Shellac is also known as "confectioner's glaze" because it gives candies like jelly beans and candy corn a shiny coating. However, shellac, which is also used as a brush-on colourant and a wood finish, is derived from the excrement secretions of female Kerria lacca insects. In other words, it's bug excrement.

Angkor Wat is more than simply a famous structure or a historical site; it is Cambodia's heart and soul. The world heritage-listed structure, which was erected in the early 12th century, is the world's largest religious complex. Cambodia is the only country having a building on its flag, thanks to this iconic structure.

The largest padlock in the world (according to Guinness World Records) was created by a team of students and teachers at Russia's Pavlovo Arts College and measures 56.8 inches tall, 41.3 inches wide, and 10.2 inches deep. The total weight of this heavy lock, including the key, is 916 pounds. Whatever it's guarding presumably weighs a lot more!

Yes, indeed! You may walk by foot between the United States and Russia during certain times of the year, owing to two islands known as Big and Little Diomede. Big Diomede is located in the Russian Federation's easternmost region, whereas Little Diomede is located in Alaskan territory. When the water freezes in the winter, daring visitors can cross the 2.4-mile distance between the two islands. However, you do it at your own peril; while experts believe the voyage is technically feasible, it is risky and not encouraged.

It's amazing how ancient some of Europe's structures and cities are. Pharmacies are no different. The Raeapteek on Town Hall Square, according to VisitTallinn, is one of Europe's oldest continually running pharmacies. This institution appears to have been in operation since 1422.

Rivers and lakes can be found beneath the ocean. When salt water and hydrogen sulphide combine, it becomes denser than the surrounding water, forming a lake or river that flows beneath the sea.

In Korea, age is given precedence over all other considerations. When conversing with someone of a higher rank or age, formal language must be used. Similarly, when conversing with a junior/someone younger, you can use informal language (banmal, ). Unless two people agree to use banmal at the same time, this usually remains the case. Even in a k-pop group with members who are mostly around the same age, a few months difference in birthdate can make a big difference.

While Walt Disney invented Mickey Mouse and gave the voice, the visual was developed by animator Ub Iwerks, who designed all of the famous characteristics. You'll never look at the adorable mouse the same way again.

The origins of this strange-sounding celebration may be traced back hundreds of years, beginning in the early 1900s. People did not have refrigerators in the 1900s, so they hung a piece of cloth in their larders. It is thought that doing so provided the home good fortune, tranquilly, and wealth. The tradition evolved to accommodate the contemporary kitchen throughout time. Every year on May 29th, families throughout the world place a pillow on top of their refrigerator.

Since 1995, Charles Martinet has provided voices for Mario, Luigi, Wario, Waluigi, and other Mushroom Kingdom characters. It's all thanks to a friend who urged him to attend an audition at a tradeshow in Las Vegas to which he had not been invited. When Martinet arrived, the audition team had already begun to pack up their belongings. Fortunately, they still let him audition for the part.

If you go to Moldova for a vacation, you won't have to compete for space with other tourists: just 121,000 foreigners are believed to have entered the nation in 2016 (according to the UN World Tourism Organization), making it the least visited country in Europe. According to Priceonomics, only Bangladesh and Guinea are less touristic places on a worldwide scale (in terms of tourists per inhabitant).

You definitely wouldn't recognise Greece if someone called it by its official name at first, but that's part of what makes it so fascinating! Hellas or Hellada is how the Greeks refer to their country, and the Hellenic Republic is the official name.

In Greek mythology, Zeus had a passionate love affair with Europa, a Phoenician princess. To entice her away, he disguised himself as a bull and carried her off to sea on his back, transporting her to the island of Crete. The famous 1747 painting "The Rape of Phoenicia" by Francois Boucher sits at Paris' Louvre.

Alexander the Great died at the age of 32, having conquered and established the world's biggest land-based empire. It spanned the Balkans to Pakistan. Alexander became sick in 323 BC and appeared to die after 12 days of intense torment. His corpse, on the other hand, showed no indications of decay or decomposition for a whole six days. Alexander was thought to have suffered from the neurological illness Guillain-Barré Syndrome, according to modern experts. They believe he was just paralysed and intellectually aware when he "died." In other words, he was horrifyingly buried alive!

At 7,500 feet, Chile's Atacama Desert is the driest region on Earth, with a bizarre terrain. Some areas of the region have never seen rain, and the Desert is likely the oldest desert on the planet. The desert stretches over 1,000 kilometres between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, covering an area of 363,000 square kilometres.

This is one of the Japanese facts for children! Because the ice cream will ultimately melt, the term is a little deceptive. It appears that the non-melting ice cream will take several hours to thaw. Consider this, kids: this is unquestionably the finest of the kid's Japan facts! Yummy! The finding happened by chance as scientists were working with strawberry chemistry. This was done to assist farmers affected by the 2011 earthquake.

During the feudal period, rich Japanese lords constructed residences with purposefully squeaky flooring (known as Nightingale Floors) to deter ninjas. The fabled, highly trained mercenaries of mediaeval Japan were so entrenched in myth and tradition that they were thought to be capable of walking on water, becoming invisible, and controlling natural forces. That has to be enough reason to lay down some new flooring.

Yes, truly. Nintendo rented a warehouse in Tukwila, Washington, in 1981 to serve as its American headquarters. According to NPR, when a guy called Mario Segale went into his Nintendo tenants' offices demanding late rent, he created an impression. Even Segale's preference for overalls and short stature appear to have influenced Mario's design over time.

In 2012, when Boeing wanted to test its wireless signal on new planes, they placed massive piles of potatoes on the seats. Potatoes absorb and reflect radio and wireless signals in the same way that humans do due to their high water content and chemical makeup.

The world we "see" is a figment of our imagination. Our minds do not generate images in the same way that a video camera does. Instead, the brain builds a model of the world using data from modules that measure light and shade, edges, curvature, and so on. This allows the brain to easily paint out the blind spot, which is the area of your retina where the optic nerve connects and has no sensors. It also compensates for our eyes' rapid, jerky movements, known as saccades, creating the illusion of steady vision.

Though it was not the first film ever made, "The Great Train Robbery" (1903) was the first to tell a story and is widely regarded as the first narrative fiction film. It was produced by Thomas Edison's Edison Studios and was only about 12 minutes long. The filming took place in New Jersey. 

Hüseyin Kalkan, the mayor of Batman (a town in southern Turkey), sought to sue Warner Bros. and Christopher Nolan in 2008 for exploiting the town's name without authorization. Despite saying that there was only one Batman in the world, there was no true news about it after that. Batman originally debuted in a comic book in 1939. The issue is, which came first, the chicken or the egg? Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Just One Letter Long Ten villages in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway have names that are only one letter long. The city name, which means "little brook or river" in the Scandinavian languages, appears nine times in the nations. Sweden has the word, which meaning "island."