Long before it was used on New Year's Eve, a ball dropped from the top of England's Royal Observatory in Greenwich at 1 p.m. every day (beginning in 1833) to assist ship commanders in coordinating their navigation equipment. Similar balls have been installed in coastal places across the world.

They can tell the difference between warm-blooded and cold-blooded creatures and exclusively hunt the latter. In fact, in the natural, they would aggressively shun humans. As a result, they have never and will never kill a human. The sea lamprey's natural nature is to cling to things, such as the glass wall of its tank, the pebbles on the sea (or lake) floor, and so on. As a result, if one is put up to a human, it will most likely latch on like a leech. Its suction is quite forceful and can be extremely painful, putting intense pressure on the area of contact. While the bite is eventually unpleasant, no one has to be concerned unless they intentionally introduce the sea lamprey.

What does breast milk have that formula does not? Antibodies from the mother, which can aid in the battle against illnesses. This could explain why, according to one study, 86 percent of breastfed babies survive to the age of one without becoming ill, while only 14 percent of formula-fed babies do.

A well-known traditional treatment for all health problems, turmeric milk (haldi wala doodh) clarifies your skin and gives it a healthy glow. It is also recognized for removing sunburns and can help with uneven skin.

Glass, contrary to popular belief, is not a solid... liquid... or gas. Glass cools to form a "amorphous solid," which allows molecules within the glass to continue moving.

Glass is one of the most durable and resilient man-made materials.

There's a reason why it's called the "sunshine vitamin." According to Harvard Health Publishing, a molecule in your skin converts to vitamin D3 when the sun's ultraviolet B light strikes you. Your kidneys receive vitamin D3 from your liver and convert it into an active form that can be utilised by your body.

Its exact position is uncertain, and experts are divided on whether it ever existed at all. Those who believe it existed agree that it was most likely located in what is now Poland's Wollin. Others debate this position, but all agree that Jomsborg was on the Baltic coast, between Poland and Germany. According to mythology, Jomsborg existed during the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. According to mythology, King Magnus the Good eventually destroyed it in 1043. A gold disc discovered in 2014 that references the stronghold and King Harald Bluetooth is one piece of historical evidence supporting Jomsborg.

Despite the look of these primates in films like King Kong, they are not nearly as fearsome as their appearance suggests. Gorillas are highly gentle and live in groups. They just consume plants. Despite their benign demeanor, humans must exercise caution around gorillas because they are considerably stronger than humans and could endanger a person's life if the gorilla feels threatened.

Red hair never greys; instead, it fades to white via rose gold when the time comes.

The tallest people in the world live in the Netherlands. The average height for Dutch men is 183cm (6ft), while women average 171cm (5ft 7in). According to military records, the average male height in the Netherlands has risen by 20cm in the last 200 years. This fun fact about the Netherlands remains a mystery, as the reason for their height is still uncertain. Some theories attribute Dutch genetics, universal healthcare, low social inequality and a diet rich in cheese and dairy products.

Insomniacs are frequently prescribed sleeping medications. According to the National Sleep Foundation, one in every four Americans takes sleeping medication each year. Sleep specialists, on the other hand, lack evidence for drugs that help cure insomnia. They place a greater emphasis on cognitive therapy lessons for patients in order to help them sleep better.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that even with the best instruction on how to use an inhaler (holding the device directly up to your mouth), a significant amount of the drug still ends up reaching the tongue rather than the lungs. As a result, an inhaler may have more negative effects and fewer positive ones. Using a spacer, a piece of plastic that fits between the inhaler and your mouth and allows the medication to fully aerosolize so that it can be drawn into the lungs, is the simplest approach to get more medicine inhaled.

Without a single piece of wreckage being found, the riddles of what happened to almost a hundred distinct planes remain a mystery to this day. Nobody knows where they went or what happened to the planes that vanished.

Butterscotch is created using brown sugar, whereas caramel is made with granulated sugar. Caramel is just sugar that has been cooked and melted until it is dark but not burnt. The key distinction between the two is that butterscotch has a deeper flavour due to the addition of brown sugar.

Yogurt has helpful bacterial cultures that can help boost immune system activity.

Although cold weather might shorten a butterfly's already brief life by rendering it immobile, others see the reduction in temperature as a signal to move. Butterflies are cold-blooded and require a body temperature of about 85 degrees Fahrenheit to activate their flying muscles. When the weather begins to change, some species will simply migrate in search of sunlight. Some, such as the North American Monarch, travel 2,500 kilometers on average!

Denmark is one of the happiest nations in the world, therefore it may come as a surprise that there is no literal equivalent for the word please in Danish, according to VisitDenmark. Even though there is no word for please in Danish, you should still be polite.

Netflix has some really cool and unusual work policies. As long as the employees schedule their work ahead of time, they are allowed to take as many leaves as they want. And no prizes for guessing, they get a free Netflix subscription. 

The iguana has a third eye called the parietal eye. This pale-colored eye is positioned on the top of the head. It cannot distinguish between forms or colours, but it can detect light and movement. This allows the iguana to detect predatory birds from above.

If you happen to be in Key West, Florida, for the holidays, stop by the Bourbon St. Pub, where each new year is greeted by a massive shoe. Sushi, a local drag queen, climbs into an oversized piece of footwear and is (carefully) dropped from a balcony every December 31. Meanwhile, Eastover, North Carolina residents have taken to dropping 30-pound ceramic fleas on the last night of the year. In North Carolina, the town of Mount Olive (home of the Mt. Olive Pickle Company) holds a New Year's Eve "Pickle Drop," in which a giant pickle slides down a flagpole.

This doesn't make much sense, but it happened in a society riddled with superstitions. 'Evidence' such as appearances in a dream was sufficient to file a case against someone.

At a time when it was considered impolite to show a toilet being flushed on screen, Alfred Hitchcock saw an opportunity to add even more shock to his already shocking film by presenting a scrap of paper that proves to be an important clue, failing to flush in a toilet. The clue in the book was an earring discovered in the bathroom, but Hitchcock changed it to a piece of paper found in the toilet, partly to give viewers a surprise.