Fast Facts
February 23, 2006
A survey conducted at Iowa State College in 1969 suggests that a parent’s stress at the time of conception plays a major role in determining the baby’s sex. The child tends to be the same sex as the parent who is under less stress.
An eagle can attack, kill and carry away an animal as large as a young deer. The harpy eagle of South America feeds on monkeys.
The easiest sounds for the human ear to hear, and those which carry best when pronounced, are, in order, “”ah,”” “”aw,”” “”eh,”” “”ee”” and “”oo.””
While reading a page of print the eyes do not move continually across the page. They move in a series of jumps, called fixations, from one clump of words to the next.
Until the modernization of China, the Chinese considered noon to be any time between noon and 2 p.m., and midnight to be any hour before dawn. They also used paper in their windows instead of glass.
When Harvard College was founded in 1636, it was surrounded by a tall stockade to keep out prowling wolves and hostile Indians.
There is no known way for a submarine to communicate with land via radio when it is underwater.
More men than women commit suicide in the United States.
People condemned to the guillotine in France during the French Revolution had the top of their head shaved. Two long locks of hair were left hanging at the temples.
The Maya Indians filed their front teeth to points and drilled holes in them so they could be embellished with precious gems. They filled cavities in their teeth with pieces of jade.
