It was accepted practice to castrate certain inmates in 'lunatic asylums' in some parts of America until quite recently. These unfortunate individuals lived on average fourteen years longer than their intact companions.

The land area of Greece is slightly smaller than Alabama.

To escape the Earth's gravity a rocket need to travel at 7 miles a second.

Medieval Knights put sharkskin on their sword handles to give them a more secure grip.

An area off the east coast of Japan called 'Devil's Sea' is one of two places on Earth where a compass points towards true north rather than magnetic north.

The Chauvet caves in Southern France were discovered in 1994 and have the most ancient cave paintings in the world. These are 30,000 years old and include images of animals such as owls, panthers and hyenas, not seen before on cave walls.

The Doppler means that the wavelengths of light radiated (or reflected) from a moving object are moved downward or upward on the frequency spectrum. These measurements were the first clue that the universe is expanding.

Time magazine named the computer its "Man of the Year" in 1982.

The most common type of halo is caused by light passing through a shower of very small crystals which float in space with random orientations. These form a ring around the sun (or moon) at a distance of 22 degrees from the light source.