President Ronald Reagan designated the rose as the national flower of the United States on November 20, 1986. He did this while standing in the White House's famous Rose Garden. Roses are also the official flower of Georgia, Iowa, New York, North Dakota, and Washington, D.C.

According to swissinfo.ch, Switzerland has one of the greatest shares of internationals among other nations, accounting for around 24.6% in 2015. More over 80% of foreigners in Switzerland are from Europe, with nearly half coming from France, Germany, Italy, and Portugal alone. Switzerland leads the European immigration countries, with 19 arrivals per 1000 population on average in 2014, considerably ahead of Germany (11), the United Kingdom (9.8), Spain (6.6), and France (5.1).

The Netherlands has one of the highest home birth rates in the developed world. Around 30% of Dutch women deliver their babies at home, and this figure has changed little since 1990. So why are home births still cherished in the Netherlands? It’s partly because Dutch health insurance fully covers home births, but doesn’t always cover hospital births without medical necessity. The Dutch medical system also has a good screening system and provides midwives (verloskundige) who help mothers have a safe delivery at home.

The Nepalese Himalayas are the confluence of three major Asian river systems: the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, and the Yamuna. The Himalayas also has the world's third-largest ice and snow depository.

The ancient Indians employed four methods to calculate the duration of a year: 'Nakshatra,' 'Savana,' 'Lunar,' and 'Saura.' Saura was one tropical zodiac-based technique for defining the seasons: equinoxes, solstices, year half, and months in connection to the (six) seasons. Saura calculates the length of a year to be exactly 365 days, 6 hours, 12 minutes, and 30 seconds.

Domestic cats are usually considered to be quite small and dainty creatures. But did you know the world’s longest cat was a Maine Coon called Stewie which was measured at 48.5 inches? Whereas, the record for the tallest cat belonged to Arcturus at a whopping 19.05 inches tall! Those are some big cats.

The concept of mindfulness, or living in the now and paying attention to what is going on around you, is often connected with Buddhism, however, the word itself may not accurately reflect the meaning intended. "Most Buddhist experts think that the term "mindfulness" is a severe mistranslation of the word "sati," explains Crystal Beckwith, a Reiki practitioner and energy coach. "In reality, Buddhism is about an empty mind; sati is best described as mindfulness." Learn how to be more attentive in your everyday life.

Experts believe the Portland Vase was created in Rome between AD 5 and AD 25. The Vase is currently housed in the British Museum and has been there for over 200 years.

Iguanas have a lifetime of 12-15 years on average. A healthy iguana, on the other hand, may easily live for more than 20 years if properly cared for. Iguanas are generally long-lived reptiles that may bring years of entertainment to their owners. 

Leonardo was born on 14/15 April 1452 at a farmhouse outside the hamlet of Anchiano in Tuscany, the son of Ser Piero, a rich Florentine notary, and Caterina, an unmarried peasant woman. They had 12 other children with other partners, but Leonardo was their sole kid together. Because of his illegitimacy, he was not expected to follow in his father's footsteps and become a notary. He was instead free to pursue his own interests and enter the creative arts.

St. David's in Pembrokeshire is the world's smallest cathedral city, with a population of only 2,000 people. It is also the only city in the United Kingdom that is totally surrounded by a national park.

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!

With vitamin D, there can be such a thing as too much of a good thing. While vitamin D poisoning is uncommon, it is not impossible, and this state — vitamin D toxicity — has major health repercussions,

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.

The rooftop of Central's HSBC Hong Kong building has two deflector rods. This is because the building faces the Bank of China building, which has sharp edges that are thought to cut and dilute good energy.

Finding fireflies is one of the summer's joys. You might be able to spot a ghost firefly if you're in the Southern Appalachians; you'll know it when you see it because it will shine a distinctive blue-green color rather than the usual white.

Kolkata has always promoted science and technology, and the city has produced some of the world's most renowned scientists. Birla Planetarium, Asia's largest, is now the world's second largest. It was built in 1963 and inaugurated by the then-Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru. Let us also mention that Science City is the largest scientific culture centre in the Indian subcontinent.

The majority of samhainophobic readers are probably not viewing this slideshow due to their fear of Halloween. Despite the fact that many patients realise there is no real threat, October 31 still causes them anxiety. Samhainophobia can include fears of ghosts, witchcraft, and darkness.

Young plants have upright stems, but as they get older, they gradually start to creep or trail. Every tiny stem produces a few thin, thorny branches that are likely 1.5 to 2.5 mitres long.

In ancient Greece, killing a dolphin was deemed sacrilegious and was a capital offence. They were known as "holy fish" or hieros ichthys by the Greeks.

There’s a special version of braille just for mathematics called the Nemeth Code. It was invented by Dr. Abraham Nemeth and can be used to transcribe math, algebra, and calculus.

Consider space to be a stretched rubber sheet with intersecting grid lines. When you set something on the sheet, it sinks somewhat. The larger the thing on the sheet, the deeper it sinks. The sinking effect alters the grid lines, causing them to become curved rather than straight. The farther you drill into space, the more space bends and curves. And black holes create the deepest wells. Nothing, not even light, has enough energy to climb back out of a black hole, which creates such a deep abyss in space.