Facts Archive - Page 5 of 79 - Interesting Facts

Original photo by Rui Serra Maia/ Shutterstock

The American West is known for its wide open spaces, but nowhere is quite as wide open as the area around Glasgow, Montana. After crunching some numbers back in 2018 in an effort to definitively define “the middle of nowhere,” The Washington Post found that a whopping 98% of Americans in the contiguous U.S. live within an hour of some kind of urban center (that is, a metropolitan area with at least 75,000 people). But Glasgow, located in the northeast corner of the state, is an estimated 4.5 hours from the nearest urban center, making it the most isolated town (with a population of 1,000 or more) in the Lower 48.

Glasgow, Montana, was named by spinning a globe.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Oops, incorrect!

It's a fact

Though you might think that Glasgow has an intimate connection with Scotland, the isolated Montana town, previously named Siding 45, was actually named randomly after a railroad clerk spun a globe and his finger landed on the Scottish city.

Glasgow was founded in 1887 as a railroad town, and during World War II it was home to the Glasgow Army Airfield, which eventually transformed into the Glasgow Valley County Airport. After a nearby Air Force base left town in the late ’60s, Glasgow’s population settled around 3,000. Although it’s now the most remote town on the mainland, many towns in Alaska rival Glasgow’s “middle of nowhere” claim when it comes to the nation as a whole. Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow, is the U.S.’s northernmost city, 500 miles away from Fairbanks, and accessible only by plane. In other words, Alaska takes the idea of “wide open spaces” to a whole new level.

Advertisement

Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie

Estimated year when St. Kentigern established a religious community in present-day Glasgow, Scotland

550 CE

Year Montana joined the union as the 41st state

1889

Distance (in miles) of Pitcairn Island from New Zealand, one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world

3,240

Population of the state of Montana, according to the 2020 census

1,084,225

More Interesting Reads

Grand Central Terminal is radioactive.

Coconut in mailbox

You can mail potatoes and coconuts without a box through the U.S. Postal Service.

Betty Crocker is a made-up character.

Close-up of a patient having an eye exam

You can still see part of your third eyelid.

Some countries have a list of preapproved baby names.

The farthest spot from land is called ______, after a character in “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.”

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

The farthest spot from land is called Point Nemo, after a character in “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas.”

Advertisement

Placeholder Image

The object farthest from the sun in our solar system is called Farfarout.

Things don’t get much more isolated than the trans-Neptunian object (TNO) Farfarout — so named because it’s the farthest known object in our solar system. With the technical name 2018 AG37, Farfarout takes an entire millennium to complete its orbit around the sun; it’s an average of 132 astronomical units (AU) away from our host star. With one AU equaling the distance between Earth and the sun (about 93 million miles), Farfarout is true to its name. However, depending on where it is in its orbit, Farfarout can be up to 175 AU away or as close as 27 AU, which is about as near as Neptune. While astronomers found this far-flung celestial body searching for “Planet X” — an unknown, hypothesized planet somewhere beyond the orbit of Neptune (sorry, Pluto) — Farfarout puts the “dwarf” in dwarf planet, as it stretches only about 250 miles across.

Darren Orf

Writer

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.

Advertisement

Original photo by Channel 82/ Unsplash

The term “devil’s advocate” is a familiar label for someone who argues a position they don’t agree with just to make a point, but its origins are more literal than you might expect. In 1587, Pope Sixtus V established the position of promotor fidei (meaning “promoter of the faith”), popularly known as advocatus diaboli, or devil’s advocate, as part of the process of beatification or canonization — aka becoming a saint. The devil’s advocate was the church’s skeptic, picking apart stories of reported “miracles” to argue against someone’s sainthood. The advocate had to be present for any part of the sainthood process to be considered valid.

There is an (unofficial) patron saint of cats.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Oops, incorrect!

It's a fact

Gertrude of Nivelles, who lived in seventh-century Belgium, is often considered the patron saint of cats, an association that may have developed because her iconography often depicts her with mice or rats. However, the Catholic Church has never made the patronage official.

