Interesting Things with JC #226: "Hedy Lamarr" is often recognized as an early Hollywood starlet, with film credits such as "Algiers" and "Boom Town." As an inventor, Lamarr made significant contributions to radio and technology and systems. During World War II, she invented a radio-guidance system for torpedoes. The frequency-hopping technology has been used to develop Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

For more information on this and other amazing stories, please visit - https://www.womenshistory.org

The A-12 was a high-altitude, Mach 3+ reconnaissance aircraft built for the US CIA by Lockheed's Skunk Works under project Oxcart. The plane was a one seater with a payload of 2500lbs, 101ft long with a wingspan of 55 feet (31x17 meters). Able to hold 10,590 US gal of fuel, weighing 117,000 lb (53k kg) with dual Pratt & Whitney JT11D-20B turbine engines.

Interesting Things with JC #220: "The Great Auk" - While the Great Auk wasn't technically a penguin, it certainly looked like one, and in fact, it was the first bird to be loosely called a penguin. One significant difference, is that true penguins are restricted to the southern hemisphere, especially the fringes of Antarctica. The Great Auk lived along the farthest reaches of the northern Atlantic Ocean.

Interesting Things with JC #219: "Disc Harrows" are farming implements, or tools, used to prepare the soil for planting or sowing crops. They are pulled behind tractors and break up the clods and surface crusts on your land. This helps improve soil granulation and weed destruction. While plowing cuts, granulates, and inverts the soil, creating furrows and ridges, disking breaks up those clods and surface crusts. Let's find out more!

Interesting Things with JC #218: “Elephants” - The word “elephant” comes from the Greek word “elephas” which means “ivory”. The elephant brain is remarkably similar to the human brain, with as many neurons and synapses, as well as a highly developed hippocampus and cerebral cortex. There is a movement called the wooly mammoth revival that seeks to bring the species back to life through the genes of the Asian elephant.

Interesting Things with JC #217: "Spring Equinox" - On the vernal equinox, the first day of spring, the direct rays of the Sun are shining down on the equator producing the effect of equal day and night. After the vernal equinox, the direct rays of the Sun migrate north of the Equator, as the earth slowly tilts.

Interesting Things with JC #216: “Black Parrot of Seychelles” - The black parrot or the Praslin parrot is a bird found only in the Praslin island of Seychelles. Although it is the national bird of Seychelles and a protected species, the black parrot is threatened outside its native habitat.

Interesting Things with JC #215: “Giant Tortoise of Seychelles” - Historically, giant tortoises were found on many of the western Indian Ocean islands, as well as Madagascar, and the fossil record indicates giant tortoises once occurred on every continent and many islands with the exception of Australia and Antarctica.

The four leaf clover is one of the most common good luck symbols of the Western world. An independent study carried out by Swiss researchers looked at 5.7 million clovers and found that the likelihood of finding one four-leaf clover was one in 5,076.

Countries to the north and south of the tropics, see sunrise much earlier and sunsets much later in summer, than these regions do in winter. On most farms, this isn't a problem. People and animals just shift their habits as the hours of daylight shift. In most cities, the amount of energy used to make artificial light and heat becomes costly, if they don't shift their routines. This is where William Willett, the godfather of Daylight Savings comes in.

Lead glass, commonly called crystal, is a variety of glass in which lead replaces the calcium content of a typical glass. In past decades, it was a popular material used to create decorative vases and bowls as well as crystal glasses and decanters. Lead glass is also known as X-ray glass or radiation shielding glass as one of its major applications is in the absorbance of high energy radiation while maintaining optical transparency. Also, lead glass has a lower thermal conductivity than lead-free glass. Interestingly, even though stained glass windows are a type of leaded glass, industry experts often use them separately to create distinction between the two.

Camels have three eyelids. Two of the eyelids have eye lashes which help protect their eyes from sand. The third is a very thin lid which works as a sort of "windshield wiper" to clean off their eyes. It closes/ opens from side to side rather than up and down.

On February 28th 1827 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became the first steam-operated railway in the United States to be chartered as a common carrier of freight and passengers. All thanks to Peter Cooper as well as the B&O railroad.

Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine, it was later commercialized as a condiment. Did you know ketchup also has alleged values beyond condiment status today?

It's the surface of an object that reflects some colors and absorbs all the others. We perceive only the reflected colors. Perceived color depends on how an object absorbs and reflects wavelengths. Human beings can only see a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, from about 400 nm to 700 nm, but it’s enough to allow us to see millions of colors!

It's a sophisticated platform "brain", providing robots with real-time, agile, reactive control. When combined with robotics, the system provides 3D plant recognition and grasping, enabling robots to properly pick and pack sorted strawberry plants.

Interesting Things with JC #184: "Blue Whale Heartbeat" - A 2019 study unveiled surprising facts about the heartbeat of the blue whale, Earth's largest animal.

Nicolaus Copernicus was a 16th century Renaissance-era world famous Polish astronomer, who proposed that the Sun is the center of the solar system and that the planets circle the Sun. Copernicus also noted that Earth turns once daily on its own axis and that very slow long-term changes in the direction of this axis account for the precession of the equinoxes.

Depending on your beats per minute, your heart beats about 100,000 to 115,000 times a day. There are 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body. That's enough to go around the world twice! A normal heart pumps about 4 tablespoons of blood with each beat.

The peanut is a member of the bean or legume family and not a nut, studies suggest that people who eat peanuts or tree nuts frequently have lower rates of heart disease compared with people who don't eat them. While almonds grow on trees, they're actually not a nut either... They're a seed found inside the almond fruit!... But that's an interesting story for another time.

Please visit peanut-institute.com for more information on this amazing bean!!!