France’s King Louis XIV was offered biological weapons by an Italian chemist. He not only refused, but also paid the chemist an annual salary to never reveal the technology to anyone else.
21
The oldest stone tools found are dated from 2.7 - 2.9 million years ago. The species that made these tools is unknown.
13
Modern humans first appeared about 200,000 years ago, but record keeping didn't begin until about 6,000 years ago. That means about 97% of human history is lost.
21
In Ancient Egypt, some people paid their taxes in honey.
152
English sailors were referred to as "limeys" because sailors added lime juice to their diet to combat scurvy.
69
In 2011, a couple bought a box of textbooks for $10. Inside, they found a 25-cent bill signed by the president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston, and subsequently sold it for $63,250.
13
Leonardo da Vinci was dyslexic, and he often wrote backwards.
77
No one knows how many people died during the sinking of the Titanic.
11