Mercury has been known since about the third millennium B.C. The planet was given two names by the Greeks: Apollo, for its apparition as a morning star, and Hermes as an evening star. Greek astronomers knew, however, that ...Read More

The official time ball for the U.S. is on top of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. As early as 1845, the U.S. Navy dropped a time ball every day at noon from atop a building on a hill overlooking Washington, D...Read More

The hum of a hummingbird comes from the super-fast beat of the wings. The smallest ones beat their wings the fastest - up to 80 times per second. Even the slower beat of bigger hummingbirds (20 times per second) is so fast...Read More

Absinthe is often referred to as la Fee Verte ("The Green Fairy") because of its coloring - typically pale or emerald green, but sometimes clear. Due to its high proof and concentration of oils, absintheurs (absinthe ...Read More

Blaise Pascal, the 17th-century French mathematician, said that if Cleopatra's nose had been differently shaped – aquiline, for instance – or if Cromwell's bladder had not been obstructed and he had lived longer, the ...Read More

George Washington had two ice cream freezers installed at his home in Mount Vernon.