Go on blue
The Japanese call green traffic lights “blue,” because this was the color they were when first introduced.—Pick Me Up
Hold your tongue
The Nile crocodile does not have a movable tongue.—Weird and Wacky Facts
You say Yamato
The Yamato, a World War II vessel, was the biggest battleship ever built. Fully loaded it weighed more than 72,000 tons. Its armor was 18 inches thick.—Kids Discover
Thank a parent
Jumping joey
When a baby kangaroo jumps into its mother’s pouch, it does a complete somersault and lands in the pouch face forward.—Headless Males
Where’s the fire?
Foreign grasshoppers
The Italian name for grasshopper is cavalletta, meaning “little mare,” while the Spanish call it saltamontes, or “jump mountains.”—Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins
Breakfast science
The process of bread turning to toast is called “the Maillard reaction” after L. C. Maillard, who identified the chemical changes in 1912.—Original Bathroom Companion
Dangerous waters
Each year piranhas kill more than 1,200 cattle in Brazil.—Killer Fish
An eye for danger
A chameleon can move its eyes independently, allowing it to hunt with one eye while it watches for danger with the other.—Reptiles
Liquid rainbow
The Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park is blue in the middle with rings of orange, yellow, and green around the edges because of bacteria and algae.—Nature’s Extremes
World’s longest cemetery
Workers who died while constructing the Great Wall of China were buried inside the wall.—Why Didn’t Mummies Have Brains?
Giant of the deep
The deep-sea Japanese spider crab can weigh 44 pounds. Its legs can span the length of a small car.—Undersea Creatures
Elephants’ least favorite game
In the 1850s playing billiards (pool) was so popular that 8,000 elephants were killed in one year (1854) just to provide ivory for billiard balls.—Big Numbers
Crooked ways
Dress in layers
On the moon the daytime temperature rises to 248˚ F, and at night it drops to –292˚ F. —Smart-opedia
A very long vacation
In 1903 Nelson Jackson was the first person to drive across the United States in the newly invented automobile. It took 63 days.—Weird and Wacky Facts
Going down
Various disasters are recorded in the Bible, including the collapse of a tower in a city called Siloam. Jesus mentions the disaster in Luke 13:3-5.
Palatial igloo
The 1992 ice palace built in St. Paul, Minnesota, set a world record with its height of 15 stories.—Kids Discover
Workers on the move
In ancient Egypt, when the summer fields were flooded by the Nile, farmers made a living by working on the pyramids.—1,000 Common Delusions
Sleeping beauty
A bright idea
Replacing one regular 60-watt incandescent light bulb in your house with a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) prevents more than 80 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each year.—Smithsonian
Snail identity
Snails are both male and female at the same time. Each snail creates both sperm and eggs.—Ranger Rick
Pass It On
In the Middle Ages plates were made of thick, flat pieces of bread called trenchers. After the meal the soggy trenchers were given to the poor. –Funky Facts
International ants
A giant colony of billions of ants stretches underground for 3,600 miles from Italy to northwest Spain.—World Almanac for Kids 2003
Dirty snowballs of the universe
In 1949 astronomer Fred Whipple guessed that comets were made of ice, gas, and dust. His theory was confirmed in 1986 by photos of Halley’s Comet.—The Way the Universe Works
Movies’ Dark Secret
A motion picture (not a video) flashes 72 times every second. That means what viewers see is dark about half the time, but the eyes don’t tell the brain. –The Science Explorer
