The 24 "Solar Terms" are an ancient calendar system based on celestial movements and the position of the sun. It is an essential part of Chinese heritage that farmers rely on.

Marie Curie was the first person ever to win two Nobel Prizes, one for physics and the other for chemistry, in honor of her work on radioactivity.

On Jan. 23, 1960, the first two humans to reach the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench descended 36,000 feet in a submersible to the deepest part of the ocean…

On Jan. 12, 1967, James Bedford became the first American to have his remains cryogenically frozen, in the hope of future reanimation.

Tradition has it that St. Nicholas was born in ancient Patara, now an archaeological site in modern Turkey. He was imprisoned for some time for his Christian faith…

Bedding was such a luxury in the Middle Ages that blankets and sheets were written into people's wills.

Around 1 a.m. on Nov. 19, Hancock County (West Virginia) Sheriff’s officers responded to a call about a man suffering a gunshot wound while a rifle was being cleaned.

On Dec. 31, 1879, inventor Thomas Edison delighted onlookers with the first public demonstration of his incandescent lightbulb in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the top three states for growing and selling Christmas trees are Oregon, North Carolina and Michigan.

Professional chefs in wealthy 17th-century European households were primarily men, who often cooked in the nude or in their underwear due to kitchens' intense heat.

Kohl Bertels, 33, had an unusual explanation for breaking into a Circle K store on Nov. 23, eating a bag of beef jerky and drinking a sweet tea…

The "Royal Game of Ur" is the oldest playable board game found in the world so far. In 1922, Sir Leonard Wooley led a team that discovered two sets of this game in a tomb…

The world's largest beaver dam, located in Canada's Wood Buffalo National Parkand boasting a length estimated at more than 2,600 feet, is visible from space via satellite imagery.

On Dec. 22, 2001, the world's first cloned cat, appropriately named CC, or Copy Cat, made her debut in a Texas biomedical lab. She lived for 18 years…

When your seniors can’t get out much anymore, why not bring the party to them? That’s what one retirement home in Kunheim, France, has done.

The town council in Neuville-sur-Saone, France, delivered good news to a homeowner on Nov. 5, CBS News reported: He can keep the $800,000 worth of gold bars and coins he unearthed…

Canadians eat more macaroni and cheese than any other nation in the world.

Japanese chefs consider Gomi (the Five tastes), Gokan (the Five senses), Goshiki (the Five colors) and Goho (the Five cooking methods) to be the most important aspects of meal preparation.

On Dec. 17, 2003, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," the final film in the trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved fantasy novels, debuted in theaters.

Officials in Cyprus, the small island nation in the eastern corner of the Mediterranean, estimate there is roughly one feral cat for every one of its 1 million inhabitants…