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Learn Something Interesting - Education & Personal Development
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Learn Something Interesting: The Reason Human Beings Evolved to Become Bi-Pedal
There is evidence that between 6,000,000 - 10,000,000 (6 million - 10 million) years ago, grasslands expanded across landscapes, creating vast open savannas, whilst tall grasses continued to remain dominant within wetter environments. These novel environments influenced the movement and adaptation of early human beings. It is theorized by scientists that human beings walked out…
Learn Something Interesting: The Architecture Which is Most Resilient to Earthquakes
During the Chilean earthquake of 2010, very short buildings (e.g. 3+ stories) and very tall buildings (e.g. 25+ stories) were virtually unaffected, with the bulk of damage pertaining to buildings which were 10 - 20 stories high. The reason why shorter and taller buildings are able to withstand earthquakes with greater chances of survival is…
Learn Something Interesting: The Reason Europeans Began Consuming Coffee During the 16th Century
Coffee was initially referred to as a drink only consumed by the devil and frowned upon until Pope Clement VIII tried it and changed his opinion which changed Rome, Italy's stance. Coffee was seen as the devil's drink because it was the drink of the Muslim and therefore by default the infidels with whom Christians…
Learn Something Interesting: The First Assassination With a Firearm
The first assassination using a firearm was of James Stewart the Earl of Moray, in 1570, who was assassinated by James Hamilton. Hamilton stalked Stewart for weeks, following him from Perth, Scotland to Stirling, Scotland, and finally pouncing when in Linlithgow, Scotland. Hamilton was well prepared, hanging a black cloth textile behind him so that…
Learn Something Interesting: How Plants Produce Food Via Photosynthesis
If a leaf is magnified 1000x, green bacteria like structures can be observed, referred to as "chloroplasts," which are packed into virtually every cell of a plant. These chloroplasts behave like bacteria, retaining their own deoxyribonucleic acid, and are only 5000ths of 1 millimeter (0.005 millimeters or 5 micrometers) in diameter. It is inside chloroplasts…
Learn Something Interesting: The First Female Sculptor Within Italy During the Renaissance
Properzia de Rossi, who was born in Bologna, Italy in 1490, aspired to become a sculptor and was the first female marble sculptor within Italy during the Renaissance of the 16th century. Although de Rossi left no diaries, fragments of her early work are still available during the modern day. Despite marble sculpting being viewed…
Learn Something Interesting: The Viking Runic Alphabet
The Vikings used runes upon their grave stones, weaponry, jewelry etc. which is a carved, angular and twisted writing, typically found with some kind of animal like the snake, which the Vikings were particularly fond of. The runic alphabet has 24 letters, nearly as many as the English alphabet which has 26 letters. The runic…
Learn Something Interesting: The Caribbean Village of Biological Males Born Without Male Genitalia
There is a village in the Dominican Republic called Salinas, in which 1 in 90 of the people born are born as males, with testicles, but without a penis, because of misconstrued instructions at birth. In males, the gene on the Y chromosome, specifically the Sex Determining Region Y (SRY), instructs the gonads to become…
Learn Something Interesting: The Color of Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Cleopatra’s Skin
Cleopatra VII, the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, was of Macedonian descent, which makes her Greek, as her family was established by Ptolemy I, a soldier who later became a General within Alexander III's military force, a person more commonly referred to as "Alexander the Great". The Ptolemies practiced interfamily marriage, meaning siblings, or more…
Learn Something Interesting: The North Korean Government Executing Convicted Persons for Minor Criminal Offenses
North Korea is the only country on the world which kills its citizens for making unauthorized international telephone calls. Many assassinations have been made for similar reasons such as sleeping on the job as was the case when 1 person was killed, defaming Kim Jong Un's wife as was the case when 9 people were…
Learn Something Interesting: The Fallacy of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte Being Short in Stature
Napoleon Bonaparte was not actually short in stature, in fact he was of average height. This misconception stems from paperwork being written about Bonaparte which states that he was 5’2″, written as 5 pieds 2 pouces within France during the early 19th century, but it was from a French town which used an antiquated unit…
Learn Something Interesting: The Reason Mercury’s Orbit Around the Sun Appears Retrograde From Earth
Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity can be proven because of how Mercury orbits the Sun. Isaac Newton correctly explained how and why planets orbit the Sun, but because Mercury is so close to the Sun, it orbited its center star 7% faster than it should have therefore Mercury is close enough to the Sun that…
Learn Something Interesting: The Lush Forests of Australia and Antarctica During the Mesozoic Period and the Reason Antarctica Became Cold
Both Australia and Antarctica were once fused together as part of the supercontinent Gondwana, neither being an arid and hot landscape nor a cold desert but instead a vast and lush forest, larger than the Amazon Rainforest, spanning thousands of kilometers in size. The reason Antarctica is no longer temperate and forested is because in…
Learn Something Interesting: How Wedding Ceremonies Worked Within Europe During the Medieval Period
