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.

The Library of Congress in Washington DC is essentially both the national library of the U.S. and the country's oldest federal cultural institution. Though it consists of only three buildings, it is the largest library in the world with more than 170 million items.

The Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division holds 600,000 volumes in the non-Roman script languages of the region. The oldest written material in the Library is a cuneiform tablet dating from 2040 B.C.

With 491 kilometers of coastline, Poland is one of the most unique surfing countries in the world. The nation has no access to the ocean, only skirted by the frigid Baltic Sea. In order to get waves for surfing, Polish riders have to wait for strong onshore winds to build swell, followed by a brief period of cross or offshore winds.

In Poland, the wind comes from a westerly direction roughly two-thirds of the time - spring and autumn storms provide particularly good surfing conditions.

China officially ended its one-child policy on January 1, 2016, with the signing into law of a bill allowing all married couples to have a second child as it attempted to cope with an ageing population and shrinking workforce.

Mary Sawyer, an 11-year-old girl in Boston, was followed to school one day in 1817 by her pet lamb, and she remembered her lamb all her life. The hand-reared lamb had little affection for its fellow sheep, preferring horses and cows as companions. But above all, the sheep loved Mary. It's attachment to Mary was similar to that of a lamb to it's own mother.

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!!!

The bowl had to contain 100 grams of pasta (uncooked weight) and at least 50 grams of sauce.

Every noodle entering the mouth had to be delivered via fork. You could use fingers to push noodles onto the fork, but could not lift or otherwise manipulate the bowl to facilitate noodle consumption.

26.69 seconds later, setting a Guinness World Record, Michelle Lesco easily surpassed the old mark of 41 seconds set four years ago by Canadian Pete Czerwinski for pasta eating.

Known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean, 40 miles off the coast of southeast India in the Indian Ocean within the Bay of Bengal. Sri Lanka is 25,332 mi², just slightly larger than the US state of West Virginia. Scholars actually believe that Sri Lanka and India were once connected by a land bridge thousands of years ago, but it has since been washed into the ocean.

Buddhism is Sri Lanka's major religion, practiced by over 70% of the population. Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity make up the remainder. If you're looking for one of the most diverse, highest concentration of cultural spots within a small area, look no further than Sri Lanka.

The SS Richard Montgomery is an American warship from the second world war that sunk in the river Thames just outside of London. Her cargo contains 1400 tonnes of dynamite and other explosives. If the ship ever explodes, it will take the city with it. On board is an assortment of more than 9,000 US-made explosives (around 1,400 tones). These include 286 giant 2,000lb ‘blockbuster’ bombs, 4,439 1,000lb devices and more than 2,500 cluster bombs. Cluster bombs would have been transported with their fuses in place, leaving them more prone to accidental detonation.

On February 3rd, 1863 Samuel Clemens used the pen name Mark Twain for the first time in a Virginia City newspaper, the "Territorial Enterprise". Before using the pen name Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens had previously used the names “Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass”, “Sieur Louis de Conte”, “John Snook” and just “Josh”.

Groundhogs are the largest species in the squirrel family. Other names for groundhogs include woodchucks, whistle-pigs and land-beavers. On average groundhogs are 20" long with 6-7" tail, and weigh about 6-12 lbs. Their average lifespan in the Wild is 3-6 years.

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The Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year, is always celebrated on the second new moon after the Winter Solstice. In 2022 this falls on February 1st, when we will usher in the Year of the Water Tiger.

In ancient times, the Chinese legend goes, the Jade Emperor held a race among all the animals. The 12 first animals to cross the finish line would get to be honored forever as the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac.

Tigers are known as a symbol of strength and bravery, and people born in the year of the Tiger are said to have these traits as well. 2022 is going to be a good year for Tigers to get married, fall in love, or get promoted!

STS-107 was the disastrous 113th flight of the Space Shuttle program, and the 28th and final flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 16 January 2003 and during its 15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes, 32 seconds in orbit.

On February 1st, Columbia began re-entry as planned, but the heat shield was compromised due to damage sustained during the initial ascent. The heat of re-entry was free to spread into the damaged portion of the orbiter, ultimately causing its disintegration and the loss of all on board.

Columbia was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in March 1979. Two years later, April 12, 1981, it lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center to become the first shuttle to fly in orbit.

The crew of its final voyage were 3 Mission Specialists; David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, a Payload Specialist and Commander; Ilan Ramon and Michael Anderson, Shuttle Commander; Rick Husband, and Shuttle Pilot; William McCool.

Arlington National Cemetery is the home of a Columbia memorial which is dated and has an outline of a Shuttle.

Laughing synchronizes the brains of both speaker and listener so that they become emotionally attuned. It also relaxes the whole body, even just watching people laugh activates the brain to prepare facial muscles to join in!

The tea bag was invented accidentally when New York merchant Thomas Sullivan sent out tea samples in silk bags and customers put them directly into teapots.

When temperatures dip into the 40s and 30s green iguanas in south Florida fall from the trees.. It's become such a concern that there are falling iguana warnings on the news! Iguanas can grow up to 6ft and 26lbs, so this isn't a small concern!! (3min audio)

January 10th, 1992 - A container ship from Hong Kong was trapped in a terrible storm. As the waves tossed the ship around, 29,000 rubber duckies escaped their container but were reclaimed by Davey Jones. Believed to have been lost at sea, they began washing ashore, and they are still finding land all over the world 30 years later!

Cats have fewer toes on their back paws. They have five toes on the front, their foreleg. One of these toes is the dewclaw which sits higher up on the foot and does not actually come into contact with the ground. Some cats can have more toes than you can count!

The Ozarks are an incredible region of the United States, popularized by tourism and the Netflix series. It's home to a rich history as well as vast and unique population, with interesting local folklore. One such story is that of the Blue Man who is believed to have made this region home.

KongThong is located in a beautiful lush region of Meghalaya. It's in this village that a unique language based on music exists. When a child is about to be born, the mother starts preparing a unique tone for her child. No two people have the same tone and is inspired by the sounds of birds and nature. They use this for their whole life to communicate.