Facts & History

  Former Secretary of State George C. Marshall speaks on the second anniversary of his address at Harvard University where he outlined the Marshall Plan. He told his audience of representatives of the Marshall Plan nations, “There is much yet to be done.” President Harry Truman listens intently, left. It took Secretary of State George…

  Uncovering the woman behind Dorothea Lange’s famous Depression-era photograph.   It’s one of the most iconic photos in American history. A woman in ragged clothing holds a baby as two more children huddle close, hiding their faces behind her shoulders. The mother squints into the distance, one hand lifted to her mouth and anxiety…

  You probably know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Well, so does the moon — most of the time. Technically, the moon rising can actually vary depending on the phase of the moon and the time of the year, according to the Farmers’ Almanac. That means it could rise in…

  During Prohibition, gay nightlife and culture reached new heights—at least temporarily.   On a Friday night in February 1926, a crowd of some 1,500 packed the Renaissance Casino in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood for the 58th masquerade and civil ball of Hamilton Lodge. Nearly half of those attending the event, reported the New York Age, appeared to…

  Though Clinton admitted the policy was “not a perfect solution,” he presented it as a “major step forward” from the existing ban.   In 1993, when President Bill Clinton signed the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” into law, it represented a compromise between those who wanted to end the longstanding ban on gays serving in the…

  Monday is the only day of the week that is an anagram for single word, that word being “dynamo”. It’s a universally recognized fact that Mondays suck. What’s worse than hauling yourself out of bed and mourning the death of the weekend? Only to then make the long commute to work where you sit…

  Wondering how to improve your digestion? Our tips will help you to ease gas and bloating, increase your good gut bacteria and improve your overall wellbeing When it comes to how to improve your digestion, there are lots of things you can do to improve your gut health and keep your digestive tract running…

  Want to try a quick and fun experiment? Ask a few friends or family members to join you in a simple task: write out the first couple of lines of a favorite song or poem. When you’re all finished, set the papers in a row and compare them. Does everyone’s handwriting look the same? Or is it easy to distinguish each person’s handwriting from the others?…

  Before we get into today’s Wonder of the Day, let’s try something out. Grab a pencil and paper. Got them? Okay, now hold the pencil in the hand you usually write with. Write your name on the piece of paper. Well, that was easy! But now, switch. Hold the pencil with your other hand,…

  The bevy of diets available to consumers is overwhelming from Slim-Fast to the acai berry diet, there always seems to be a new diet hitting the market. But, as many people struggling to lose weight already know, dieters that follow fad diets are rarely successful. Even when a diet leads to weight loss, the…

  Sports executive and civil rights champion Effa Manley was a passionate advocate for baseball players from the Negro leagues.   Effa Manley, the only woman in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, was an advocate for Black athletes, a passionate supporter of baseball in the Negro leagues, a champion for civil rights and equality…and far…

  Ease muscle tightness from home with a trigger point massage If you’re searching for relief from tight muscle knots, a trigger point massage could be just the solution. Targeting knots or ‘trigger points’ in your body, a trigger point massage helps to soothe tightness and relieve pain. Knots tend to form due to repetitive…

    Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an abolitionist, human rights activist and one of the first leaders of the woman’s rights movement. She came from a privileged background and decided early in life to fight for equal rights for women. Stanton worked closely with Susan B. Anthony—she was reportedly the brains behind Anthony’s brawn—for over…

  On April 2, 1931, minor leaguer Jackie Mitchell fanned the Yankees’ sluggers in an exhibition, a feat widely celebrated. But was it a stunt or legit?   In the depths of the Depression, Joe Engel, the “Baron of Baloney,” would do almost anything to promote his minor league baseball team. The owner of the Chattanooga…

    May 9th observes Moscato Day & Lost Sock Memorial Day. We are now on the 129th day of the year, congratulations for making it this far into 2022. There are 236 days left until next year. This day in history was certainly a day of firsts covering many areas like health, transport and much more.…

