Astronauts who return from space are 3% taller than when they left. Because of the lack of gravity, they are taller, and their cartilage discs expand in microgravity. You stand higher in the morning because your spine has been free of gravity's downward pull for 8 hours. The rest also allows your spinal disc cartilage to plump up, making you taller!

Before colour television was introduced, only 15% of people dreamt in colour. Older people dream in black and white more often than younger people.

Color is one of the most dignified characteristics that define a crystal, aside from mineral quality and structure. The colour also defines the type of stone and how it can be used. Pink or green crystals, for example, including the famous rose quartz, are used for emotional healing, whereas other colours are useful and applied elsewhere. Before purchasing a crystal, it may be beneficial to better understand its colour and application so that you get the most out of it.

The Artist' may lead the film pack this year, with 12 Academy Award nods, but the most nominated movies of all time garnered a whopping 14 nominations. First up was the black and white film All About Eve in 1950. 50 years later, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio's doomed love story 'Titanic' sank all competition.

In comparison to other cookware, earthen pots are heat-resistant, support slow cooking, and use less oil during cooking. So, as you consume less oil and more nutritious foods, the earthy flavor of your food is accompanied by the goodness of health.

A goat herder in Ethiopia is said to have discovered coffee in the 1500s. He noticed his goats munching on coffee cherries. He noticed a change in their behaviour after that; they gained a lot of energy and didn't sleep at night. The herder informed the local monks of his findings. They realised they could stay up all night praying after making their own drink from coffee beans. The news quickly spread to other Ethiopian monks and then to the rest of the civilised world.

Chamomile tea is antispasmodic, thus it may aid with period pains. According to a study published in the Iranian Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Infertility, 40 women reported fewer cramps and lower anxiety after drinking chamomile tea twice a day during the luteal and menstrual phases of their cycles (two weeks before their period and when you actually bleed).

Protein in your body aids in skin texture improvement, and collagen alone accounts for 30% of total protein in the body. The protein in your body repairs skin tissues and promotes cell growth. Amino acids in the body help to keep skin cells hydrated and moist by locking moisture into the skin. It also makes your skin soft, healthy, and bouncy.

Sri Lanka's flag, popularly known as the Lion Flag, is one of the world's oldest, going back to 162 BC. It is also claimed to be the world's only flag that recognises diverse religious views, with the bo leaves signifying Buddhism, orange representing Hinduism, and green representing Islam.

Bile acids are the detergents in bile, the digestive liquid made by the liver. Without these detergents, you couldn’t digest or absorb fats. And, just like dish detergent, they make fat mix well with water, and only then can digestive enzymes break down the fat for absorption into the bloodstream.

If you ask someone to list three things that are uniquely Russian, they will most likely mention cold, communism, and, of course, vodka. It should come as no surprise that the Russians were overjoyed when the Third Reich fell after being punched almost all the way to Moscow by the Nazis and battling their way back to Berlin. The Soviet Union was enveloped in jubilation and street celebrations that lasted for days and days — even non-drinkers regarded this as reason enough to join in the fun. That is, until the nation's vodka stockpiles were depleted. Only 22 hours after the festivities began. The countrywide hangover has now begun...

In 1895, the Frenchmen Auguste and Louis Lumière are credited with creating cinema. They applied for a patent for their Cinématographe, a device that could not only capture moving pictures on film but also display them on a screen. This breakthrough transformed the entertainment business, giving rise to the modern film industry as we know it today.

Among all the animals, termites are among the best builders. They build enormous mounds that tower over the ground, and they use the tunnels therein to move between their nests and their source of food. When compared to termites' relative size, one mound that was found in Africa was an incredible 42 feet high. That is approximately the height of a two-story structure!

The Earth is not a perfectly symmetrical sphere. It also has many lumps and bumps in the shape of mountains and deep gorges. The Earth's composition is also not consistent around the world. Different types of rock, mineral concentrations, and geography all work together to create pockets of varying average density all over the place. This has an immediate impact on gravity at various locations on the Earth's surface.

It is dependent on the species of flatfish in issue. Some flatfish are toxic, whereas others are not. The easiest approach to find out whether a specific species of flatfish is toxic is to consult a reputable source of information on the subject.

Despite the fact that many cartons advertise that their eggs are hormone-free, this is a standard claim. It's the same as saying water is wet. This is because, in the 1950s, the FDA prohibited the use of hormones in all poultry production. As a result, no hormones will ever be found in chicken eggs.

There are between 32 and 45 different species of rattlesnakes known to science, and Arizona is home to many of them. 
This includes the sidewinder rattlesnake, which is renowned for its horns and side-winding movements, as well as the western diamond-backed rattlesnake, which is the largest rattlesnake in the West. Four species are under special protection in Arizona, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department: the massasauga rattlesnake, the twin-spotted rattlesnake, the ridge-nosed rattlesnake, and the rock rattlesnake.

The 37th President of the United States (and the only president to resign from office) was a gifted musician. He was a multi-instrumentalist who could play the piano, saxophone, clarinet, accordion, and violin.

Blue eyes and red hair are the most unusual combination on the planet. The majority of (natural) redheads have brown eyes, followed by hazel or green.

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.

Stringed instruments, such as the violin, have a series of stretched strings on them. When you press down on one of the strings, its length changes and it vibrates at different frequencies, producing varied sounds. A brief stroke on a metallic string produces a loud sound, whereas a long stroke produces mellow music. The thickness of the string is also important, as it controls the strength of the sound.

The Vatican is the only nation that has been listed as a World Heritage site on its whole. It was added to the list in 1984. The list contains both the city of the Vatican and extraterritorial sites in Rome, such as St. Peter's Basilica and Saint Mary Major.

Want to know why these earthen pots—which we also mentioned above—are the best for cooking and are even recommended by health professionals? Because earthenware is porous by nature, it helps your food retain heat evenly. They require more time to cook than usual while keeping the moisture and nutrients in the food inside the pot. Along with the combination of slow cooking, they also impart an earthy flavor to your dish.