Medieval weddings were carried out much the same as they are during the modern day with any witnesses present being provided 3 distinct opportunities to object to the marriage with the most common objections being that the parties involved were too close in relation by blood and/or the age of the bride was too young…
Learn Something Interesting: The Reason Japanese Samurai Shave the Top of Their Head
The practice of “chonmage” (pronounced “chon-mah-geh”) which means “tied knot on top” in Japanese is the reason Japanese samurai shaved the tops of their heads, in a pattern reminiscent of male pattern baldness. Japanese Samurai shaved the top of their heads in this particular style for both pragmatic and symbolic reasons. The shaved portion of…
Learn Something Interesting: How Armor Was Decorated During the Medieval Period
Armor was embroidered during the Medieval period by using oil and lead paint to mark off ornate areas which would stand out and perhaps be decorated with gold or other precious metals in a process referred to as “gilding”. Gold does not easily bind to any type of metal and the only way to properly…
Learn Something Interesting: The First Human Beings to Migrate to North America
The first people to arrive in North America are suspected to have arrived 15,800 years ago. Sea levels were much lower because of polar ice caps being frozen, which allowed modern day Siberia and Alaska, United States of America, to be connected. How migration occurred is still debated, with some scholars hypothesizing that walking whilst…
Learn Something Interesting: The Reason Women Were Forced Into Caretaking Roles Throughout History
In early hunter gatherer societies, women played a crucial role in providing sustenance within their communities. Women were responsible to gather fruits, nuts, and roots, developing extensive knowledge of plant life, seasonal patterns, and medicinal herbs as these are all necessary skill sets for foraging. As societies expanded in order to sustain their growing populations,…
Learn Something Interesting: The Problem With Super Massive Black Holes
Super massive black holes have a fundamental problem in that not enough time has passed since the creation of the universe to account for their massive size. This acute time crunch is because the universe has a finite value of only 13,700,000,000 (13.7 billion) years. It is theorized that the reason super massive black holes…
Learn Something Interesting: The Volatile Temperament of Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ was known to be confrontational when his message was not being understood correctly. Christ was not adverse to conflict and was not as mild and reconciling as he is portrayed during the modern day, in fact there are accounts in which he cursed fig trees for not bearing any fruit and cursed entire…
Learn Something Interesting: The Reason the Catacombs of Paris, France Were Created
There are over 300 kilometres of underground passages underneath Paris, France as underground quarries were made due to the large demand of stone it took to build the city. The catacombs beneath Paris hold nearly 6,000,000 (6 million) human skeletons. During the 18th century, death was quite common and the cemeteries quickly filled up. As…
Learn Something Interesting: The Development of Lock Hospitals Within England for Female Sex Workers During the 19th Century
Due to the fact that sexually transmitted infections and diseases were rampant among English soldiers, in 1864 novel legislation entitled the Contagious Diseases Act was passed which permitted any woman suspected of prostitution as young as 13 years of age, to be forcibly examined by a physician. Institutions referred to as “lock hospitals” were established…
Learn Something Interesting: The Reason Life Upon Earth Migrated From the Ocean Onto Land
Billions of years ago when the first living organisms started harnessing the energy of the sun through photosynthesis, they began producing a waste product which was oxygen. When oxygen rises high up into the atmosphere, it transforms into ozone which is why the Earth has a thin protective layer of ozone which alongside the magnetic…
Learn Something Interesting: The Annual War Campaign of the Assyrian Civilization
The Assyrians were masters of war, as war underpinned their society, economy, and civilization. The Assyrians would collectively gather each year to attack and plunder any neighboring states unlucky enough to be within striking distance. This tradition was viewed by the Assyrians as a time of harvest, with vegetables being replaced with the plunders and…
Learn Something Interesting: The Condition of the Earth After the Chicxulub Asteroid Collision Which Caused the Extinction of Dinosaurs
Immediately after the Chicxulub Asteroid collided with the Earth, heat from the fireball produced reached temperatures of 5500 degrees Celsius and produced a shockwave which broke the speed of sound, causing gale force winds equivalent to a hurricane. Everything within 965 kilometers was instantly decimated. Within 11 minutes of impact, the sky began to darken…
Learn Something Interesting: The Celebration of New Year’s Day Within Medieval Europe
Within Medieval Europe, January 1st was not widely celebrated as the secular New Year’s Day holiday it is regarded as during the modern day. Instead, January 1st was observed as the Feast of the Circumcision of Jesus Christ in Christian liturgical calendars, a date which commemorates the circumcision of Christ, which according to Jewish custom,…
Learn Something Interesting: One Person Can Change the World Via the Gift of Charity
It is often said that one person cannot make a difference, but on December 19, 1843, Charles Dickens released A Christmas Carol, with charitable donations skyrocketing seemingly overnight as the book became a best seller and sold out by Christmas Eve of that same year. A Christmas Carol has gone on to become one of…