  Did you know that Lennie Small from “Of Mice and Men” is based on a real person who was in an asylum in California? The 1937 publication by John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, is a timeless story of life and liberty. The 107-page novella follows the four-day adventure of George and Lennie as they…

  The oldest lighthouse still operating in the US is located at Sandy Hook Unit in New Jersey and was built in the 18th century. Most commonly nicknamed “The Garden State,” New Jersey was the 3rd state to join the United States of America on December 18, 1787. It has a population of 8,882,190 people (as of…

  Computers. Smartphones. Jewelry. Skyscrapers. Automobiles. Look around you! Everywhere, you’ll see objects that couldn’t exist without metal. Can you imagine life without this strong, shiny substance? Even the human body needs metal! It uses cobalt to make red blood cells. Zinc helps the immune system. High levels of mercury and copper can cause major problems. Even your…

  Picture it: You’re walking through your favorite store. You browse the video games, then turn the corner. There they are. At the end of the aisle. Gleaming in the fluorescent light. The headphones your parents won’t buy for you. You understand that they’re expensive, but you just want these headphones so badly. Looking around, you realize you’re alone…

  Have you ever heard someone talk about “the calm before the storm”? If you’ve seen storms up close, you know there’s usually nothing calm about them! So what are people talking about? The calm — sometimes called a lull — before the storm is a common phrase. It refers to a period of peace or rest that comes…

  The cornerstone of feminism and gender equity at large is the issue of choice. Starting in 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Enovid for sale with a doctor’s prescription, introducing the first birth control pill onto the market. Soon after, in 1964, the Civil Rights Acts prohibited employment discrimination based on sex, establishing legal precedence for women to…

  From everyday violence to acts of terrorism and acts of God, many of us are weary from the seemingly relentless accounts of atrocities and acts of selfishness happening in the world around us. Spending the day reading the news, you might not guess that humans are, to some extent, predisposed to acts of kindness and feelings…

  In 1962, famed American pollster Gordon Gallup surveyed 1,813 married, white women around the country for a snapshot of contemporary middle-class motherhood. From their responses, some of which were filtered through husbands uncomfortable with their servile spouses speaking publicly, Gallup concluded that housewives enjoyed the plum position in society. Unlike their male counterparts who had…

  Have you ever WONDERed how doctors diagnose their patients? What about how mechanics find out what’s wrong with a car? The truth is, these two occurrences often have something in common. They both employ Occam’s Razor. Have you ever heard someone say, “Keep it simple”? That’s the basic idea behind Occam’s Razor (or Ockham’s Razor). It’s…

  Every first Saturday in May is the Kentucky Derby, when the first race in the Triple Crown series is run at Churchill Downs in Louisville. It’s a storied horse race, with traditions like big hats and cocktails, specifically the mint julep. This Churchill Downs staple — a cocktail with bourbon, fresh mint, ice, sugar and…

  If you’ve been WONDERing with us for a while, you already know a bit about DNA. You may know it influences many things about you, including your eye color. Maybe you’ve read that scientists could one day edit DNA. Perhaps you’ve even learned that your DNA can make music. You probably also know that DNA makes up your genes and…

  Some people called him “Arriba.” Others nicknamed him “The Great One.” He was a talented baseball player and the pride of Puerto Rico. That’s right, we’re talking about Roberto Clemente! Who was Roberto Clemente? Only one of the greatest baseball players of all time! Clemente was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, on August 18, 1934.…

  If you could travel anywhere in the world, what would you choose? Would you visit the top of the Eiffel Tower? Hike in a cave full of glowworms? Maybe you’d climb Mauna Kea. Or perhaps, you’d visit Jellyfish Lake! Where is Jellyfish Lake? It’s on the Palau archipelago, about 400 miles (650 kilometers) north of New Guinea. This string of…

  Do you practice your golf swing after school? Maybe you meet your friends for soccer practice. You might work on cheerleading or dance routines. Or perhaps you’d rather watch sports than take part in them. Either way, sports are a huge part of schools today. But has it always been that way? Try to imagine a world…

