
Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, but he declined.

Helmets weren't mandatory for football players until 1939.

Armadillo shells are bulletproof. In fact, one Texas man was hospitalized when a bullet he shot at an armadillo ricocheted off the animal and hit him in the jaw.

Before erasers were invented, people used bread to remove pencil markers.

The word trombone comes from Italian. It means "large trumpet."
India used to be the richest country in the world until the British invasion in the early 17th Century.

Over 99% of all species that ever lived on Earth are now extinct.

Hummingbirds can fly forwards, backwards, upside down, and hover in place. To perform these amazing feats, they beat their wings 70 to 200 times per second.

Shampoo was invented in India using herbal extracts. Its name comes from the Hindi word 'champo' which means 'to massage'.

The yo-yo was invented in Ancient Greece, but these days it's most popular in Japan. In fact, Japan has won the World Yo-Yo Contest more than 70 times.

The tradition of painting Easter eggs has its root in Ukranian and Polish pysanky, which are eggs with ornate designs painted on using wax. The word 'pysanky' comes from the verb 'to write'.

The Eiffel Tower can grow more than six inches during the summer. The high temperatures make the iron expand.