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On a [[Leap second|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 [[Soccer ball|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|sea]] with no coastline. Its borders are not land but four [[Atlantic Ocean|North Atlantic]] currents forming a gyre.

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

The first known [[Vending machine|vending machine]] did not sell snacks or drinks; it dispensed [[Holy water|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|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 [[Quaking aspen|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|barcode]] scan was not on a fancy gadget, but on Wrigley's [[Chewing gum|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|wasabi]] at most restaurants isn't really wasabi. Over 90% of what's served worldwide is [[Horseradish|horseradish]] dyed green with [[Mustard|mustard]] and [[Food coloring|food coloring]]. Real wasabi is hard to grow and loses its aroma 15–20 minutes after grating.

Some [[Turtle|turtles]] breathe through their butts. Australia's [[Fitzroy River turtle]] has gill-like, blood-rich bumps inside its [[Cloaca|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|nutmeg]]. In the 1667 Treaty of Breda, the Dutch gave up New Amsterdam, now Manhattan, for tiny [[Run Island|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|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|death penalty]] only in 1981.

A [[Hippopotamus|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 [[Ultraviolet|UV]] sunscreen and an [[Antibiotic|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|copper]], so in 1886 it gleamed a coppery hue. Sea air, salt and pollution oxidized it into a blue-green [[Patina|patina]], complete by about 1920. The patina isn't damage; it shields the metal.

Calling the [[Turkey (bird)|turkey]] a '[[Turkey|turkey]]' is a geographic mix-up. Europeans confused the American bird with guinea fowl imported via Turkey. Yet in Turkish it is 'hindi' — '[[India]]' — and in parts of India it is '[[Peru]].' Each language blames a different wrong homeland.

[[Bull|Bulls]] aren't enraged by [[Red|red]]. Cattle are red-green [[Colorblindness|colorblind]] and barely see red. A bull charges a matador's [[Bullfighting|muleta]] because the cloth moves, not its color. In MythBusters, bulls charged red, blue and white flags alike. Red just hides blood.

The myth that [[Carrot|carrots]] sharpen night vision came from [[World War II]] [[Britain|British]] propaganda. In 1940 British pilots downed German bombers at night using [[Radar|radar]]; to hide it, officials told the press the pilots ate lots of carrots. Carrots can't boost normal vision.

Old cathedral [[Glass|glass]] panes are not thicker at the bottom because glass flowed like a [[Liquid]]. Glass is an [[Amorphous]] [[Solid]], and visible sagging would take absurdly long. The uneven thickness is better explained by old manufacturing and installation practices.

[[Helium]] was discovered on the [[Sun]] before on [[Earth]]. During an 1868 eclipse, astronomers found an unknown yellow line in the solar [[Spectrum]]; Norman Lockyer named the new element after Helios. It was not isolated on Earth until 1895.

During [[World War II]], the [[Poland|Polish]] army had a [[Bear]] soldier named [[Wojtek]]. Adopted in Iran, he helped carry artillery crates at the 1944 [[Battle of Monte Cassino]], was promoted to corporal, and became his unit’s [[Emblem|emblem]] as a bear holding a shell.

[[Tardigrade|Tardigrades]] survived 10 days exposed to the [[Vacuum]] of [[Space]] and cosmic [[Radiation]] in a 2007 ESA experiment. Some even endured solar [[Ultraviolet|UV]]; after rehydration on Earth, they revived and laid eggs—the first [[Animal|animal]] shown to survive such exposure.

Deep inside [[Uranus]] and [[Neptune]], it may rain [[diamond]]s. Crushing pressure squeezes hydrocarbons like [[methane]], stripping out carbon that hardens into diamonds and sinks toward the core. In 2017, an X-ray laser that flash-compressed hydrocarbons made diamonds, backing this old idea.

Get 23 people together and the odds two share a [[birthday]] already top 50%. With 365 days, you might expect far more, but the question is not "who matches me" — it is "do any two match." Among 23 there are 253 possible pairs. At 70 people, the [[probability]] hits 99.9%: the birthday [[paradox]].

The [[Greenland shark]] is the longest-living vertebrate. In 2016, radiocarbon dating aged one female at ~400 years; the species may reach 272–512. The secret is a metabolism crawling in the cold, deep [[Arctic]]. It takes ~150 years to mature — so one maturing today was born in the 1600s.

In 1932, [[Australia]] waged [[war]] on [[emus]] — and lost. To stop ~20,000 emus wrecking crops, soldiers brought two machine guns and 10,000 rounds, but the birds split into small groups and outran the fire; one gun jammed. After two months, under 1,000 were killed — the war birds won.

In 1934, Webster's second edition printed 'dord', a [[Word]] that never existed. Defined as meaning density, it began as an editor's slip 'D or d' (D or d abbreviates density), misread as one word. The ghost entry sat in the [[Dictionary]] five years before anyone caught it: a 'ghost word'.