  Humans consume 100 billion bananas annually. For many of us, it was one of the first solid foods we ate. We’re so enamoured with bananas that we’ve written songs about them: Bizarrely, bananas are mentioned in music more than any other fruit is. So, what if we discovered that one day in the not-too-distant future, this familiar staple…

  Do you dream of floating in a sea of chocolate syrup? How about strolling through a forest of chocolate candy bars? Maybe you love the smell of brownies in the oven. If you’re a chocolate lover, there’s one type of candy you’re unlikely to resist—fudge! Of course, fudge comes in many flavors other than…

  Have you ever watched a meteor shower? How about a solar eclipse? Maybe you’ve seen a comet soar overhead. Stare up at the sky long enough, and you’ll certainly see some pretty cool stuff! Sometimes, though, science has difficulty explaining things people see in the sky. If you’ve been WONDERing with us for a while, you…

  Want to keep your performance high? Here’s what causes muscle fatigue and how to avoid it To understand what causes muscle fatigue, it’s worth looking at what exactly muscle fatigue is. If you exercise regularly, you may be familiar with the sensation of a dull ache in your muscles or experienced a feeling of…

  If you’re a person who isn’t a hardcore political junkie, you may find yourself bewildered by how the three main parts of the U.S. government continually seem to be butting heads instead of working together on solutions to the nation’s problems. But, as we’ll see, the government was structured in three parts for a…

  Flowers are some of the most commonly purchased items in the United States on the second Sunday in May. Indeed, Mother’s Day is like the Black Friday of the floral industry — about 30 percent of American adults bought blooms to celebrate the day according to the Society of American Florists. It’s also the most popular day…

  Humans spend a lot of time studying other animals. As they do so, many scientists realize people have a lot in common with the rest of the animal kingdom. For example, many animals form ordered societies, much like humans do. A pack of wolves follows an alpha. Some baboons inherit social status from their parents. Even chickens follow…

  You may have heard there’s still money in real estate. It sounds interesting, but all the same, you’re a bit confused by the ins and outs of the market. What are REITs? What’s the minimum down payment for a house so I don’t have to pay PMI? And you know there are scams out there. Is…

  If you’ve ever heard the slogan “A Diamond Is Forever,” then a 1940s marketing campaign is still doing its job. The line was coined by De Beers Group, a jewelry company credited with almost single-handedly popularizing diamond engagement rings. De Beers spent decades building a global empire (some would call it a “cartel“) around diamond mines in countries like South…

  It’s one of the most popular building materials in the world. It’s fire resistant and stands up to moisture. It gets stronger over time and is used to build roads, bridges, and tunnels! What’s today’s Wonder of the Day? Concrete, of course! Concrete is everywhere. Look around you. Do you see any concrete? If you’re in a school, it’s…

  Despite his phobia, the five-star general built the U.S. Air Force The two young Army lieutenants had spent the night in Duxbury, Mass., after being forced to land their seaplane in Plymouth Bay because of high winds. The next day, August 12, 1912, the aviators prepared to resume their flight from Marblehead on Massachusetts’…

  Think of the last time you disagreed with another person. Maybe you argued with a sibling over what to watch on TV. Or perhaps you tried to convince grown-ups that ice cream makes a better dinner than vegetables. How did your disagreement end? Were you able to see the issue from the other person’s perspective? In many situations, disagreements are inevitable. They’re part of life.…

  In the 1950s, psychologist Abraham Maslow published his hierarchy of needs. This construct looks a lot like the food pyramid issued by the USDA in the 1960s. But instead of food groups, Maslow’s pyramid consists of five blocks representing human needs. At the base are the most basic needs, such as food, water and shelter. The middle blocks are more…

  When it comes to sex traits, brains are consistently inconsistent Are differences between men and women reflected in their brains? For centuries, scientists would have said yes—and they’ve been searching for evidence of those differences since long before the invention of the MRI. Now, the debate has taken an interesting twist: New research suggests that…

