The idea of the atom was first introduced by Leucippus of Miletus around 450 B.C.. Leucippus and his pupil, Democritus, theorized that all matter was composed of atoms, or bits of matter too small to be seen. The word "atom" comes from a Greek word, "atomos", meaning uncuttable, because Leucippus believed that atoms were the building blocks of all materials and therefore could not be broken down any further.

The Richter Scale is logarithmic, which means that each successive whole number represents a 10-fold increase in power. Thus, an earthquake that measures 8 would be 10,000 times stronger than an earthquake that measures 4.

Austrian physicist Christian Johann Doppler (1803-1853) discovered that a wave's frequency changes when the source and observer are in motion relative to one another. This is known as the Doppler effect.

The gestation period for a hippopotamus is 8 months. The mother will then go off by herself to have the 27-50 kg. baby which may be born either on land or underwater.

Atoms are most tightly packed in a solid, and are usually in a regular pattern. Atoms in a liquid are close together, with no regular arrangement. Atoms in a gas are well separated, with no regular arrangement, and move freely at high speeds.

In 2004, on the island of Flores in Indonesia, a team of Australian and Indonesian researchers discovered the remains of a hobbit-sized human, one that stood no more than a meter tall. Remarkable, these researchers determined that this new species of human lived as recently as 13,000 years ago, shattering the long-held belief that Homo sapiens have had the planet to themselves for the past 25,000 years.

Jupiter has at least 67 known moons. The largest four are called Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

Hurricanes are like giant engines that use warm, moist air as fuel--which is why they only form over warm ocean waters.

Convection, the transfer of heat through a liquid by circulation of currents, is very apparent in lava lamps. When the wax is heated it becomes less dense than its surroundings and rises. As the wax travels up through the water it begins to cool, by dissipating heat into its surroundings, and by the time it reaches top it begins to sink again.

The taste receptors are located around the small structures known as papillae found on the upper surface of the tongue, soft palate, upper esophagus, the cheek and epiglottis.