Mary Toft Admits That She Did Not Really Give Birth to Rabbits (1726)

Toft, an English servant, had a bizarre 15 minutes of fame in 1726 when she convinced doctors that she had given birth to a litter of rabbits. At age 25, Toft suffered a miscarriage. About a month later, she appeared to go into labor and proceeded over the next few weeks to “birth” several animal parts along with nine baby bunnies. The episode was attributed to a fascination with rabbits that Toft had developed during her pregnancy—until it was revealed to be a hoax. How had she pulled it off? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Timor-Leste National Heroes Day (Anniversary of the Indonesian Invasion)

In Timor Leste, the invasion of Indonesian forces on December 7, 1975, initiated a period of occupation in which about 200,000 Timorese were killed. Today, this anniversary remains an occasion to mourn those who were killed and to seek redress for crimes committed during the occupation. Beginning in 1976, the Timorese established a tradition of gathering in the capital, Dili, to commemorate the anniversary of the invasion and stage a public protest over Indonesia’s actions. Candlelight vigils and commemorative church services also became common throughout the country. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Gerard Peter Kuiper (1905)

The “father of modern planetary science,” Dutch-American astronomer Gerard Kuiper made many discoveries about the solar system, among them the presence of a methane atmosphere around Saturn’s satellite Titan and a carbon dioxide-rich one on Mars and the existence of Uranus’s satellite Miranda and Neptune’s satellite Nereid. He also proposed the existence of a disk-shaped region of minor planets and comets—now called the Kuiper belt—outside Neptune’s orbit. What did he help identify on the Moon? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Black Sox Scandal

After the Chicago White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds in the 1919 World Series, eight White Sox players—including Shoeless Joe Jackson—were accused of having taken bribes to throw the series. Five of the accused confessed their guilt to a grand jury, but their signed confessions later disappeared. Though all eight players were acquitted in 1921, they were banned from Major League Baseball for life anyway. In whose possession were the missing confessions eventually found? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

This new atomic clock is so exact, it could be used to detect dark matter

Scientists have invented a new clock that keeps time more precisely than any that have come before. The clock is so accurate that it won’t gain or lose more than one second in 14 billion years — roughly the age of the cosmos. Its ticking rate is so … Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Banana Massacre (1928)

In December 1928, after a month-long strike to secure better working conditions, United Fruit Company workers from the Colombian town of Ciénaga gathered with their families in the town square to hear a scheduled gubernatorial address. Instead of words they were met with bullets fired by government troops. An unknown number died that day. The government took such decisive—and deadly—action to end the strike partly out of fear that US interests in the United Fruit Company would lead to what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Henry VI of England (1421)

Henry VI became king of England when he was not yet nine months old. That same year, the English proclaimed the infant the successor to the French throne, but France did not recognize this. The young monarch grew up to be a mild, honest, and pious man, a patron of literature and the arts. He was, however, also mentally unstable, weak-willed, and politically naive, and this created a power vacuum that his overly powerful ministers vied to fill, eventually resulting in what decades-long conflict? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

A Fish Out of Water

Found in coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans, mudskippers are fish adapted for remaining on dry land when the tide goes out on the mud flats and brackish mangrove swamps where they live. While mudskippers have no special air-breathing organs, they are able to absorb oxygen through the skin and gill chambers as long as these remain moist. When out of water, they use the fleshy bases of their pectoral fins for propulsion on the ground. What other adaptations do mudskippers have? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary