Strange But True: Deep Blue
By Lucie Winborne
The chess-playing supercomputer Deep Blue could calculate 100 to 200 billion different positions in less than three minutes.
One study found that people who drank sugary soda daily had shorter telomeres -- linked to aging -- equivalent to about 4-5 additional years.
Each spacecraft headed for Mars gets a thorough cleaning beforehand as a precaution against contamination from Earth.
TV's classic "Jeopardy" theme was composed by Merv Griffin as a lullaby for his son.
Forget about naming your new baby IKEA in Sweden, thanks to the country's 1982 naming law prohibiting monikers that "can be supposed to cause discomfort" for the ones saddled with them.
"Star Wars" sage Yoda was partially modeled from a photo of Albert Einstein.
During the Cold War, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to lay aside their differences in the event aliens ever invaded Earth.
Waste fat from bacon was turned into glycerin and used to make explosives during World War II.
In 1674, the Women's Petition Against Coffee declared that the popular beverage was turning British blokes into "useless corpses" and proposed that anyone under the age of 60 should be banned from consuming it.
Chihuahuas have one of the largest brain-to-body size ratios of any dog breed
Astronauts can grow up to three inches taller in space due to spinal expansion caused by weightlessness.
Lint in your belly button is caused by abdominal hairs funneling fibers into it.
Pablo Picasso became a suspect in the 1911 Mona Lisa theft after it was discovered he had kept sculptures stolen from the Louvre by a friend.
In the United States, lawyers are the third-least trusted professionals, ranking higher only than lobbyists and business executives.
Thought for the Day: "Until you value yourself, you won't value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it." -- M. Scott Peck
(c) 2026 King Features Synd., Inc.