Category Archives: Fun Facts

Happy Birthday, Aspirin

We like to think that our ancestors were pretty limited when it came to available medications, but that’s not entirely true.  Granted, they didn’t have the modern miracle drugs, but they did have their own arsenal of remedies.  I saw this first-hand in Egypt where I learned how effectively inhaling vapors from mint extract in

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Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Whenever I try to write rhyming poetry, a strange things happens — it sounds very Seussian.  I didn’t plan it that way, but the similarity is unmistakable.  But I shouldn’t be surprised, because Dr. Seuss has been influencing kids for eighty years now. March 2 was the good doctor’s birthday.  In tribute, here is his

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Do Animals Dream?

You may have wondered if you pet can dream like you do.  Is there any way to find out? There may be.  When we dream, we’re in Rapid Eye Movement  (REM) sleep, when your eyes move rapidly and there’s lots of electrical activity in the brain. (By the way, REM sleep was  discovered in 1953.) 

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Can Coffee Slow Aging?

I’ve never liked coffee.  My mother made a cup for me when I was about ten years old, and I hated it.  But I could be missing out. First, is coffee bad for you? Today most researchers say no.  In fact, a recent study published in the journal Nature Medicine found that older people with

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How To Win A Bet You Lost

This is too good a story not to repeat. You know there is a lot of gambling around major sporting events, including high-profile and fun wagers between politicians and cities.  For this year’s Super Bowl, the zoos of Atlanta and Roger Williams Park in Rhode Island took things a step farther.  They bet with each

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The Up Side of Depression?

One of the pitfalls of modern life is depression.  According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, “depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States. In 2014, around 15.7 million adults age 18 or older in the U.S. had experienced at least one major depressive episode in the last

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