In 1799, a boy found a 17lb. rock in a creek in North Carolina and used it as a doorstop. It was actually gold.
34
The world's first Buddhist ruler, Emperor Ashoka, who ruled India from 274-232 BCE, was the first ruler in human history to ban slavery, the death penalty, animal cruelty, and deforestation. He even advocated gender equality in education and religious institutions.
32
Leonardo Da Vinci predicted the mass use of solar energy as long ago as 1447.
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France’s King Louis XIV was offered biological weapons by an Italian chemist. He not only refused, but also paid the chemist an annual salary to never reveal the technology to anyone else.
21
It's still possible to see the division between East and West Germany due to different light bulbs.
5
Scientists have revived a flowering plant from a fruit stored away in permafrost by Arctic ground squirrel 32,000 years ago.
16
50 years ago Cheerios were called Cheerioats.
99
An underwater forest off the coast of Alabama that is 50,000 years old was uncovered by Hurricane Katrina.
16