Facts you may not have known that you can use

It’s good to have a curious mind and a willingness to learn new things no matter our age. One of my favorite hobbies is looking for interesting stories and unusual facts to share. Whether it’s an odd news item in the back of a newspaper or a tidbit like a Ripley’s Believe It or Not factoid. It used to be a challenge to find those but thanks to social media you can find them everywhere now.

So, as part of my mission to find and share true stories and interesting facts with you, here are a few things you may not have known.

With so many discussions about science and listening to what scientists have to tell us, did you know the word “scientist” is less than 200 years old? Through much of time, the study of the natural world, of what would become physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, and other sciences was in the hands of people called “natural philosophers.” When such subjects became known as science collectively, those who studied them were “men of science.” Women weren’t allowed to pursue such studies, or were discouraged from them.

Ironically, the work of a woman led to a collective name for studiers of science. In 1834, Mary Somerville, a Scottish mathematician and science writer, published what’s regarded as the first popular science book. “On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences'' described the scientific pursuit in terms regular folks could understand and showed it as a connected effort. English academic William Whewell felt there should be a single, unifying term for those who studied science to show it all was connected.

In reviewing Somerville’s book, Whewell came up with the word “scientist” to describe those who sought to understand how the world works in a variety of ways. He said it was like being an artist who creates using a variety of media. So the men - and now women - of science had a title.

Speaking of study, do you remember studying geography in school? Do they still teach geography today? Anyway, we learned the names of all the states and their capitals, the names of the continents and where they are and names for the different oceans and seas. While we got a very basic knowledge about geography, there were many things they did not teach us. Such as:

• Only three countries are surrounded by other countries, and Italy surrounds two of them. These countries are called enclaves. Vatican City, the center of the Catholic Church, is its own country, as is the microstate of San Marino in the Apennine Mountains. Italy surrounded both. Lesotho is the third enclave country and is surrounded by South Africa. Its rugged, mountainous terrain has helped keep Lesotho independent. Wonder if it was the inspiration for Marvel’s Wakanda?

• Africa is the only continent in all four world hemispheres. The equator separating the Northern and Southern hemispheres passes through Africa, and the prime meridian that divides the Eastern and Western hemispheres crosses the equator on the continent.

• There’s only one spot in the United States where four states converge. Four Corners is where Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. In comparison, there are 65 locations where three states meet.

A popular refreshing treat in New York City is the egg cream. It’s been a traditional drink in the Big Apple since the 1890s, but the classic beverage contains neither egg nor cream. It was invented by candy shop owner Louis Auster in the early days of the soda shop. Auster kept his recipe secret and took it to his grave. The origin of the name is unknown. Some believe it may have been from the Yiddish phrase “echt keem,” which means “pure sweetness.” While Auster never revealed his recipe, there were imitators. You can make your own egg cream at home with chocolate syrup, milk, and seltzer.

On the subject of milk, did you know humans are the only mammals who drink another animal’s milk? We can drink milk because of a genetic mutation that lets most of us retain the enzyme lactase beyond infancy. The enzyme isn’t found in everyone, hence lactose intolerance. Did you also know:

• Milk is mostly water. Whole milk is 87 percent water, the remaining 13 percent being protein, carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, and minerals. 

• Almond milk, in fact plant milk, has been around about 5,000 years. While it seems plant-based milk is the latest food fad, plant milk has been used for thousands of years. Coconut milk is the oldest with archaeologists discovering coconut graters in Southeast Asia and Madagascar dating to 3000 BCE. Soy milk was used in China in the first century CE and recipes with almond milk can be found in medieval cookbooks.

• Milk is white because of its protein and fat content. The particles scatter light and the milk reflects all wavelengths of visible light. The combination of the reflected colors makes white.

Now that you’re armed with this knowledge, you can astound - or bore - your friends and students may amaze teachers. I hope you’ve enjoyed these interesting facts and come back later when I’ll inevitably share more.