the player’s body and frees the hands to “explore the musical instrument as never before.” Van Halen also acquired patents for a tension adjustment mechanism for stringed instruments, the design and implementation of a noise-canceling humbucking pickup, and a guitar peghead.
The youngest of the Marx Brothers, Herbert “Zeppo” Marx was largely overshadowed as the straight man of the comedic quartet, but he later came into his own as an agent, businessman, and health-minded inventor. His first patent was for a vapor delivery pad for distributing moist heat, intended to replace the inefficient method of dipping towels in hot water to apply to achy body parts. The erstwhile entertainer later received multiple patents related to cardiac monitoring applications, one of which made headlines as the pulse-tracking “heart wristwatch.”
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Jamie Lee Curtis
While she’d already achieved stardom by way of roles in films such as Halloween (1978) and Trading Places (1983), Jamie Lee Curtis showed she was just as burdened as the next parent when she patented a new and improved diaper in the late 1980s. The solution was a simple one, as her infant garment came with a front pocket for wipes to eliminate the need to hunt down both items during stressful moments. Although she let the patent expire because of concerns over the product’s biodegradability, Curtis continued her pursuit of the perfect diaper with another patent in 2017, this time including a plastic bag to make disposal even more tidy.
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Bill Nye
Best known as the “Science Guy” from his popular 1990s PBS show, Bill Nye has engaged in a wide-ranging career that includes stints as a mechanical engineer, a stand-up comic and yes, an inventor. As befitting his brainy reputation, Nye designed a noise-and-vibration-reducing device called a hydraulic pressure resonance suppressor for use on the Boeing 747 jumbo jet, and he later received patents for his educational lens and digital abacus. More surprising are his patents for a throwing technique trainer, to help budding baseball players, and his toe shoe, to provide additional support for the grueling regimen of a ballerina.
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Some of the items found in our homes have unusual origins, and we’re not just talking about those hot dogs buried in the freezer. Whether acquired in a department store, grocery, or the local pharmacy, these common goods now enjoy widespread acceptance, but at one point were used for different purposes — or even viewed with suspicion. Read on to learn more about six household objects with a colorful past.
According to Amy Azzarito’s The Elements of a Home: Curious Histories Behind Everyday Household Objects, From Pillows to Forks, the first dining forks surfaced in the Byzantine Empire during the first millennium CE. However, their eastern migration via the marriage of Maria Argyropoulina to the son of the Doge of Venice in 1004 was met with horror by the Venetians, who considered these pronged utensils to be tools of the devil; when Argyropoulina died a few years after the marriage from the plague, it was viewed as God’s revenge for her spiteful vanity. It wasn’t until candied fruits became popular in the 15th century that the satanic connotations around the implement disappeared, and Italians again wielded forks to devour the messy treats.
Salt has long been treasured as a resource both for flavoring meals and keeping meat and fish fresh, rendering it a particularly vital commodity in the dark days before refrigerators. Roman soldiers were reportedly paid in rations of salt known as salarium — the origin of the word “salary” — while Saharan trade routes throughout the Middle Ages frequently featured the exchange of large bricks of the mineral. Recent research indicates that the Maya of South and Central America also used salt as money some 2,500 years ago, suggesting that humankind’s salty cravings are possibly as old and powerful as the desire to accumulate wealth.
Beds occupied an important place in medieval dwellings: Not only were they comfortable spots for people to read, pray, socialize, mate, and give birth, but they were often the most expensive pieces of furniture in a home. As a result, beds were often passed along by the same legal means used to transfer the deceased’s ownership of property or family jewels. Women were nearly twice as likely to bequeath beds than men, according to one examination of a set of wills from 1392 to 1542, though that’s probably because the rarer female testator was usually a widow and therefore more inclined to give away important household items.
“Concealed” Shoes May Have Been Used to Ward Off Evil Spirits
Ever want to give those uninvited evil spirits a good kick in the pants? Apparently, the best way to do so in 19th-century England was to stash a well-worn shoe in a hidden compartment near a home’s opening, be it a door, window, or fireplace. As there are no written records of this custom, the witches-be-gone theory really represents the best guess of many historians; others have speculated that it spread as a good-luck token among builders. Regardless of how and why the practice came about, enough hidden footwear has been discovered in old homes of Western Europe — as well as in the northeastern United States and Canada — for England’s Northampton Museum to oversee a Concealed Shoe Index.
Yes, you read that correctly; until the late 18th century, the best way to eliminate graphite markings was with moistened, rolled-up pieces of bread. However, a big breakthrough came in 1770, when English theologian Joseph Priestley realized that rubber was “a substance excellently adapted to the purpose of wiping from paper the mark of black lead pencil.” That same year, English engineer Edward Nairne began selling rubber erasers, which he claimed to have invented after mistakenly grabbing a piece of rubber instead of the intended breadcrumb. Nairne is largely credited for popularizing erasers, but there’s no need to feel bad for Priestly, who eventually received his due for discovering oxygen.
Early Forms of Kleenex and Kotex Were Used on World War I Battlefields
During the Great War, the Kimberly-Clark company of Wisconsin shipped huge supplies of their wood pulp-based “cellucotton” to be used as bandages and gas mask air filters. So what became of this thin, absorbent crepe paper once battlefield demand ceased with the armistice of 1918? The first step was to turn it into a women’s sanitary pad, which hit stores in 1920 under the brand name of Kotex. Four years later, Kimberly-Clark introduced another cellucotton product named Kleenex; originally marketed as a makeup and cold cream remover, it soon enjoyed a surge in popularity as a disposable alternative to the soggy handkerchief.
Interesting Facts
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Interesting Facts writers have been seen in Popular Mechanics, Mental Floss, A+E Networks, and more. They’re fascinated by history, science, food, culture, and the world around them.
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