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Where do bath sponges come from?

The sponge with which some people regularly soap themselves in the bath is really the skeleton of a particular type of natural sponge. Bath sponges are supported by a framework of a resilient, elastic material called ‘spongin’, and it is this that makes up the bathroom sponge. Bath sponges are found in warm shallow seas, and in various part of …

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Where did the French first settle in America?

One of the reasons why the French wished to establish colonies in the New World was because some of them wanted to escape religious persecution at home. In 1562, a group of thirty French Protestants, let by Jean Ribault, landed at the mouth of the St John’s River in the Spanish territory of Florida (left). However, the Indians were hostile, …

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Where did Shoes come from?

Ooh, aah, ouch! People in ancient times must have yelped like this when they walked on rough ground without any shoes on. And it was probably the pain and discomfort that propelled them to cover their feet for protection. Footwear has a history which goes back many thousands of years, and has long been an article of prestige for people …

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Where are the world’s oldest rocks?

Rocks that were formed in the last 2,800 million years can be found in every continent, but rocks more than 3,500 million years old are extremely rare. Some rocks in the American Minnesota River valley and others in western Greenland have been dated at about 3,800 million years. The world’s oldest rocks, however, are probably in Australia, where, in 1983, …

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Where are the hottest and coldest places in the solar system?

Venus in the hottest of the Sun’s planets. Space probes have measured the temperature on its surface as a scorching 4600 C (9500 F). The reason is that Venus is surrounded by a dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide, which traps the Sun’s heat like a greenhouse. The coldest planet is distant Pluto, whose surface has a temperature of -2300 C …

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Where are the biggest ice blocks?

About 2.15 per cent of the world’s water supply is frozen. Most of the ice is blocked in two great ice sheets, the largest blanketing most of Antarctica and the other in Greenland. Smaller ice caps occur on northern islands, including Iceland, Spitzbergen and various islands in northern Canada. Valley glaciers are smaller still. They are found on mountain slopes …

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Where and what are the galaxies?

Our galaxy, vast island of stars though it is, is only one of millions of similar galaxies scattered throughout space as far away as we can see through cur telescopes. The nearer galaxies to our galaxy are two small satellite galaxies called the Magellanic Clouds. They can be seen only in the southern hemisphere, and look like pieces torn out …

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When were bricks first used?

Since the very early days of their history men have been making bricks of clay or other materials for use in building. The Tower of Babel, for which, according to the Old Testament, ‘they had brick for stone’, was probably a brick temple. People who lived in ancient Egypt built their houses from both sun-dried and kiln-baked bricks.

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When were breakfast cereals first used?

Cereals, of course, in the general sense, including wheat, rice, maize (known as corn in Canada and the United States), rye, oats and barley were among the earliest plants grown by man. But packaged or processed cereals are a modern development. Breakfast cereals owe their origin to the vegetarians of the last century and health fanatics who believed they could …

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