All facts — Page 80

There is a city called Rome on every continent except Antarctica.

The original Rome inspired many settlers worldwide to name their new towns after the iconic Italian capital.

The national animal of Scotland is the Unicorn.

Chosen for its association with purity, innocence, and chivalry, the unicorn has been a Scottish symbol since the…

The shortest war in history lasted only 38 minutes.

The Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 ended so quickly that Zanzibar surrendered before the British ships even finished…

There are more possible iterations of a game of chess than atoms in the universe.

After just 4 moves by each player, there are 288 billion different possible positions on the board.

Venus is hotter than Mercury.

Despite being further from the Sun, Venus has a thick atmosphere full of greenhouse gases that trap heat, reaching…

Sliced bread was invented by an American engineer.

Otto Frederick Rohwedder invented the machine to slice and package bread in 1928. The invention was an immediate…

The largest per capita consumer of Coca-Cola in the world is Iceland.

Iceland has the highest per capita consumption of Coca-Cola in the world. It is estimated that each Icelander drinks…

The largest living organism on Earth is a fungus.

Located in Oregon, USA, the 'Humongous Fungus' covers over 9 square kilometers and is thousands of years old.

Coffee has been banned in several countries.

Throughout history, coffee has been banned in several places, including Mecca in the 16th century and Prussia in the…

Coffee was discovered by a goat herder in Ethiopia.

According to legend, Kaldi noticed that his goats became energetic after eating the red berries of a shrub. He took…

Wombat poop is cube-shaped.

Their intestines stretch differently, forming the waste into cubes so it doesn't roll away, which helps them mark…

Chocolate was used as currency by the Maya.

The Maya used cocoa beans as currency for exchange. A rabbit was worth about 10 beans, and a slave could cost 100…

There are more plastic flamingos in the world than real ones.

The iconic pink lawn ornaments were created in 1957 and became so popular that their numbers far exceed the real…

Real wasabi is extremely expensive and rare.

Real wasabi (Wasabia japonica) is an extremely difficult root to grow and very expensive. Most restaurants serve a…

The most expensive cheese in the world is made from donkey milk.

Pule, produced in Serbia, requires 25 liters of Balkan donkey milk to make a single kilo, justifying the prohibitive…

The tomato is legally a vegetable in the US.

In 1893, the US Supreme Court decided that, for customs import tax purposes, the tomato would be classified as a…

Pepper was once used to pay rent.

During the Roman Empire and in the Middle Ages, black pepper was so valuable that it was accepted as currency for…

Ice cream was invented in China 4000 years ago.

The ancient Chinese mixed mountain snow with milk, rice, and spices to create one of the first frozen desserts in…

Coffee has hundreds of aromatic compounds.

A green bean contains about 800 volatile compounds that, after roasting, transform and release the complex aroma we…

The original Coca-Cola had coca leaf extract.

The 1886 formula contained extracts of kola nut and coca leaves, which included small doses of the plant's active…

Vanilla is the 2nd most expensive spice in the world.

It requires manual flower-by-flower pollination and a long drying process, making it extremely expensive (surpassed…

Cheese is the most stolen food in the world.

Retail statistics indicate that cheese leads the list of stolen products, due to its high resale value and ease of…

A pineapple takes two years to grow.

The tropical fruit requires a long maturation cycle on the plant, taking about 24 to 36 months until it is ready to…

Apples float in water.

About 25% of an apple's volume is air (empty spaces between cells), which gives it a lower density than water.