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  Original photo by Venimages/ Alamy Stock Photo Superman Originally Couldn’t Fly Since his 1938 debut in  Action Comics No. 1 , Superman has evolved into an even more powerful superhero than the original character. While he’s always been super strong and super fast, he didn’t initially have his now-famous ability to fly. You’ve probably heard the slogan “able to leap tall buildings in a single bound” — that comes from his ability to  jump an eighth of a mile  at a time, which is originally as close as he came to being able to fly. The first implied instance of Superman taking flight was on an August 1939 cover of the British magazine  Triumph , where the superhero appears to be flying into space. It was also hinted at in the second episode of  The Adventures of Superman  radio program in 1940. Then came artist Leo Nowak, who, assuming the hero had been given the power of flight, mistakenly drew Superman hovering above the ground in 1941’s  Superman No. 10 , which some now consider to

  Y ou might be a  Disney adult , but if you’re not planning to be buried with a Mickey Mouse accessory, it would appear you’re less of a fan than Japanese Emperor Hirohito, who was  interred  wearing his Mickey watch. The monarch, who reigned over Japan from 1926 to 1989, first visited the “Happiest Place on Earth” in 1975 after being a fan of Disney cartoons for decades. It was then that he was gifted the watch, which he was apparently quite taken by. The emperor’s love of the timepiece was noted several times before his passing, including in a 1984  Washington Post   article  marking his 83rd birthday. “Hirohito expressed his approval of America not in words but with a gesture,” the  Post  reported. “For years afterward, he wore a Mickey Mouse watch that he picked up at Disneyland.” Anyone who wears the same shirt every time they visit the “Happiest Place on Earth” can surely relate. Note:  The above comes directly from their website.

  Original photo by auns85/ Shutterstock Without landmarks, humans can’t walk in a straight line. Humans are masters of navigation. Over the course of history, we’ve developed tools to help us explore not only Earth but other planets. Yet strip away all those tools, blindfold us, and tell us to walk in a straight line, and inevitably  we become a directional mess , turning in tight loops. Many studies in the past century — though mostly informal —  have cataloged this phenomenon  again and again. Without some form of reference, such as a mountain, a building, or even the sun, humans are incapable of walking in a straight line, no matter how hard we try. It happens whether we’re blindfolded or just lost in the forest. So what’s going on? We don’t know for sure, but  scientists have been able to rule out some popular  go-to explanations. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Germany discovered that body asymmetries (different-sized legs, right-handedness

  Original photo by Andrew Woodley/ Alamy Stock Photo There’s an elephant orchestra in Thailand. In 2000, musician Dave Soldier and conservationist Richard Lair co-founded the  Thai Elephant Orchestra , a group of elephants who live — and make music — at a conservation center near the city of Lampang in northern Thailand. Back in 1957, scientist Bernhard Rensch  posited  that elephants could remember melodies and distinguish between basic scales. This inherent musical ability inspired Soldier (who also goes by David Sulzer in his professional life as a neurobiologist) to give elephants a chance to perform music of their own. He developed the concept with Lair, who believed it would be a great way to raise necessary funds and interest for elephant conservation. The Thai Elephant Orchestra released their  eponymous debut album  in 2001, featuring six young elephants performing improvisational music. The band went on to release two more albums: 2004’s  Elephonic Rhapsodies , and 2011’s  W

  One of the most popular breakfast cereals was invented by accident. W ell before the name Kellogg became synonymous with milk-infused breakfast fare and animated tigers, it was associated with health. While serving as director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, physician John Harvey Kellogg earned widespread fame in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for his efforts to cure a range of illnesses. To treat digestive problems, Kellogg  developed  a concoction called Granula in the 1870s that was made from wheat flour, oatmeal, and cornmeal, baked at high temperatures, and crumbled into tiny pieces. Though it was a hit with patients, the food was a little too similar to what is now considered the first breakfast cereal, the identically named Granula created by nutritionist James Caleb Jackson in 1863, fueling a lawsuit that forced Kellogg to change his product's name to Granola.   Around 1894, Kellogg and his associates, which included his wife, dietitian Ella Eaton Kell