For hundreds of years, sainthood was relatively rare, but Pope John Paul II (head of the Catholic Church from 1978 to 2005) believed the church needed more examples of sanctity, so he effectively abolished the position of devil’s advocate in 1983 as part of a revision of the canonization procedures. He also shortened the posthumous waiting period for saints from 50 years after death to just five years. These and other changes ushered in an unprecedented number of new saints. In the 600 years before John Paul II, around 300 people were declared saints. In the less than three decades of his papacy, John Paul II oversaw the canonization of 482 saints. More recently, Pope Francis canonized 942 people (including Mother Teresa, Anglican convert Cardinal John Henry Newman, and Swiss seamstress Marguerite Bays) between 2013 and 2025.

Advertisement

Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie

Popes since (and including) St. Peter, traditionally considered the first pope

267

Worldwide box-office returns for the 1997 film “The Devil’s Advocate”

$153 million

Saints canonized by Pope Francis in a single day on May 12, 2013

815

Estimated total saints in existence

10,000

More Interesting Reads

Grand Central Terminal is radioactive.

Coconut in mailbox

You can mail potatoes and coconuts without a box through the U.S. Postal Service.

Betty Crocker is a made-up character.

Close-up of a patient having an eye exam

You can still see part of your third eyelid.

Some countries have a list of preapproved baby names.

______ was the first saint ever officially canonized, in 993.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

St. Ulrich of Augsburg was the first saint ever officially canonized, in 993.

Advertisement

Placeholder Image

St. Patrick was not Irish (or named Patrick).

Many saints predate the canonization process, which was created in the early Middle Ages. One of these saints is St. Patrick, the holy mascot of that famous day in March. But contrary to popular belief, St. Patrick wasn’t Irish. He was born in Britain around the fourth century CE and given the name Maewyn Succat. Eventually he made his way to Ireland, where he became a Christian priest and took the name Patrick, derived from the Latin word pater, meaning “father.” Patrick’s extensive missionary work did take place on the Emerald Isle (back in the fifth century CE, Ireland mostly practiced a form of Celtic polytheism), but mischaracterizations continue beyond just his name and hometown. Patrick had no documented love of shamrocks or intense hatred of snakes; many of these well-known tales were created centuries after his death.

Darren Orf

Writer

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.

Advertisement

Original photo by h heyerlein/ Unsplash

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.

The largest known bioluminescent creature is the anglerfish.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Oops, incorrect!

It's a fib

While the anglerfish is perhaps the creepiest bioluminescent animal, the “largest” accolade belongs to the Dana octopus squid, with the biggest measuring some 7.5 feet long and weighing 130 pounds. Scientists think the squid uses its lights to blind prey in the dark ocean depths.

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 ultrasensitive 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. At such a low level, human bioluminescence likely isn’t an intentional product of evolution as it is for deep-sea fish, fireflies, and many other animals. And most other bioluminescent creatures rely on a compound called luciferin (Latin for “light bringer”) — which humans lack — for their light show. Fortunately, we have unique ways of making light that are all our own.

Advertisement

Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie

Rotten Tomatoes score for the Netflix comedy-drama “GLOW,” about the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling

93%

Length (in feet) of the bioluminescent giant siphonophore

150

Year Raphaël Dubois demonstrated the first luciferin reaction

1885

Ticket price for the 1971 Grateful Dead show in New Haven, Connecticut, the first concert with glow sticks

$5-$7

More Interesting Reads

Grand Central Terminal is radioactive.

Coconut in mailbox

You can mail potatoes and coconuts without a box through the U.S. Postal Service.

Betty Crocker is a made-up character.

Close-up of a patient having an eye exam

You can still see part of your third eyelid.

Some countries have a list of preapproved baby names.

In antiquity, ______ was the name given to Venus as the morning star at dawn.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

In antiquity, Lucifer was the name given to Venus as the morning star at dawn.

Advertisement

Placeholder Image

The man who discovered the glowing element phosphorus was trying to make gold using human urine.

