It may sound absurd, but soap production was once strictly regulated to prevent illegal production. According to the Telegraph, the soap tax, which was implemented in 1712, was once a major source of revenue for the Exchequer, raising roughly the same proportion of income as alcohol duty does today. The imposed levies were so high that the tax collector decided to lock the lids on soap boiling pans every night to prevent illegal soap production after hours.

Under black lights, bananas glow blue. Ripe bananas appear yellow to the naked eye under normal conditions due to organic pigments known as carotenoids. Chlorophyll begins to degrade as bananas ripen. This pigment is what causes bananas to glow, or fluoresce, under UV light and appear blue. While this is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating facts about bananas, there is another that will make you want to eat a banana every day.

Most of Germany views beer as merely a beverage to be enjoyed. But it's a way of life in Bavaria. The typical Bavarian consumes over 150 litres of beer annually! More beer is consumed in Bavaria than in any other German state. In fact, Bavaria is home to about half of Germany's breweries. In the entire Federal Republic, it has the highest density. The Essential Guide to Germany's Romantic Road is also recommended. Beer cellars and halls in Bavaria are enormous. It is a fundamental part of their culture and way of life. If you enjoy drinking beer, you must visit Bavaria and take a tour of every brewery, sampling beer from each one along the way.

Lao-Lao is a powerful rice whiskey produced in Laos that costs less than a dollar per liter! The spirit is the cheapest in the world and can be found in any corner store, a mom-and-pop business, or market across the country. However, before you get too thrilled, the extremely low price has its own set of consequences. It tastes like a bottle of Methylated Spirits, has caused blindness on extremely rare occasions, and is a sure bet that you won't recall the events of the previous night. Of course, this is all hearsay. Take this as a warning.

Although sunflowers come in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, only one has entered the Guinness Book of World Records. A sunflower owned by Hans-Peter in Germany stands more than 30 feet tall.

A world passport is possible if it is issued by the World Service Authority, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC that claims to educate and promote "world citizenship," "world law," and "world government." Only a few countries around the world accept these as travel documents, including Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Mauritania, Tanzania, Togo, and Zambia.

The official cause of death for Branwell Bront, who passed away in September 1848 at the age of 31, was "chronic bronchitis-marasmus," a type of tuberculosis (then called consumption). His dependence on laudanum, opium and alcohol undoubtedly worsened his condition.

The researchers behind this project compiled data from museums, botanical gardens, agricultural centers, and other sources to conclude that there are currently 60,065 tree species known to science. These include Abarema abbottii, a rare and poorly understood tree native to China and Kyrgyzstan, and Zygophyllum kaschgaricum, a vulnerable limestone-bound tree found only in the Dominican Republic. The Global Tree Assessment, which aims to assess the conservation status of all of the world's tree species by 2020, is the next step in this field of research.

What you conceive of as a wonderful city today has a lengthy and little-known past. Some long-held hypotheses hold that London was founded by Romans around the year 50 AD. The origin of its name is likewise a mystery. London was known by several names throughout history, including Londonium, Ludenwic, and Ludenberg. The most widely accepted explanation is that the name London is derived from the old Celtic word "Londinous," which meaning "brave."

It is dependent on the species of flatfish in issue. Some flatfish are toxic, whereas others are not. The easiest approach to find out whether a specific species of flatfish is toxic is to consult a reputable source of information on the subject.

Well, it is in Spain, but not in the Iberian Peninsula. A fun fact about Spain is that the highest mountain in the country is Mount Teide (3718 meters). This mountain is situated in the Canary Islands and is an active volcano. As a consequence of its eruptions, the beaches of the island of Tenerife are of black sand instead of white.

In 1999, NASA’s Deep Space 1 probe flew past an asteroid while on its way to photograph the Borrelly comet. NASA named the asteroid “9969 Braille” in honor of Louis Braille.

We bet your average Hyrax doesn’t know its hardened poop is so special that people want to spray it on their bodies. A lot of niche perfume houses use this animalic, fecal note in their perfumes even now.

We could sit here and argue that a massive asteroid is to blame for this enormous crater, but it isn't. The fact is that when trees are removed from soft, sandy ground, the earth practically collapses and continues to slide away from natural reasons every so often.

On the off chance that you have quality-like side effects yet no pounding head torment, this might in any case be a headache. Different side effects incorporate queasiness, spewing, and blockage. A few specialists think the scope of in any case unexplained signs — like fever, tipsiness, or torment — could likewise be cerebral pain-free headaches.

Michael Buble is Santa's favourite singer! Santa enjoys many types of music and is a fan of BTS and Ed Sheeran, but his favourite singer is Michael Buble! That's perhaps why Buble enjoys a Christmas tune!

The whole world loves to eat delicious icecreams but New Zealand consumes most of it in a year. The residents of New Zealand consume around 28.4 liters of ice cream in a year on average. The mind literally freezes after knowing this much consumption of ice cream in New Zealand, isn't it?

An adult rattlesnake typically passes two weeks or so without eating because they only eat when they are hungry. The precise length of time depends on how much they ate for their last meal. Rattlesnakes mainly prey on mice, rats, squirrels, and rabbits, but if they can capture them, they will also consume birds. Young rattlesnakes typically consume more food, up to once a week.

It's not cool to blow out a candle since soot and smoke are produced. Additionally, you run the risk of releasing hot wax droplets into the neighborhood.

Before that, people used flattened animal horns to create windows.

Earthworms are fully formed when they are born, except for their sex organs. Their sexual system takes 60-90 days to develop. An earthworm's lifespan can range from four to eight years. Gardening earthworms, on the other hand, only live for a year or two.

Ladakh is home to a specialist in the creation of fake glaciers. Chewang Norphel, a retired civil engineer, saw a little brook had frozen beneath the trees. Soon after, he became involved in waster shed development and built more than 15 artificial glaciers. His longest glacier was over 1000 feet long and could support a whole settlement of 900 people.

While Pluto's icy neighbours are to blame for the planet's demise, they are also part of what makes the New Horizons mission so interesting. "Pluto may be the star witness to the entire third zone of the solar system," NASA's Jeff Moore told TIME. The solar system was thought to be divided into two zones until the Kuiper Belt was discovered: the inner zone, which contained the rocky planets from Mercury to Mars, and the outer zone, which contained the gas giants from Jupiter to Neptune. Pluto, on the other hand, introduced astronomers to the third zone of our solar system, which Moore described as a "vast region of ice planets."

Bulgaria required a flag to symbolize its independence when it became a sovereign nation in 1878. Petko Slaveykov, a poet who also authored the Bulgarian national hymn, was the designer.

Candle wax used to be mostly derived from animal sources like beeswax or calf fat. It was common for candles to be stolen during famines and consumed by the starving.