The first foreigner to become a samurai was an African slave.
26
On Titan, Saturn's largest moon, the atmosphere is so thick and the gravity so low that humans could fly through it by flapping "wings" attached to their arms.
7
Passengers on the Beijing subway can pay with plastic bottles.
29
Scientists have revived a flowering plant from a fruit stored away in permafrost by Arctic ground squirrel 32,000 years ago.
16
Rather than use CGI, Tim Burton had 40 squirrels trained to crack nuts for Charlie & The Chocolate Factory.
16
There is a fruit called The Miracle Berry that, when eaten, causes sour foods to taste sweet, and has been used to treat diabetes, among other things.
13
Leonardo Da Vinci made a robotic lion in 1515 that would walk, sway, open its mouth and move its tail - it even had a compartment that opened to present flowers.
22