The earthy smell after rain has a name: [[Petrichor]]. Its core is [[Geosmin]], a molecule from soil [[Microorganism]]s that the human nose catches at just 5 parts per trillion—said to beat a shark smelling blood in water. Perhaps a trace of ancestors who sniffed out water on dry land.

The dot over a lowercase i and j has a name: the [[Tittle|tittle]], from [[Latin language|Latin]] titulus, "heading." In 11th-century [[Europe]], dense Gothic script made letters into rows of identical strokes, so scribes marked i and j to tell them apart. It later shrank to today's small dot.

[[Bluetooth]] is named after Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, the 10th-century [[Viking]] king who united [[Denmark]] and [[Norway]]—as the tech would unite PCs and phones. Its logo merges his initials in runes ᚼ and ᛒ. A placeholder name, it stuck. The nickname likely came from a dead, bluish tooth.

Under [[Ultraviolet|UV]] light, a [[Scorpion|scorpion]] glows [[Cyan|cyan-green]] because [[Fluorescence|fluorescent]] compounds in its cuticle absorb UV and re-emit visible light. Why is debated: sunscreen or light sensor. A freshly [[Molting|molted]] one stays dark until its shell hardens.

A [[Koala|koala]]'s [[Fingerprint|fingerprints]] are nearly indistinguishable from ours, even under a microscope. Koalas and humans split long ago, yet both grip branches and evolved the same prints—[[Convergent evolution|convergent evolution]]. The claim they fooled detectives is undocumented.

The world's oldest firm was [[Kongō Gumi]], a [[Japan|Japanese]] temple builder founded in 578 AD. A [[Baekje]] artisan built Japan's first [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] temple at [[Prince Shōtoku]]'s request, and it raised temples for 1,400+ years over 40 generations — until a 2006 takeover ended its run.

[[Bubble wrap]] was first meant to be [[Wallpaper|wallpaper]]. In 1957 two engineers sealed air bubbles between two shower curtains as a 3D wall covering, but the look never sold. It also flopped as greenhouse insulation — then in 1960 it found its calling: [[Packaging|packaging]] cushioning.

[[Banana|Bananas]] are [[Radioactivity|radioactive]], thanks to [[Potassium|potassium]]-40, a natural isotope. A medium one decays ~15 times a second — basis of the informal "banana equivalent dose." Yet eating one doesn't raise your dose; the body sheds the same amount to keep its total steady.

The girl group [[NewJeans]] carries two overlapping meanings. One: like the [[jeans]] each generation reinvents, they aim to be a timeless icon. The other: a homophone of "new genes," signaling a fresh new generation of [[K-pop]].

The group [[SEVENTEEN]] has 13 members, yet its name is "17." It stands for "13 members + 3 units + 1 team = 17." They were meant to have 17 members, but 4 left before debut; rather than rename, they kept it. The 13 split into hip-hop, vocal, and performance units.

In 2014, [[Psy]]'s "[[Gangnam Style]]" overflowed [[YouTube]]'s view counter. YouTube stored views as a 32-bit integer, capped at 2,147,483,647. When the video passed it, YouTube switched to a 64-bit counter. Contrary to the myth of a panicked rewrite, Google had foreseen it.

[[Sung Han-bin]], leader of [[ZEROBASEONE]], has a name meant to carry both parents' surnames: his father's "Sung" and mother's "Han," joined as "Sunghan," plus "bin." But Korean law bars registering both surnames, so officially his surname is "Sung," given name "Han-bin."

An [[Octopus]]'s systemic [[Heart]] stops beating whenever it swims. Because the heart that drives blood through the whole body pauses during each jet, octopuses tire fast in open water. That's why many prefer to crawl along the [[Ocean|seafloor]] instead of swimming long distances.

The [[Octopus]]'s blood is blue, not red. Human blood is red because the iron-based protein [[Hemoglobin]] carries its oxygen; in octopuses that job falls to [[Hemocyanin]], a [[Copper]]-based protein. Hemocyanin turns blue when it binds oxygen, and carries it better in the cold, low-oxygen sea.

The [[Octopus]] has three [[Heart|hearts]]. Two branchial hearts each push blood through one of its two gills to load it with oxygen, while a third systemic heart circulates the oxygen-rich blood through the rest of the body. The trio is thought to make up for the low efficiency of its blue blood.

[[Nintendo]] began in 1889 as a maker of [[Hanafuda]] cards. Founder Fusajiro Yamauchi handcrafted them from mulberry bark in Kyoto. When Japan banned gambling in 1882, rival makers fled to avoid yakuza ties, but he persisted and soon led it — over 80 years before any video [[Game|game]].

Scotland's official national animal is the [[Unicorn]]. It first appeared on the royal coat of arms in the 12th century, favored by kings as a symbol of untameable power. In [[Scotland|Scottish]] heraldry the unicorn is always bound by a gold chain — only the king was strong enough to tame it.

Natural [[Red hair|redheads]] may need more [[Anesthesia|anaesthetic]]. A 2004 study found people with the [[MC1R]] gene variant behind red hair needed up to 20% more, as the variant shifts hormones governing pain response. But other studies disagree, so it's too soon to generalise.