German merchant Hennig Brand was a dedicated believer in alchemy, a pseudoscience that thought certain elements could be transmuted into gold using what was called a philosopher’s stone. In 1669, Brand focused his attention on turning distilled crystals from human urine into the precious stone. After stockpiling 1,200 fermented gallons of the stuff, he began boiling it. The astonishing result was a white, waxy residue that glowed in the dark, which Brand called phosphorus (Greek for “light bringer,” the equivalent of “lucifer”), and which more fearful folk called the “Devil’s element.” Brand’s moment of discovery was immortalized in Joseph Wright of Derby’s painting “The Alchymist.” The discovery sparked a new era of chemistry and was one of the first new elements discovered by modern science. Brand never found his philosopher’s stone, but phosphorus wasn’t a bad consolation prize.

Darren Orf

Writer

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.

Advertisement

Original photo by Philip Thurston/ iStock

Compared to other members of the animal kingdom, humans are pretty good at tasting things. Our primate biology gives us the ability to detect five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami (or savory). These five basic tastes create the nearly limitless flavor profiles of all the foods we enjoy (or detest) — but not all animals are so lucky. Birds, for example, can’t detect spiciness in foods, which is why a pigeon could munch on a Carolina Reaper without a second thought. Taste also varies widely among mammals, and dolphins and whales may be some of the worst off, because they have devolved to taste only salt. That’s right — these creatures have slowly lost their sense of taste over millions of years.

Taste buds are only on your tongue.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Oops, incorrect!

It's a fib

Humans have between 2,000 and 10,000 taste buds (we lose some as we age), and a majority of them are located on the tongue. However, other parts of the mouth, including the soft palate, inner cheek, esophagus, and epiglottis, also contain taste buds.

In 2014, scientists analyzed the genomes of 15 species of baleen and toothed whales, and found a massive loss of taste receptors across the board. Although these receptors were technically still present, they had been irreparably damaged by genetic mutations. Researchers were particularly surprised by the loss of bitter receptors, as many toxins in the sea have a bitter taste. This slow-but-steady loss of taste is likely tied to how whales and dolphins eat, as they tend to swallow prey whole rather than chew like many fellow mammals do. So while slowly losing their sense of taste is certainly a bitter pill to swallow, luckily these cetaceans can’t taste it anyway.

Advertisement

Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie

Weight (in pounds) of a blue whale’s tongue

5,400

Dolphin species in the world

42

Year the Miami Dolphins became the first (and still only) U.S. football team to achieve a perfect, 17-0 season

1972

Maximum number of taste buds found in catfish, the most of any animal in the world

175,000

More Interesting Reads

Grand Central Terminal is radioactive.

Coconut in mailbox

You can mail potatoes and coconuts without a box through the U.S. Postal Service.

Betty Crocker is a made-up character.

Close-up of a patient having an eye exam

You can still see part of your third eyelid.

Some countries have a list of preapproved baby names.

The world’s largest dolphin species is the ______.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

The world’s largest dolphin species is the Orca (Orcinus orca).

Advertisement

Placeholder Image

Whales and dolphins sleep with only half of their brain at a time.

Whales and dolphins are mammals, and that means they breathe air into lungs just like we do. So without water-breathing evolutionary advantages like gills, how do whales and dolphins sleep without drowning? One big benefit is that marine mammals are much better at holding their breath underwater than us primates. Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), for example, can go 90 minutes without having to come up for air. But over millions of years, whales and dolphins have also developed a few strategies for catching some z’s on the go. Young cetaceans, for example, will swim alongside their mothers and rest within her slipstream. This gives calves time to develop sleeping strategies as well as put on enough blubber to keep them afloat. As adults, whales and dolphins will sleep with half of their brain still operating at a low level of alertness. The other half, along with the opposite eye, is completely asleep. This helps a cetacean keep one eye out for predators, while also periodically breaching the water’s surface to take in gulps of air through its blowhole.

Darren Orf

Writer

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.

Advertisement

Original photo by © Planet Volumes/Unsplash.com

For generations, 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) was considered the standard temperature of a healthy human body. It’s one of the most familiar numbers in medicine, taught in schools and repeated in doctors’ offices around the world. But recent research suggests that today’s average person may run a little cooler.

The 98.6-degree benchmark dates to the mid-19th century, when German physician Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich compiled thousands of temperature readings and established what became the accepted norm. His work was groundbreaking for the time, but modern scientists have since revisited the subject using larger datasets and more precise instruments.

A fever is always a bad thing.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Oops, incorrect!

It's a fib

In many cases, a fever is a sign that the body’s immune system is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. By raising its temperature, the body can make it harder for some pathogens to survive and reproduce.

A 2020 study from Stanford University examined medical records spanning more than 150 years and found that the average body temperature in the United States has steadily declined over time. The researchers concluded that a typical healthy adult today may have a baseline temperature closer to 97.5 to 97.9 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on age, sex, and other factors. That’s around a one-degree drop since the standard was established.

Why the change? Scientists believe it may reflect improvements in overall health. Compared with people living in the 1800s, modern populations experience fewer infections like gum disease and tuberculosis, thanks to advances in sanitation, nutrition, and medicine. That makes the gradual cooling of the human body a possible sign of how dramatically our lives have changed.

Advertisement

Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie

Only temperature at which Fahrenheit and Celsius are the same

-40

Lowest recorded body temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) that a human has survived

53.2

Year Peggy Lee released her hit version of “Fever”

1958

The typical body temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) of most birds

106-109

More Interesting Reads

Grand Central Terminal is radioactive.

Coconut in mailbox

You can mail potatoes and coconuts without a box through the U.S. Postal Service.

Betty Crocker is a made-up character.

Close-up of a patient having an eye exam

You can still see part of your third eyelid.

Some countries have a list of preapproved baby names.

Infants typically have a slightly ______ average body temperature than older children and adults.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Infants typically have a slightly higher average body temperature than older children and adults.

Advertisement

Placeholder Image

Digital thermometers don’t use liquid.

Digital thermometers rely on electronic temperature sensors — most commonly thermistors or thermocouples — that detect temperature by changes in electrical resistance or voltage. The device measures those changes and converts them into a digital reading displayed on a screen, often within just a few seconds. Because there is no glass tube or liquid, digital thermometers can be designed for different measurement sites — such as the mouth, armpit, rectum, ear, or forehead — and they provide quick, easy-to-read results.

Before these affordable and reliable digital alternatives became common in the early 2000s, mercury thermometers were widely used for more than a century. The main reason for the shift was safety; mercury is toxic, and if a glass thermometer breaks, the spilled contents can be difficult and dangerous to clean up. Many countries have restricted or banned mercury thermometers, and international efforts like the Minamata Convention on Mercury have further encouraged reducing their production and use worldwide.

Kristina Wright

Writer

Kristina is a coffee-fueled writer living happily ever after with her family in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia.

Advertisement

Original photo by Maxim Tatarinov/ Alamy Stock Photo

Foods tend to get their names from their appearance or ingredients, but not all are so clear-cut. Take, for instance, the egg cream, a beverage that has delighted the taste buds of New Yorkers (and other diner patrons) since the 1890s. If you’ve never sipped on the cool, fizzy drink known for its chocolate flavor and foamy top, you should know: There are neither eggs nor cream in a traditional egg cream drink.

The first milkshakes had no ice cream.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Oops, incorrect!

It's a fact

Frosty milkshakes are diner standards, served with a side of burgers and fries, though the earliest version of the drink didn’t include ice cream. Invented in the late 1800s, the first milkshakes were a blend of eggs, cream, and whiskey.

According to culinary lore, the first egg cream was the accidental invention of Louis Auster, a candy shop owner on New York’s Lower East Side in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Auster’s sweet treat arrived in the 1890s, at a time when soda fountains had started selling fancier drinks, and it was a hit — the enterprising inventor reportedly sold upwards of 3,000 egg creams per day by the 1920s and ’30s. However, Auster kept his recipe well guarded; the confectioner refused to sell his formula and eventually took his recipe to the grave. The origins of the drink’s name have also been lost to time. Some believe the name “egg cream” came from Auster’s use of “Grade A” cream, which could have sounded like “egg cream” with a New York accent. Another possible explanation points to the Yiddish phrase “echt keem,” meaning “pure sweetness.”

Regardless of the misleading name, egg creams are once again gaining popularity in New York, though you don’t have to be a city dweller to get your hands on the cool refreshment. Egg creams can be easily made at home with just three ingredients: milk, seltzer, and chocolate syrup.

Advertisement

Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie

Eggs produced in the U.S. in 2025

90.1 billion

Year New York musician Lou Reed released “Egg Cream,” an ode to the drink

1996

Gallons of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream served to New Yorkers in 1938

20 million

Year New York favorite Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup was first bottled (26 years before Hershey’s)

1900

More Interesting Reads

Grand Central Terminal is radioactive.

Coconut in mailbox

You can mail potatoes and coconuts without a box through the U.S. Postal Service.

Betty Crocker is a made-up character.

Close-up of a patient having an eye exam

You can still see part of your third eyelid.

Some countries have a list of preapproved baby names.

Servers at soda fountains of the early 20th century were called “soda ______.”

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Servers at soda fountains of the early 20th century were called “soda jerks.”

Advertisement

Placeholder Image

Chocolate syrup was once marketed as a health tonic.

Centuries before it became a dessert, chocolate was employed medicinally. In Mesoamerica, where chocolate originated, cacao was used among Indigenous communities to treat indigestion, fatigue, and even some dental problems. Europeans of the 17th century also consumed chocolate for health purposes, hoping to cure a variety of ailments. By the late 1800s, pharmaceutical publications widely advertised chocolate powders and syrups, promoting them as healthful aids that also masked the bitter flavors of other medications. Brands like Hershey’s began marketing their syrups and chocolates to everyday consumers as health tonics that were wholesome and nutritious — even “more sustaining than meat.” Eventually, however, regulations against dubious health claims and patent medicines, combined with equipment improvements and declining sugar prices, set the stage for chocolate to be considered more treat than tonic, even as some health claims for it have endured.

Nicole Garner Meeker

Writer

Nicole Garner Meeker is a writer and editor based in St. Louis. Her history, nature, and food stories have also appeared at Mental Floss and Better Report.

Advertisement

Original photo by FabrikaCr/ iStock

Canada has Québec, and Mexico has Querétaro and Quintana Roo, but the U.S. lacks a state name that showcases our 17th letter. “Q” is generally said to be the rarest letter in the English alphabet, appearing in only 0.196% of the main entries of the Concise Oxford Dictionary’s 2004 edition, for example. Like “j,” it is absent from the periodic table, and it too is one of the letters that Benjamin Franklin wanted to nix from the alphabet (along with “c,” “w,” “x,” and “y”). Among the 50 states, “j” and “z” are also underutilized, appearing just once apiece, in New Jersey and Arizona.

“Z” was the last letter added to the English alphabet.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Oops, incorrect!

It's a fib

Though it sits at the end of the alphabet today, “z” was not the final letter to be added. That distinction belongs to the letter “j.”

The letter “a” is the one that arises most often when reciting the list of states — it’s featured 61 times in 36 names. Meanwhile, eight states apiece begin with “m” or “n.” One of them, Massachusetts, has the longest state name, at least in its official form, "The Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” Despite its lack of representation when it comes to state toponyms, “q” has fared better in American pop culture exports, which include the likes of Quentin Tarantino, the 1994 film Quiz Show, the musical Avenue Q, and the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Famed musician and producer Quincy Jones’ resume includes 28 Grammy Awards, tying a record for the most received by any living person.

Advertisement

Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie

Percentage of Concise Oxford Dictionary words containing the most common letter, “e”

11%

Year alphabet soup was invented in the United States

1867

Episodes of “Late Night With David Letterman” and “The Late Show With David Letterman,” combined

6,080

Participants who made the largest human letter — a “c” — at the University of California, Berkeley in 2017

7,194

More Interesting Reads

Grand Central Terminal is radioactive.

Coconut in mailbox

You can mail potatoes and coconuts without a box through the U.S. Postal Service.

Betty Crocker is a made-up character.

Close-up of a patient having an eye exam

You can still see part of your third eyelid.

Some countries have a list of preapproved baby names.

Jonathan Larson’s 1996 musical “______” is set in the Manhattan neighborhood of Alphabet City.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Jonathan Larson’s 1996 musical “Rent” is set in the Manhattan neighborhood of Alphabet City.

Advertisement

Placeholder Image

Idaho’s name came from a lie.

George M. Willing wanted his name to go down in history, and in a roundabout way, he succeeded. When the Pike’s Peak gold rush began, the Philadelphia-born doctor was one of the many who tried his luck digging for gold in the territory eventually named Colorado. The details are hazy, but around 1860, Willing suggested that the territory should be called Idaho, declaring (falsely) that it was an Indigenous word from the Shoshone tribe meaning “gem of the mountains.” The name was nearly ratified, until Congress learned that its origin story was fake, and an earlier suggestion, “Colorado” (from the Spanish for “colored red,” originally because of the area’s red sandstone soil), was used instead. Nevertheless, in 1863, the name “Idaho” was assigned to another territory, and eventual state, with officials apparently not knowing — or caring — that the name was only recently made up. However, Idaho Springs, Colorado, endures.

Jenna Marotta

Writer

Jenna is a writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and New York Magazine.

Advertisement

Original photo by Zoonar GmbH/ Alamy Stock Photo

Jiggly, wiggly, and inexpensive — Jell-O has a reputation for being the ultimate affordable and fun dessert. But the moldable treat we’re familiar with today wasn’t always affordable fare for the masses. At one time, its key ingredient — gelatin — was difficult to come by, making any gelatin-rich dish a symbol of wealth and social standing. What’s more, the earliest gelatin dishes weren’t post-dinner treats; in medieval Europe, cooks used gelatin to preserve meats in aspics, making savory jellies similar to modern head cheeses. Extracting gelatin back then was time-intensive: Cooks spent days boiling animal bones and byproducts, then straining the liquid before letting it set into its gelatinous state. This lengthy, involved process meant that gelatin dishes were rarely served at the dinner tables of everyday folks who didn’t employ kitchen staff.

Gelatin is a common ingredient in vaccines.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Oops, incorrect!

It's a fact

If you’ve been vaccinated against measles, chickenpox, or rabies, chances are your shot contained gelatin. The jiggly preservative is used in some vaccines to stabilize ingredients, protecting them from extreme temperatures during storage and transport.

Gelatin’s status as a high-class delicacy would last only a few centuries. Peter Cooper, an inventor who also designed the first American steam locomotive, created a “portable gelatin” in 1845 that was easily reconstituted with hot water. But Cooper was uninterested in marketing his invention, and his gelatin was largely ignored despite its potential success with cooks who yearned for an easier method for making gelatin — such as suffragette and cookbook author Mary Foote Henderson, whose 1876 Practical Cooking and Dinner Giving footnoted her gelatin recipe by saying she’d never again undertake the arduous task of making the stuff. Cooper’s creation was eventually sold to a New York cough syrup manufacturer, who added fruit flavors and branded it with its Jell-O name in 1897. By the early 20th century, Jell-O ads promoted the dessert as a low-cost, high-society wonder, and the Great Depression and World War II solidified Jell-O’s versatility as a budget and rations stretcher — a reputation that has carried on for more than 100 years.

Advertisement

Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie

Optimal chill time (in hours) before adding fruit to molded Jell-O

1.5

Annual sales of Jell-O in the early 1900s, equivalent to $6.2 million today

$250,000

Original Jell-O flavors: orange, lemon, strawberry, and raspberry

4

Year Jell-O introduced cola-flavored gelatin (discontinued later that year)

1942

More Interesting Reads

Grand Central Terminal is radioactive.

