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Fact of the Day
Archive

These twelve Fact-of-the-Day entries were randomly selected from our archive for your enjoyment. Use the fields below to search for a specific entry or date.

March 12, 2017
Hearing is one of the less acute senses in humans, compared to the many other animals which can detect sound at much higher and lower frequency than humans can. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
August 13, 2016
The attempts to find cures for the Black Death plague started the momentum toward development of the scientific method and the changes in thinking that led to the Renaissance. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
March 31, 2023
The first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize was Jane Addams (1860–1935). She is also considered to be the founder of the social work profession in the United States. Provided by FactRetriever.com
April 22, 2012
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, with an estimated population of 125 - 145 million people. Egypt is the second most populous country with over 76 million people. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
February 13, 2010
The most common cause of death for American women is heart disease, which causes just over 27% of all mortalities in females. Cancer ranks just below, causing 22% of female deaths. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
July 22, 2015
Research clearly indicates that children as young as age 5 who continually observe bullying that goes unchecked or ignored by adults are at greater risk of becoming bullies themselves. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
September 19, 2017
Though U.S. pharmacist John S. Pemberton invented Coca-Cola in 1886, his bookkeeper, Frank Robinson invented the name. Robinson had beautiful handwriting, and his flowering script is still used today. - Provided by FactRetriever.com
July 10, 2014
In 1995, Hiroyoki Gotu memorized 42,195 places of pi and is considered the current pi champion. Some scholars speculate that Japanese is better suited than other languages for memorizing sequences of numbers. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
May 09, 2014
When tasting wine, hold the wine in the mouth for a moment or two and then either swallow it or, preferably, spit it out, usually into a spittoon. A really good wine will have a long aftertaste, while an inferior wine will have a short aftertaste. - Provided by RandomHistory.com
December 18, 2011
The sun sneeze is called 'photic sneeze reflex' which occurs in one-sixth to one-quarter of the population. Nobody is sure what causes it, but there are many nerves in your head and there can be leakage from one nerve pathway to another, which could cause a sneeze from looking at sunlight. - Provided by Reference.com
December 10, 2011
The story of the use of personal names is sketchy. The origin of language itself, about 1.5 million years ago, also is believed to mark the use of first names to distinguish one man from his neighbor. The oldest surviving personal name is believed by archaeologists to be En-lil-ti, a word that appears on a Sumerian tablet dating c 3300 BC, found outside Baghdad in 1936. If, however, that was the name of a deity, then the true first person name is attributed to N'armer, the Father of Men, Egypt's first pharaoh, c 3000 BC. The custom of family (surnames) names did not really arise until the 11th century in Europe. Prior to the 11th century a surname, if used at all, represented the name of a primitive clan or tribe. The science of names is called onomastics. - Provided by Reference.com
February 16, 2012
The present system of color coding was developed by the railroads during World War I, though the use of these particular colors for the same meanings goes back further. Red, the color of blood, has been a danger signal since early times; even Roman legions used a red banner for Mars, the god of war. The other colors have changed over time. Originally red meant stop, green caution and white go. The white signal was easily confused with normal light, so it as changed. The railroads decided to drop white and make green go and yellow caution, the latter presumably because it was readily visible and offered the most striking contrast to the other two colors. The first traffic signals (Cleveland 1914) used just red and green. In the early 1920s, in Detroit, they started using the three colors we use today. - Provided by Reference.com





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