  Original photo by stephen searle/ Alamy Stock Photo The voice actors behind Mickey and Minnie Mouse got married in real life. From Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, the entertainment industry is rife with tales of co-stars who fell in love while performing together. Given the sweet feelings their famous characters consistently displayed to one another, it's not surprising that the same fate befell longtime Mickey and Minnie Mouse voice actors Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor. At the time Taylor beat out  approximately 200 competitors  to claim the voice role of Minnie in 1986, both she and Allwine (by then already established as Mickey for almost a decade) were married to other people. But their rapport as co-workers and friends soon blossomed into genuine affection, especially after each obtained a divorce, and they were married in Hawaii in 1991. The couple refused to talk publicly about their romance, preferring to keep the focus on the iconic

  Original photo by Katya123ua/ Shutterstock You can hear cauliflower growing. To most grocery shoppers, there’s nothing particularly exciting about cauliflower. While the dense and crunchy stalks of this cruciferous plant are great as a side dish or snack, they’re consumed far less than the most popular produce-aisle picks ( potatoes, tomatoes, and onions ). However, some farmers might say that cauliflower has at least one unique and unexpected property that’s worth your attention: If you listen closely,  you can hear it growing. While most plants are silent, cauliflower is able to eke out a barely audible sound thanks to how quickly it grows. The vegetable can add as much as  1 inch per day  under the right growing conditions. That rapid expansion means the florets of the plant’s popcorn-like heads often rub against one another as they grow, creating a noise many farmers call  “cauliflower creak.”  Some agriculturalists describe the tone as a soft squeak, while others say it’s best d

  Durian fruit is banned on public transportation in Singapore. Most fruits tend to have sweet smells that delight our olfactory systems and make our mouths water. One, however, has a reputation for being so noxious that many people can’t make it past the rind to its sweet center — or even stand to be in the same room with it. The durian fruit, sometimes called the “king of fruit” in Southeast Asia (where it’s native), is so unpleasantly fragrant that it is  banned from public transportation in Singapore . The spiky fruit is also often prohibited in hotels and outdoor public spaces in the region.  Describing the odor associated with durians is no easy feat. Some chefs and adventurous eaters have likened it to rotten eggs, pungent cheese, or sweaty gym socks, though lovers of the fruit say the smell is worth enduring for its creamy flesh, which tastes of caramel and almonds. Yet that unpleasant aroma can be so overwhelming it causes confusion and complaints. On at least two occasions in

J ames Joyce didn’t just write some of the most acclaimed novels of the 20th century —  he did so using crayon . Though it sounds like a quirky affectation on the part of the  Ulysses  and  A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man  author, it was actually a medical necessity. Because Joyce had trouble with his eyesight and was nearly blind by the time he wrote  Finnegans Wake  in the last few years of his life, “the large crayons thus helped him see what he was writing,”  according to  culture writer Maria Popova. Joyce was farsighted as a child and had severe issues with his eyesight by the time he reached his 20s; these problems only worsened after a bout of rheumatic fever left him afflicted with the condition iritis. Fortunately for readers, Joyce was as adaptable as he was brilliant. He began writing while “lying on his stomach in bed, with a large blue pencil, clad in a white coat” that reflected more light back at the empty page at night. This process became even more elaborate d

  Original photo by ju_see/ Shutterstock October was originally the eighth month. Octagon, octopus… most words that begin with the Latin prefix “Oct” have some connection to the number eight. But what about October? While the modern calendar considers the autumn month to be the 10th of the year, it wasn’t always that way. For the ancient Romans, who created the earliest form of the calendar we use now,  October was originally the eighth month . Today’s calendar follows a 12-month cycle, though the earliest iterations only had 10 months. In ancient Rome, the year began in March and ran through December, with the first four months named for Roman deities. The next six months had more  straightforward, numerical names  that referenced their place in the year. The remaining weeks of winter (which would eventually become January and February)  were largely ignored on paper ; when the harvest season ended, so did the calendar, until the next spring planting season rolled around. Over time, t