Coconut in mailbox

You can mail potatoes and coconuts without a box through the U.S. Postal Service.

Betty Crocker is a made-up character.

Close-up of a patient having an eye exam

You can still see part of your third eyelid.

Some countries have a list of preapproved baby names.

Jell-O is the official state snack of ______.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Jell-O is the official state snack of Utah.

Advertisement

Placeholder Image

Photographers once used gelatin to print photographs.

Gelatin isn’t just for eating — it was once an important ingredient used in 19th- and 20th-century photo developing. Gelatin silver prints emerged around the 1870s, using a specialized photo paper that included a layer of silver salt particles infused in gelatin. The developing process was a photography breakthrough, because it created detailed images with refined clarity that were more stable and durable than other early photographs. Despite their detail, gelatin silver prints didn’t take off in popularity for nearly four decades — until World War I, when war-related shortages of other popular photo papers (specifically those made with platinum) led photographers to experiment with a variety of paper options. Finally recognized for their ability to provide crisp black-and-white images, gelatin silver prints remained popular through the 1970s. While they’re not commercially used today, many of those early photographs live on, giving us crystal-clear glimpses of historical events.

Nicole Garner Meeker

Writer

Nicole Garner Meeker is a writer and editor based in St. Louis. Her history, nature, and food stories have also appeared at Mental Floss and Better Report.

Advertisement

Original photo by Janelle Lugge/ Shutterstock

Sandwiched along the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa is one of the greatest natural wonders of the world (literally). Nearly twice as tall as Niagara Falls, Victoria Falls plunges some 350 feet down into the basin of a vast gorge below. The steady stream of water is so powerful, it’s created a rainforest-like microclimate, because its voluminous spray blankets the surrounding area continuously. Although the world largely knows this wonder as Victoria Falls (after Queen Victoria, naturally), locals have traditionally called it Mosi-oa-Tunya, meaning “The Smoke That Thunders.” The name is arguably a better fit, as the “thunder” of this massive waterfall can be heard from 25 miles away, and its “smoke” (aka water plume) can be seen even farther.

Victoria Falls is the widest waterfall in the world.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Oops, incorrect!

It's a fib

Victoria Falls isn’t the highest waterfall (that’s Venezuela’s Angel Falls) or the widest, an accolade that belongs to the Khone Phapheng waterfall in Laos. That waterfall stretches more than 6 miles wide, whereas Victoria Falls is only a little more than a mile wide.

Victoria Falls is actually several waterfalls in one. On the Zimbabwe side, there’s Devil's Cataract, Main Falls, Rainbow Falls, and Horseshoe Falls, and on the Zambia side lies the Eastern Cataract. If you want to see the waterfall at its most dramatic, visit between February and May when the summer rains, and by extension Victoria Falls itself, are at their highest volume. However, other times of year have plenty to offer, too. Between mid-August and mid-December, daring adventurers can take a dip in Devil’s Pool, a swimming hole that brings those unburdened by acrophobia — fear of heights — to the very edge of the falls’ dizzying plunge.

Advertisement

Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie

Year explorer David Livingstone became the first European to see Victoria Falls

1855

Amount of water (in gallons) that cascades over Victoria Falls per second during the rainy season

300,000

Height (in feet) of Victoria Falls’ mist plume

1,300

Year Victoria Falls and the surrounding parkland became a UNESCO World Heritage Site

1989

More Interesting Reads

Grand Central Terminal is radioactive.

Coconut in mailbox

You can mail potatoes and coconuts without a box through the U.S. Postal Service.

Betty Crocker is a made-up character.

Close-up of a patient having an eye exam

You can still see part of your third eyelid.

Some countries have a list of preapproved baby names.

Victoria Falls is part of the ______ River, the fourth-largest river in Africa.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Victoria Falls is part of the Zambezi River, the fourth-largest river in Africa.

Advertisement

Placeholder Image

Another amazing water feature lies on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia.

Some 150 miles northeast of Victoria Falls is yet another impressive body of water on the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia — an especially notable feat for two landlocked countries. Filled between 1958 and 1963, Lake Kariba is the largest reservoir by volume in the world, stretching a staggering 139 miles long and 25 miles wide. The lake serves as a reservoir that’s created by the Kariba Dam, the largest dam in Africa, and power plants on the dam provide hydroelectric energy for both Zimbabwe and Zambia. Zimbabwe, for example, receives 57% of its annual electricity from the dam. In addition to providing much-needed power, the lake is a tourist destination for both countries.

Darren Orf

Writer

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.

Advertisement

Original photo by MediaPunch Inc/ Alamy Stock Photo

Is there a word for the opposite of writer’s block? If there isn’t, it should be named in honor of Dolly Parton, since the country music legend said she penned “I Will Always Love You” and “Jolene” in one day. “That was a good writing day” is how the beloved and ever-humble star described the process of writing the two eventual Billboard Country Music No. 1 hits in 1972. They remain two of her best-known songs a full half-century later, with “I Will Always Love You” taking on a second life when Whitney Houston covered it for the 1992 blockbuster The Bodyguard. Parton, who used some of her royalties from the cover to invest in a Black neighborhood in Nashville, was a fan of Houston’s version and said she “would’ve loved” to perform a duet with Houston even though “she’d have outsung me on that one for sure.”

Dolly Parton had several tattoos.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Oops, incorrect!

It's a fact

Though she never revealed them publicly, Parton had “a few little tattoos here and there.” The singer apparently scarred easily, and used her ink — including beehives, butterflies, and ribbons — to cover up her scars.

“Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” aren’t the only megahits in history that were written quickly, of course. It took Mariah Carey and songwriter Walter Afanasieff just 15 minutes to co-write “All I Want for Christmas,” while the Beatles’ “Yesterday,” Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance,” the Guess Who’s “American Woman,” and several other famous tunes were all put together in around 10 minutes. But Parton’s songwriting is just one part of her legacy.

Over the course of her decades-long career, the Queen of Country not only established herself as one of the genre’s most important artists but also made her mark as an actress, producer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She starred in films such as 9 to 5 and Steel Magnolias, donated millions to medical research and disaster recovery, opened her own Dollywood theme park, authored several bestselling books for both kids and adults, and championed children’s literacy through her Imagination Library, which sends free books to children around the world from birth to age 5. Parton died at age 80 on August 25, 2026, but the program — which was one of the ventures she held dearest — will live on, along with her vast catalog of music.

Advertisement

Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie

Year Dolly Parton won the first of her 11 Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award

1979

Parton’s No. 1 hits on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart

25

Free books delivered by Parton’s Imagination Library

332 million

Copies sold worldwide of the soundtrack to “The Bodyguard”

45 million

More Interesting Reads

Grand Central Terminal is radioactive.

Coconut in mailbox

You can mail potatoes and coconuts without a box through the U.S. Postal Service.

Betty Crocker is a made-up character.

Close-up of a patient having an eye exam

You can still see part of your third eyelid.

Some countries have a list of preapproved baby names.

Parton’s father paid the doctor who delivered her with ______.

Ready to reveal?

Confirm your email to play the next question?

Please enter valid email.

Parton’s father paid the doctor who delivered her with a sack of oatmeal.

Advertisement

Placeholder Image

Dolly Parton was Miley Cyrus’ godmother.

By the time Miley Cyrus was born in 1992, Dolly Parton had been a country music icon for more than two decades. Thanks to Parton’s close friendship with Miley’s dad, “Achy Breaky Heart” singer Billy Ray Cyrus, she was chosen as Miley’s godmother. “When Miley came along, I said, ‘She’s got to be my fairy goddaughter,’” Parton recalled in an interview. Parton also said that the “Wrecking Ball” singer “just had a light about her” from a young age. The relationship was both personal and professional, and Parton appeared on Hannah Montana with her goddaughter several times.

Michael Nordine

Staff Writer

Michael Nordine is a writer and editor living in Denver. A native Angeleno, he has two cats and wishes he had more.

Advertisement