Seattle residents Peter Cicero and Richard Sclafani are credited with inventing the number-themed eyeglasses that are now seen at New Year's Eve parties around the world. According to the Wall Street Journal, their first set, which read "1991," sold 500 pairs. The following year, approximately 3000 sets were purchased.

In the 13th century, Pope Gregory IV waged war against cats. He said that black cats were Satan's tools. He commanded the annihilation of these felines throughout Europe as a result of this notion. This strategy, however, backfired, resulting in a rise in the number of plague-carrying rats.

The "Pygmalion effect" or "Rosenthal effect" refers to the phenomenon that higher expectations can increase performance. Professor Robert Rosenthal was the first to demonstrate it. In a California elementary school, he conducted an experiment and discovered that when teachers are made aware of students who have a high chance of success, their expectations rise. As a result, they paid special attention to those students and sometimes treated them differently. Essentially, the teachers subconsciously acted differently toward those students, which promotes their success. This has a positive impact on the student, and their performance improves as a result.

Why, even if you're not weary, do you yawn when someone else does? There are several hypotheses as to why yawning is contagious, but one of the most popular is that it demonstrates empathy. People who are less inclined to demonstrate empathy, such as toddlers who haven't yet learned it or young people with autism, are also less likely to yawn in response to someone else's.

According to research, our brain can only keep 3-4 pieces of information at a time. Furthermore, this data can only be saved for 20-30 seconds. We forget it after this period unless we keep renewing it in our minds over and again. For example, you are driving while chatting on the phone (do not do this!). The person on the other end of the line gives you a number, but you can't write it down, so you memorize it. You repeat the number several times to keep it in your short-term memory until you disconnect and write it down.

Everyone has experienced the agony of rejection at some point in their lives, but did you know that rejection causes physical harm as well as emotional pain? Even if you are unable to feel physical pain, scientists have discovered that the reactions and cascading events that occur in the brain after rejection or physical pain are nearly identical. Furthermore, the same natural chemical is released in both cases.

You may have outgrown the hours-of-making-out-on-the-couch stage of your relationship, but you shouldn't dismiss kissing as a pleasurable pastime with your partner—and also a type of exercise! According to Woman's Day's sexologist, one hour of mild kissing burns 68 calories. "Oh my god, an hour?" you may be thinking. Yes, an entire hour. You've got this! You've always wanted to work out with your hubby, and now is your chance.

Now, before you start freaking out, please hear us out! Sedentism is encouraged in today's environment. After all, we sit during our commutes, to eat, to watch TV, to work, to socialise with our friends, and so on. It turns out that even if you exercise regularly, it won't keep you safe from the risks of the "office lifestyle."

We frequently predict how we will react to a future event, only to find out that we reacted completely differently than we anticipated. We put our faith in the ability of a single event to change everything, but we frequently discover that it has little effect on how we feel.

Recently, SpaceX sent four passengers into Earth orbit aboard the Crew Dragon spaceship. A concept for an aeroplane dubbed Rukma Vimana may be found in the book Vaimanika Shastra. G. R. Josyer disclosed the book in 1952, claiming that it was authored by Pandit Subbaraya Shastry (1866–1940), who dictated it between 1918 and 1923. In 1957, the first spacecraft was launched. Looking at the images above, you can see how similar these designs are. So, how did a Pandit in India envisage the concept of a spaceship 34 years before the first spacecraft launched? Is it just a coincidence?

Cheese rolling is one of the oddest sports that takes place every spring in Gloucestershire, in the west of England. An 8-pound round of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled from the top of Cooper Hill, and competitors pursue it down to the bottom. They are intended to catch the cheese, but it is nearly impossible, thus the first person to cross the finish line wins the cheese.

Scientists from the University of Birmingham investigated bikers aged 55 to 79 who ride their bikes for many hours each day. These researchers discovered that cycling in old age keeps muscle mass and strength from deteriorating. And the fat and cholesterol levels remained constant. However, the most incredible discovery is that cyclists' systems generate immunological T-cells in equal numbers to 20-year-olds. It's incredible since T-cell production begins to decline around the age of 20. This demonstrates that riding a bicycle makes the immune system younger.

According to World Tourism Organization statistics, Mexico has the greatest number of international tourists in Latin America and is rated #10 in the world. This is unsurprising considering the variety of culture and environment on offer in Mexico. UNESCO has designated 32 places in the nation as World Cultural Heritage sites. Mexico tops the American continent in this area once more, and is ranked sixth overall.

For millions of people, the coffee break is an important but often overlooked part of their day. The town of Stoughton, Wisconsin, hosts an annual Coffee Break Festival to pause and honour the break. There will be coffee tastings, "brew-offs," and bean-spitting contests at the event. What makes Stoughton unique? According to city officials, the coffee break "was born" in the city in the late 1800s, when women working at the local Gunderson Tobacco Warehouse started the ritual of pausing during the workday to brew some coffee and chat.

If you're using romantic whispers to impress a potential partner, make sure to speak into his or her left ear. An MITCogNet study discovered that when emotion stimuli were delivered to the left ear, recall accuracy was more than 6% higher than when the same stimuli were delivered to the right ear.

Another fascinating Russian truth is that Russians learn not to grin as they get older. While many cultures consider smiling to be a sign of happiness and friendliness, Russians do not. Smiling, according to Russians, is a sign of weakness and not expressing one's actual sentiments. Russians grin when they see individuals they know and care about, but not when they see strangers, as many other cultures do. If you smile at a Russian on the street, don't expect them to reciprocate the favour; nevertheless, while driving around Russia, we noticed that many Russians smiled and waved back.

Scientists from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research discovered that shivering in the cold for 10 minutes burns more fat than a one-hour workout. These new discoveries build on a past study into brown fat, a kind of fat tissue that consumes energy rather than storing it. So Start shivering...

Boys, more than girls, are more likely than girls to learn many lessons through experience rather than being told. This can make parenting them difficult, especially if you don't enjoy taking risks yourself. The most difficult challenge may be keeping them safe, so some risks must be avoided. It can also be difficult to be a support person as a parent when the lessons that boys learn bring hardship and tears.

If you want to do something creative, such as write a short story or design a dress, do it after a long and stressful day. This is because studies have shown that when people's brains aren't functioning as well as they should, they become more creative. This is one of the main reasons why people frequently come up with brilliant ideas while taking a shower after a long day at work.

It doesn't seem to matter what others say about a new lover—in our eyes, he or she is always ideal. This blindness is essential for us to progress in our relationship. It is frequently required to progress to the "attachment stage," as scientists refer to it so that they can stay in love long enough to produce and raise children; in other words, to populate the globe.

Einstein was leaving a ceremony in his honour on his 72nd birthday. Photographers begged him to grin for the camera as he was getting into his car. Einstein, on the other hand, was weary of smiling for photos—he'd be doing it all evening—so he stuck his tongue out instead. Einstein was so taken with the photograph that he had it printed as greeting cards.

In another University of Pennsylvania research, one group learnt about a starving small child, another about millions dying of hunger, and a third about both conditions. People gave more than twice as much money when they heard about the little girl as when they heard the statistics—and even those who heard her tale in the context of the larger tragedy gave less. Psychologists believe that we are predisposed to help the person in front of us, but when the situation feels too vast, we believe that our small contribution is insignificant.

Ventriloquist dummies, like dolls, have become a staple of horror films. A ventriloquist's dummy named Slappy is one of R.L. Stine's most iconic antagonists. If they terrify you, avoid visiting the Ven Haven Museum near Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. Vintage ventriloquist dummies line the walls. This is undoubtedly your worst nightmare if you're afraid of dolls. How funny, these people should have destroyed them, but no, they thought why not show it to the world...