  In December 2016, San Francisco Bay real estate broker Irene Weisman crossed the country for Date With Destiny, a six-day immersive seminar with Tony Robbins, self-help author, entrepreneur and perhaps one of the world’s most well-known motivational speakers. It was the second Robbins event she’s attended in her year of devoted fandom. The annual event…

  This summer, the Boy Scouts of America celebrate their 100th anniversary, and the U.S. Postal Service has unveiled a spiffy new stamp to honor the organization.One of my favorite Scouting quotes comes from Janice Hudson’s Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse. Hudson worked for many y… This summer, the Boy Scouts of…

  Have you ever played 18 holes? Did you finish under par? Maybe you even shot a hole-in-one. Many people agree that a round of golf is a great way to spend a sunny day. If that includes you, then you’ll likely recognize the name at the center of today’s Wonder of the Day. Who are we…

  What games do you like to play in your free time? Many kids jump right to their favorite video game after school. Others head out to play a game of sports. Some might even go outside for a fun game of hide-and-seek. But for others, there’s nothing like a competitive board game. Reading the words “board game,” many people…

  What are the most exciting two minutes in sports? Is it the last two minutes of the Super Bowl? Maybe those of Olympic gymnastics? Could it be the last two minutes of the Stanley Cup? No, the most exciting two minutes in sports are during the Kentucky Derby! The Kentucky Derby is the most well-known horse race…

  A University of Chicago scientist thinks the hormone pregnenolone might reduce lonely people’s fear of connecting—and their risk of serious health problems To truly understand the insidious nature of loneliness, it helps to think about snakes and sticks. So suggests Stephanie Cacioppo, a University of Chicago scientist and a leading researcher on the subject. “Have…

The 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote was named for Susan B. Anthony, as was a world record-holding ship. What else don’t you know about this famous leader of the Suffrage movement? 1. She Was Not at the 1848 Woman’s Rights Convention At the time of that first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, as Elizabeth Cady Stanton later…

Although Black History Month is observed each February in the United States, many people are not familiar with how or why it was created. To understand Black History Month, you have to look back to early 20th-century historian Carter G. Woodson. As the son of formerly enslaved people and the second African American to receive a…

  Ancient humans may have evolved to slumber efficiently—and in a crowd On dry nights, the San hunter-gatherers of Namibia often sleep under the stars. They have no electric lights or new Netflix releases keeping them awake. Yet when they rise in the morning, they haven’t gotten any more hours of sleep than a typical…

  From the ‘I Ching’ to an upcoming Netflix rom-com, interactive fiction dares us to decide what happens next The new Netflix original horror movie Choose or Die turns on an interactive computer game called “CURS>R,” which resembles a classic ’80s adventure program in which a user inputs text to move the story forward. Naturally, there’s a twist—the protagonist…

  Have you ever WONDERed how doctors diagnose their patients? What about how mechanics find out what’s wrong with a car? The truth is, these two occurrences often have something in common. They both employ Occam’s Razor. Have you ever heard someone say, “Keep it simple”? That’s the basic idea behind Occam’s Razor (or Ockham’s Razor). It’s…

  The words “In God We Trust,” a controversial phrase that some argue should be kept off of our currency, has appeared on all forms of U.S. money since 1963, although the history behind the motto dates back much further. In 1861, Rev. M. R. Watkinson, a Pennsylvania minister, wrote to Secretary of Treasury Salmon…

  Has it always been this way? In the United States, the average life expectancy for women is 81 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For men, it’s 76 years. Around the world, women live longer, on average. So why do women tend to outlive men? Two of the main causes are…

If you nibble on a mint leaf, you might notice that it makes your mouth feel cool. That’s because mint, much like chili peppers, is a biochemical success story — for plants, at least. The evolutionary marvel lies in special molecules that these plants produce: capsaicin in chilies, and menthol in mint. Scientists think the…