Sherman Adams was a daring Boston broker who in 1924 introduced the world’s first mutual fund, the MIT Fund, or Massachusetts Investors Trust Fund. By investing in the MIT Fund, customers could buy or sell their shares whenever they wanted, rather than tie their money up for a set number of years. After the MIT Fund survived the stock market …

True flapping flight, almost as proficient as that of the birds, has been achieved by only one group of mammals, the bats. Bats probably evolved from a group of early insectivores that fed by leaping from the branches of trees to catch passing insects. It is interesting that bats fly by cupping their wings in front of the body and …

Mammals are creatures who give birth to their young ones as opposed to other animals who lay eggs. Birds, reptiles and insects lay eggs. But as with every other rule, this one has an exception too. An exceptional exception The duck-billed platypus of Australia walks out of fresh waters to build its nest on the ground. But it has retained …

Venice, a beautiful city was built on 118 islands. It is linked to the mainland by a causeway, but most people travel by gondola or motorboat on the network of canals.

The sleepiest animal, considered by the average number of hours of sleep a day is the koala, an arboreal animal with the scientific name Phascclarctos Cinerus, found only in Australia. Though it resembles a teddy bear, scientifically it is close to kangaroos, because it carries its young in a pouch. It lives mostly on eucalyptus trees, sleeping in the fork …

There are several species of bird which are extremely rare, but the rarest may well be the Hawaiian Oaaa bird, which, in 1977, had a world population of just two! It is not known whether this pair has managed to breed since then. If they have not, it is very likely that the species is now extinct.

Although it is not the longest snake-this title is claimed by a python-the Anaconda is certainly the thickest. Anacondas grow to 20 feet in length and measured around their fattest part can reach 3 feet in diameter. Naturally such a colossal snake (weighing about 17 stone) cannot move swiftly and so the Anaconda relies on lying in wait for its …

Cats often push their claws in and out as they stretch after a good sleep. The ability to retract the claws means that they are always sharp when needed for fighting or killing prey. The cheetah, however, is the only cat which cannot retract its claws-they are used to help it grip the ground when hunting at speed.

The cuckoo-pint is an unusual plant of hedgerows and woodsides, which produces bright red berries in the autumn. The berries are extremely poisonous to all birds, except the thrush.

The first definite and documented lighthouse in the world was the Pharaohs of Alexandria built in 200 BC, although beacons were certainly used before that. The oldest working lighthouse in the world is at La Coruqa in north-west Spain near the town of Ferol. A lighthouse has been on this site since the time of the Roman emperor Trajan. The …