Learn Something Interesting: The Insect Used to Produce Ink Throughout History
The andricus kollari wasp in particular has played a significant role throughout human history as it is one of the main ingredients of ink. Crushed andricus kollari wasp galls are crushed and mixed with water, then added to crushed iron sulphate and gum Arabic to produce a cost effective and extremely long lasting ink. This…
Learn Something Interesting: How Flames Were Artificially Produced for Opera Productions During the 18th Century
During the 18th century within opera and theater productions, stage doors which would lead a character to Hell achieved simulating the flames of Hell with brandy which would be placed into a container and lit on fire due to the fact that during the period, brandy was the brightest glowing flame available because of it’s…
Learn Something Interesting: The Inability of the U.S. Government to Enforce Safety Regulations for Firearms and the Consequences of This
In the U.S., firearms are one of the few products which are exempt from federal consumer product safety regulations. This exemption derives from the Consumer Product Safety Act of 1972 which explicitly prevents the Consumer Product Safety Commission from regulating firearms and ammunition. As a direct result, there remains no federal agency responsible for ensuring…
Learn Something Interesting: Italian Explorer Christopher Columbus Leveraging Astronomy to Manipulate the Indigenous Taíno of Jamaica
During Italian explorer Christopher Columbus' 4th voyage and while still stationed upon the island of Jamaica in the Caribbean, Columbus' crew and flotilla did not have the supplies necessary to travel back to Europe. Columbus appealed to the indigenous Taíno people of the island and requested they share their resources. The Taíno informed Columbus that…
Learn Something Interesting: The Toxicity of Tanneries During the French Revolution
One of the largest contributors to pollution during the French Revolution was the work of tanneries, which converted what is essentially animal skin, into leather goods. First the hide was immersed in an alkaline lime and water solution for up to 3 weeks, then it was brought out and shaved for both the hair on…
Learn Something Interesting: The Advent of the Steam Engine Permanently Changing the World
Scottish mechanical engineer James Watt taught himself engineering and at age 27 he invented the modern steam engine. Watt was inspired by a pot of tea which he observed boiling, as the lid of the kettle would move when excessive heat had built up. Watt realized from this encounter that steam power may have the…
Learn Something Interesting: The Correlation Between Cats and the Bubonic Plague of Europe
During the Middle Ages and up until the Salem Witch Trials, cats were killed alongside their owners who were believed to be practicing the dark arts of magic, sorcery, and witchcraft. Typically cats were burned alive in ceremonial bonfires. Ironically, had this not occurred, the Bubonic Plague probably wouldn’t have been as prolific as it…
Learn Something Interesting: How U.S. Teacher Amos Bronson Alcott Influenced the Educatuonal System of the Modern Day During the 19th Century
Amos Bronson Alcott, a man once described as the most intelligent person of his era, developed the concept of recess for students as well as the concept of raising ones hand in class. Alcott believed in desegregated classes, mixing both Caucasian and African American students during the 19th century. Alcott fulfilled his dream of opening…
Learn Something Interesting: The Largest Mass Extinction of Life Upon Earth
There have been 5 mass extinctions throughout Earth’s tumultuous history. 99.9% of all species which have ever lived on Earth have gone extinct. 252,000,000 (252 million) years ago, Earth suddenly turned toxic to life. Nearly 96% of species worldwide, rapidly became extinct, a period referred to as the "Permian-Triassic Extinction Event", and less often called…
Learn Something Interesting: The Argument Against Private Corporation Umbilical Cord Blood Storage
Canadian Blood and Tissue Bank Insception Life Blood claims that 80 life threatening diseases (e.g. various cancers, metabolic diseases, immune diseases etc.) can be treated with umbilical cord blood, and that these diseases have been treated with success for over 2 decades, with over 45,000 pediatric transfusions worldwide. The majority of these transfusions however were…
Learn Something Interesting: The Center of the World and the Reason It Will Not Exist During the 22nd Century
Kiribati (pronounced “kir-ah-bas”) in the Pacific Ocean is in the center of the world because it is the only country which is in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere as well as the east and the west of the International Date Line; no other country has that designation. Kiribati is located upon the equator, which historically…
Learn Something Interesting: Inventions and Discoveries Developed Simultaneously Throughout History
In 1922, a pair of Columbia University sociologists named William Ogburn and Dorothy Thomas published a paper entitled “Are Inventions Inevitable?” which stated that Ogburn and Thomas discovered 148 examples of documented simultaneous invention. This phenomena occurred in 1876, when Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray filed for a patent for the telephone on the…
Learn Something Interesting: The Reason the Coriolis Force Does Not Affect the Way Water Flows Within Drainage
Both clockwise and counterclockwise flowing drains can be found regardless of the hemisphere in which they are observed. The Coriolis force is too weak to affect such small bodies of water, which is why this occurs. The effect is more measurably observed in large bodies of water like the ocean which is where hurricanes and…