Tom Crist, a lottery winner from Canada, made one of the most generous charitable donations by a lottery winner in history. After losing his wife to cancer, Crist won a lottery and pledged to donate all of his winnings to organizations fighting the disease. As Canada does not tax lottery winnings, Crist was able to […]
North Dakota’s Law Promotes Local Ownership of Pharmacies
North Dakota has effectively eliminated corporate chain pharmacies by implementing a law that mandates pharmacies to be owned by licensed pharmacists. This means that corporations owning pharmacies must be majority-owned by licensed pharmacists. It is worth noting that this law was enacted in 1963 as a response to concerns about the unethical practices of chain […]
The Self-Healing Power of Roman Concrete
Roman engineers created structures that have withstood the test of time thanks to the use of lime clasts in their concrete. Unlike modern concrete, which often deteriorates within a few decades, Roman concrete exhibits remarkable durability due to its self-healing properties from lime clasts. As a result, ancient wonders like the Pantheon and aqueducts still […]
Raccoon Invasion: The Unintended Consequences of Pet Imports in Japan
In 1977, the airing of an anime based on the book Rascal in Japan led to the importation of thousands of North American raccoons as pets, which were eventually released into the wild and have since become an invasive species in the country. As a result of the raccoon population explosion in Japan, government officials […]
Mississippian World Tree: A Cosmological Concept Similar to Norse Mythology
Similar to Norse mythology, the Mississippian Native Americans held a cosmological belief system that involved a World Tree. Their World Tree was a central element of their belief system, and it was believed to be a conduit between the upper and lower worlds. The tree was considered to be the axis of the world, and […]
Castaway Huts: Essential Survival Aid on Isolated Islands
Governments deliberately place castaway huts or depots on isolated islands to provide stranded people with essential supplies and tools. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the New Zealand government constructed the majority of these huts. Interestingly, the huts were designed to withstand harsh weather conditions, and they were built with materials that could withstand strong […]
DARPA’s Study on Coffee Spillage and Human Biomechanics
The US Department of Defense invested $170,000 in a study to investigate the causes of coffee spillage while walking. The findings revealed that any low-viscosity liquid could spill when exposed to human biomechanics, not just coffee. The study was part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) quest to understand human movement and to […]
Heinrich Hertz’s Discovery of Radio Waves and Legacy
Heinrich Hertz, the German physicist, is known for discovering electromagnetic waves, which we now know as radio waves, in 1887. However, when asked about the practical applications of his discovery, he replied, “Nothing, I guess.” He was more interested in studying the fundamental properties of electricity and magnetism. Hertz died at the young age of […]
The Age Perception Shift: Feeling Younger Than We Are
As per the concept of “Subjective Age,” most children and adolescents perceive themselves as older than their actual age, however, this flips around the age of 25, and by 30, around 70% of people feel younger than their chronological age, with the gap between the two increasing with time. Interestingly, research has shown that feeling […]
Jack Kirby: From Captain America to Military Scout
Jack Kirby, co-creator of Captain America, was assigned the dangerous duty of drawing reconnaissance maps and pictures as a scout during WWII, which influenced his later work as a comic book artist.