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On a leap-second day, the last minute can have 61 seconds. To keep UTC close to Earth’s rotation, clocks may insert 23:59:60 after 23:59:59. Because that extra second can disrupt computer systems, global timekeepers plan to change the system by 2035.

The first World Cup final in 1930 used two different balls. Argentina and Uruguay both wanted their own ball, so FIFA split the match: Argentina’s ball in the first half, Uruguay’s in the second. Argentina led 2-1 at halftime; Uruguay came back to win 4-2.

The first Webcam was made not for meetings, but to check whether Coffee was left. In 1991, Cambridge researchers aimed a camera at a distant coffee pot to avoid wasted trips; in 1993, the feed went on the web and became an early Internet landmark.

Quebec, Canada has a strategic Maple syrup reserve. Producers store barrels to stabilize supply and prices after weak harvests. In 2011-2012, thieves stole about 2,700 tonnes from the reserve, worth C$18.7 million.

Deep blue is one of the hardest colors in Fireworks. Blue usually comes from Copper compounds, but if the flame gets too hot, the copper-chloride emitters break down and the blue washes out. Pyrotechnicians must make an explosion burn “not too hot.”

Four months before the 1966 World Cup, the Jules Rimet Trophy was stolen from a London exhibition. A week later, a dog named Pickles found it wrapped in newspaper under a south London hedge, and his owner received the reward.

The Sargasso Sea is the only sea with no coastline. Its borders are not land but four North Atlantic currents forming a gyre.

Cats cannot properly taste sweetness. A sweet receptor normally works as a pair of proteins, but in cats the TAS1R2 gene is a broken pseudogene, so they cannot make a functional sweet-taste receptor.

The first known vending machine did not sell snacks or drinks; it dispensed holy water. In the 1st century, Hero of Alexandria built a coin-operated device whose coin weight opened a valve just long enough to release a measured amount.

Canned food arrived almost 50 years before the can opener. Peter Durand patented metal cans in 1810, but until Ezra Warner patented a can opener in 1858, people opened cans with knives, hammers, and chisels.

Alaska is both the westernmost and easternmost U.S. state. The Aleutian Islands cross the 180th meridian, so Amatignak Island lies near 179°W while Semisopochnoi Island reaches about 179°E.

In Utah, a forest that looks like many trees is actually one giant aspen clone. Called Pando, its 47,000 stems share one underground root system. It covers 43 hectares and may weigh 6,000 tons, making it a candidate for Earth’s heaviest organism.

The first retail barcode scan was not on a fancy gadget, but on Wrigley's chewing gum. On June 26, 1974, at a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio, a pack of gum became the first UPC purchase scanned at checkout.

The wasabi at most restaurants isn't really wasabi. Over 90% of what's served worldwide is horseradish dyed green with mustard and food coloring. Real wasabi is hard to grow and loses its aroma 15–20 minutes after grating.

Some turtles breathe through their butts. Australia's Fitzroy River turtle has gill-like, blood-rich bumps inside its cloaca — the opening used for waste and reproduction — and pumps water through it to absorb oxygen. It gets up to 70% of its oxygen this way.

The Netherlands once handed Manhattan to Britain over nutmeg. In the 1667 Treaty of Breda, the Dutch gave up New Amsterdam, now Manhattan, for tiny Run in Indonesia, then a source of nutmeg that rivaled gold in value. Britain got the future New York.

The last time France used the guillotine was 1977. On September 10, murderer Hamida Djandoubi was executed in Marseille, the last guillotine beheading recorded in the Western world. France abolished the death penalty only in 1981.

A hippo's red 'blood sweat' is neither blood nor sweat. Lacking sweat glands, hippos ooze red fluid from special skin glands. Kyoto researchers found its pigment, hipposudoric acid, acts as a natural UV sunscreen and an antibiotic.

Greenland is mostly ice, yet its name means 'green land.' Around 982 the Viking Erik the Red, exiled from Iceland for murder, founded a colony and chose an appealing name to lure settlers. The fjords he settled did green in summer. Around 985, 25 ships set out; 14 arrived.

The Statue of Liberty wasn't always green — it began shiny brown. Its skin is copper, so in 1886 it gleamed a coppery hue. Sea air, salt and pollution oxidized it into a blue-green patina, complete by about 1920. The patina isn't damage; it shields the metal.