This month's Family Fun Friday is focused on LEGO. The name "LEGO" is a clever combination of the Danish words "leg godt," meaning "play well." Unbeknownst to its founder, the word "lego" in Latin also means "I put together." The foundation of the toy's success lies in "clutch power," the official internal term for the precise, frictional force that snaps the bricks together. This consistency is achieved through engineering molds accurate to within 10 microns (0.01 mm), a precision that ensures a brick from 1958 can still connect perfectly to a brick manufactured today. The scale of LEGO production is staggering. The company is recognized as the world's largest producer of tires, manufacturing hundreds of millions of its small rubber tires each year for its vehicle sets. Furthermore, since the introduction of the modern minifigure in 1978, over four billion have been produced, making them the largest "population" group on Earth if they were human. LEGO bricks have been used to create massive, record-breaking structures. The largest-ever model was a life-size Star Wars X-Wing, which used 5.335 million bricks and weighed over 46,000 pounds. Other feats include a 118-foot-tall tower built in Israel and a fully functional two-story house. Built by James May in 2009 from 3.3 million bricks, the house included a working LEGO toilet and a notably uncomfortable LEGO bed. To preserve this history, the LEGO Group maintains a secret, climate-controlled "Memory Lane Vault" in Billund, Denmark. This archive contains pristine, unopened copies of nearly all 18,000+ sets the company has ever released. Looking to the future, the company has begun producing its botanical elements, like trees and bushes, from a sustainable, plant-based polyethylene plastic sourced from sugarcane. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wild turkeys are powerful and athletic birds, possessing surprising speed. They can run at speeds up to 25 mph and fly in short bursts at 55 mph. A turkey's survival is aided by its exceptional senses; it has a 270-degree field of vision, estimated to be three times clearer than 20/20 human eyesight. Male turkeys, or "toms," are distinguished by their vocalizations and unique facial features. Only toms make the famous "gobble" sound, while females (hens) use quieter clicks and purrs. The bare skin on a tom's head, including the "snood" (which dangles over the beak) and "wattle" (under the chin), can change color to bright red, white, and blue to communicate mood and health. The history of turkeys is deeply connected to the Americas. Archaeological evidence shows they were first domesticated in southern Mexico by the Aztecs around 800 BCE. When preparing a modern-day frozen turkey, food safety is crucial. The safest thawing method is in the refrigerator, allowing 24 hours for every 4-5 pounds. A popular myth suggests the L-tryptophan in turkey causes sleepiness after a large meal. In reality, the "food coma," or postprandial somnolence, is primarily caused by the body's digestive response to a large, high-carbohydrate meal, not by the turkey itself. Want to learn about other amazing animals? Check out my Spotify playlist, Fun Facts About Animals Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Neptune, the eighth planet from the sun, is an ice giant known for its striking deep blue color, which is caused by methane in its atmosphere rather than a surface ocean. It is the windiest planet in the solar system, featuring supersonic winds over 1,200 mph that drive massive storms like the Great Dark Spot. Neptune holds a unique place in history as the only planet discovered through mathematical prediction, based on irregularities in the orbit of Uranus, before it was visually confirmed by telescope. While a year on Neptune lasts 165 Earth years, its day is only about 16 hours long. The planet's largest moon, Triton, is also remarkable. It has a retrograde orbit, meaning it travels backward compared to Neptune's rotation, which strongly suggests it was a dwarf planet captured by Neptune's gravity. Triton is one of the coldest objects in the solar system and features active cryovolcanoes that erupt frozen nitrogen. Neptune itself possesses a wild, lopsided magnetic field that is tilted by 47 degrees and significantly offset from the planet's physical center. This chaotic field is believed to be generated not by a solid core, but by a moving, slushy mantle of super-pressurized water and ammonia. What to learn more about outer space? Check out my Spotify Playlist: Fun Facts About Space Exploration Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explore the world of deciduous trees, the remarkable plants that shed their leaves as a brilliant survival strategy. This process, known as abscission, allows trees to conserve water and energy during the harsh winter months. Discover the science behind fall's stunning colors: the vibrant yellows and oranges (carotenoids) are present all year but are only revealed when the dominant green chlorophyll fades, while the rich reds and purples (anthocyanins) are new pigments created in the fall to protect the leaves. Learn fascinating facts about these trees, from the "Wood Wide Web"—a vast underground fungal network that lets trees share nutrients and send warnings—to Pando, a colossal colony of quaking aspen in Utah that is the single largest and heaviest known living organism on Earth. Understand how a single large tree can act as a natural air conditioner through transpiration, releasing over 100 gallons of water a day to cool the surrounding air. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discover the magnificent Longmen Grottoes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Luoyang, China. This incredible complex contains an estimated 110,000 Buddhist statues and 2,300 caves carved into a mile-long limestone cliffside. The carving began in 493 CE with the Northern Wei dynasty and continued for over 400 years, showcasing a clear artistic evolution from the slender, abstract figures of the Wei period to the powerful, realistic art of the Tang dynasty. While the statues appear as bare stone today, they were originally painted in vibrant blues, reds, and golds. Sadly, many of the figures are headless, not due to natural erosion, but from widespread theft and vandalism in the 20th century. The centerpiece of the grottoes is the 57-foot-tall Vairocana Buddha, a colossal masterpiece completed in 675 CE. This statue is historically linked to Empress Wu Zetian, China's only female emperor, who personally funded the project. Its serene and powerful features are widely believed to be an idealized portrait of the empress herself, blending divine authority with political power. The site also holds other unique treasures, such as the 6th-century "Prescription Cave" (Yafeng dong), which features over 140 ancient medical remedies carved directly into its walls, illustrating the grottoes' role as a center for both faith and knowledge. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Halloween's origins trace back over 2,000 years to the ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain. This festival marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, a time when the boundary between the living and the spirit world was believed to thin. This belief led to the practice of wearing costumes and masks, originally intended as disguises to hide from wandering ghosts. The holiday's name itself is a shortened version of "All Hallows' Eve," the night before All Saints' Day. The traditional orange and black colors are also symbolic, with orange representing the autumn harvest and black signifying the darkness of winter. The specific phrase "trick-or-treat" is a more recent development, with its first known print appearance in Canada in 1927. One of the most persistent modern fears associated with the holiday is tampered Halloween candy; however, this is just an urban legend. Sociological research has found zero confirmed reports of a child ever being seriously harmed by a random stranger's booby-trapped treat. The custom of giving out candy became widespread in the 1950s, when companies marketed individually-wrapped treats as a safe and convenient alternative to homemade items. Another common superstition involves black cats, but contrary to their association with bad luck in the U.S., they are considered a sign of good fortune and prosperity in many other cultures, such as in Japan and Scotland. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spirit photography emerged in the 19th century as a popular trend, largely initiated by Boston photographer William H. Mumler in the 1860s. He gained significant notoriety for his portraits that appeared to show living subjects alongside the ghostly apparitions of deceased loved ones. His most famous work is a portrait of a grieving Mary Todd Lincoln with the faint figure of her late husband, President Abraham Lincoln, standing behind her. The phenomenon's rise coincided with the Spiritualism movement and the widespread grief following the Civil War, offering tangible comfort to many. However, these "spirit" effects were typically created using simple darkroom techniques, most commonly double exposure. The practice drew prominent skeptics, including the magician Harry Houdini, who dedicated much of his life to exposing fraudulent spirit photographers and mediums. The controversy surrounding the practice led to an 1869 fraud trial against Mumler. Famed showman P.T. Barnum testified for the prosecution, demonstrating how easily such images could be faked. Modern versions of "spirit photos," such as glowing orbs, are scientifically explained as a photographic effect called backscatter, where the camera's flash illuminates airborne particles like dust or pollen. The human tendency to see figures or faces in random patterns, known as pareidolia, also accounts for many perceived ghostly images. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Delve into the surprising history and science behind vampire folklore. Explore the origins of the word "vampire," which entered the English language in the 1730s following reports from Eastern Europe, and the etymology of the word "sanguine," connecting it from its Latin root for "blood" to the ancient theory of the four humours. Discover the real-life creatures behind the myth, specifically the three species of vampire bats native to Central and South America, and learn about their unique feeding habits (they lap, not suck, blood) and the anticoagulant "Draculin" found in their saliva. Learn the literary roots of the modern vampire, revealing how Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 novella Carmilla established many famous tropes 25 years before Bram Stoker's Dracula. This summary also uncovers the practical, historical origins of the vampire-hunting toolkit, explaining how garlic was used to ward off "miasma" (bad air) and how wooden stakes were used to pin bodies to their graves, a practice rooted in a misunderstanding of natural decomposition. Finally, explore the compelling medical theory that the rare blood disorder porphyria, with its symptoms of severe sun sensitivity, receding gums, and pale skin, may have inspired the classic vampire characteristics. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Ouija board, often associated with the supernatural, was actually patented in 1890 by Baltimore businessmen Elijah Bond and Charles Kennard as a parlor game. Its name, "Ouija," is speculated to be a combination of the French ("oui") and German ("ja") words for "yes." For most of the 20th century, it was considered a wholesome family pastime, even appearing on a 1919 Saturday Evening Post cover by Norman Rockwell. The board's reputation shifted significantly in 1973 after the horror film The Exorcist portrayed it as a tool for demonic possession. The seemingly mysterious movement of the board's planchette is explained by a psychological phenomenon called the ideomotor effect. First named in 1852, this concept describes how individuals make tiny, involuntary muscle movements based on their own subconscious thoughts and expectations. It is these unconscious movements from the users, not spirits, that guide the pointer. The common "rule" that users must move the planchette to "Goodbye" to "close a portal" is not part of the original game but rather a piece of modern folklore popularized by movies. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explore the real Transylvania, a region in central Romania whose name fittingly means "the land beyond the forest." This area is defined by the sweeping Carpathian Mountains, which are home to Europe's largest population of brown bears outside of Russia. The region's history is preserved in over 150 unique fortified Saxon churches—seven of which are a UNESCO World Heritage Site—and in cities like Sighișoara, Brașov, and Sibiu. Visitors can also experience one-of-a-kind attractions, from the world-famous, winding Transfăgărășan Highway to Salina Turda, a massive, ancient salt mine that has been converted into a futuristic underground theme park complete with a Ferris wheel and a boating lake. While Transylvania is famous for the Dracula legend, the true story is often misunderstood. The historical figure Vlad Țepeș, also known as Vlad the Impaler, was born in Transylvania but was the ruler of neighboring Wallachia, and the fortress commonly known as "Dracula's Castle" (Bran Castle) has little historical connection to him. However, the novel's famous use of garlic as protection is based on authentic Romanian folklore, where it was used for centuries to ward off evil spirits known as strigoi. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Squirrels, members of the Sciuridae family, possess several unique biological adaptations. Their front incisors grow continuously throughout their lives, requiring them to gnaw constantly to maintain a manageable length. A key anatomical feature is their highly flexible hind ankles, which can rotate 180 degrees, allowing them to grip bark and climb down trees head-first. These acrobatic mammals can also survive falls from over 100 feet by splaying their limbs and using their bushy tails as parachutes to slow their terminal velocity. Beyond their physical traits, squirrels play a vital role in forest regeneration. Through "scatter hoarding," they bury thousands of nuts across their territory. The nuts they inevitably forget sprout into new trees, such as oaks and hickories. Their behavior also reveals high intelligence. A squirrel's zigzag run is not panic but a deliberate tactic to evade predators, a defense aided by their nearly 360-degree vision. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Electricity involves the flow of electrons, subatomic particles named after the ancient Greek word for amber ("elektron"), which was used in early experiments with static electricity. While an electric field's signal travels near the speed of light, the actual electrons move at a very slow "drift velocity," often less than one millimeter per second. Nature provides much more powerful examples. A single lightning bolt can heat the air to 54,000°F, roughly five times hotter than the surface of the sun, which causes the sonic boom known as thunder. Some animals also utilize electricity. Electric eels, which are a type of knifefish, have specialized organs that can discharge over 860 volts to hunt or defend themselves. They also use weaker electric pulses for navigation, a sense called electrolocation. Humans may have harnessed electricity much earlier than believed. Archaeologists have found 2,000-year-old "Baghdad batteries," clay pots that could produce an electric current, though their exact use is unknown. Later, Benjamin Franklin proved that lightning is electricity (he did not discover electricity itself) and invented the lightning rod to safely ground the charge. Several common beliefs about electricity are incorrect. Pure, distilled water is actually an electrical insulator; it is the salts and minerals dissolved in regular water that make it conductive. Additionally, a car is safe in a storm not because of its rubber tires, but because its metal shell acts as a Faraday cage, conducting the lightning strike around the occupants and safely into the ground. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The dish chili con carne, Spanish for "chili with meat," is a stew that originated in Texas, rather than Mexico or Spain. Its name combines the Nahuatl (Aztec) word for the pepper with Spanish. The stew was widely popularized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by the "Chili Queens" of San Antonio, women who sold bowls of chili in the city's open-air plazas. It was also introduced to a national audience at a stand during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. In 1977, Texas proclaimed chili its official state dish, defining the authentic "Texas Red" style as strictly containing meat and a red chili sauce, with no beans and often no tomatoes. This purist approach traces back to "chili bricks" used by cowboys on cattle drives. Today, common "secret" ingredients used to enhance chili include unsweetened chocolate or coffee for depth, masa harina for thickening, and a splash of vinegar or lime juice at the end to brighten the flavors. The world's largest pot of chili weighed over 11,750 pounds, and after cooking, it was served free of charge at a community festival. The famous Terlingua International Chili Championship was founded in 1967 and it began as a publicity stunt. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sand is one of the world's most vital, and surprisingly scarce, natural resources. While it seems abundant, the specific angular sand from rivers, lakes, and coastlines is essential for making concrete, asphalt, and glass. Wind-blown desert sand is too smooth and rounded to be used in construction. This high demand has triggered a global sand shortage, making it the second most-used natural resource on Earth after water, with humans consuming about 50 billion tons of it annually. The resource is so precious that in 2008, thieves in Jamaica stole an entire 400-meter public beach, likely to sell the sand for hotel construction. The modern word "arena" meaning a large space with seats for spectators actually comes from the Latin word for sand, arena, because the floors of Roman amphitheaters like the Colosseum were covered in sand to absorb fluids. The composition and color of sand tell the geological story of a coastline, varying from the black basalt beaches of Iceland to the green olivine sand of Hawaii. The famous pink sands of Bermuda get their color from the shells of foraminifera, while the perfect star-shaped sand found in Japan, is the exoskeleton of another microscopic organism. Even the iconic white sand of the Caribbean has a unique origin: it is often the excreted, undigested coral skeletons from parrotfish, which can produce hundreds of pounds of new sand each year. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Great Barrier Reef is a massive ecosystem built on the critical concept of symbiosis. The reef's foundation relies on the partnership between coral polyps, which are animals, and microscopic algae called zooxanthellae. The algae provide food and vibrant color to the coral in exchange for a protected home. This theme of cooperation is found throughout the reef, including the fascinating relationship between the nearly blind pistol shrimp, which builds a burrow, and the sharp-eyed goby fish, which acts as a lookout. The reef is home to a "Great Eight" list of must-see animals, including giant clams, manta rays, sea turtles, and whales. It also features unique human touches, like an official Australia Post mailbox floating miles offshore. Geologically, the modern reef structure is surprisingly young, having formed only after the last Ice Age. Protecting this ecosystem is critical, and one way to help is by using reef-safe mineral sunscreens containing zinc oxide or titanium dioxide, while avoiding chemicals like oxybenzone and octinoxate, which are harmful to coral. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The piano was invented around 1700 in Florence, Italy, by Bartolomeo Cristofori. Its original name was the fortepiano, combining the Italian words for loud (forte) and soft (piano), which highlighted its revolutionary ability to vary volume based on the player's touch—a feature the harpsichord lacked. An acoustic piano is a complex machine with over 12,000 individual parts. Its steel strings are held under immense pressure, creating a combined tension of up to 30 tons that must be supported by a heavy cast-iron frame. Many grand pianos feature a middle sostenuto pedal, which allows the player to sustain select notes while playing others without a blur. The upright piano, a more compact version designed to fit in smaller homes, was invented by John Isaac Hawkins in 1800, making the instrument widely accessible. The world's largest playable piano, built by Adrian Mann, is over 18 feet long. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cells are the fundamental building blocks of all living things, and the human body contains a staggering number of them—an estimated 30 to 40 trillion, which is more than the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Within each cell are specialized structures called organelles, such as the energy-producing mitochondria and the nucleus that contains the cell's DNA. The term "cell" was first used in 1665 by scientist Robert Hooke, who thought the microscopic compartments he saw in a slice of cork resembled the small rooms, or cellae, of a monastery. The diversity of cellular life is vast, with sizes ranging from the microscopic Mycoplasma bacteria to the ostrich egg yolk, the largest single cell on Earth. Although most cells in an organism share the same DNA, they become specialized for different roles through a process called cell differentiation, where each cell type reads only the parts of the DNA relevant to its job. The mitochondria within our cells are believed to have originated as independent bacteria that were absorbed by larger cells billions of years ago. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Countless people have cracked jokes about Uranus being filled with gas that smells like rotten eggs, but could it actually be true? While nobody can drop in on the planet and take sniff, scientists have analyzed the compounds in the atmosphere giving us an idea of what the planet smells like. Find out the truth at the end of this episode of Fun Facts Daily. Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun, an ice giant first discovered by astronomer William Herschel in 1781, making it the first planet found with a telescope. Named for the Greek god of the sky, its most defining characteristic is its extreme axial tilt of nearly 98 degrees, which causes it to orbit the sun on its side. This unique orientation results in the most extreme seasons in the solar system, with each of its four seasons lasting for 21 Earth years. A day on Uranus is significantly shorter than on Earth, lasting about 17 hours, while a single Uranian year takes 84 Earth years to complete. It is the coldest planet in the solar system, with temperatures in its upper atmosphere dropping to a frigid -371°F (-224°C). Uranus also possesses a system of 13 faint, dark rings made of rock and ice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Ross was the iconic host of "The Joy of Painting." Take time to appreciate the man behind the canvas with the famously calm demeanor. Learn about his signature "alla prima" (wet-on-wet) painting technique, which, combined with his use of Liquid White, made it possible to complete a masterpiece in under 30 minutes and made painting accessible to millions. The discussion also covers fascinating details, such as how his iconic perm was a cost-saving measure he disliked but kept for his brand, and the incredible fact that he produced an estimated 30,000 paintings in his lifetime. Delve into the business-savvy philosophy of Bob Ross, who never earned a salary from his beloved PBS show, instead using it to promote his successful line of art supplies and certified instructors. Uncover personal details, like the teenage carpentry accident that cost him part of a finger and his deep love for animals, often featuring rescued squirrels and other wildlife on his show. From the minimalist studio in a Muncie, Indiana home to his core belief in "happy little accidents," Bob Ross turned a simple painting show into an enduring cultural phenomenon built on kindness, creativity, and happy little trees. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oak Island, a small island off the coast of Nova Scotia, has been the site of one of history's longest and most elaborate treasure hunts. It all began in 1795 when three teenagers discovered a peculiar depression in the ground, leading them to unearth layers of oak logs every ten feet in what is now known as the "Money Pit." Early excavators were thwarted by an ingenious booby trap—a series of sophisticated flood tunnels that fill the pit with seawater. The mystery deepened with the alleged discovery of a now-vanished stone tablet covered in cryptic symbols, which was said to translate to: "Forty feet below two million pounds lie buried." The treasure hunt's allure has attracted notable figures, including U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and actor John Wayne, who both invested in excavation efforts. While the Money Pit remains a focal point, recent technological advancements have shifted attention to a man-made swamp on the island. This new area has yielded intriguing finds, including a centuries-old lead cross, paved structures, and seismic data pointing to a large, ship-shaped anomaly buried deep within the mud. Want to learn more? Head over to my website www.funfactsdailypod.com and be sure to listen to my other podcasts Who ARTed: Weekly Art History for All Ages or Art Smart. For family fun, check out my son's podcast Rainbow Puppy Science Lab Fun Facts Daily is an Airwave Media Podcast. If you are interested in advertising on this or any other Airwave Media show, email: advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices