Mark Twain invented the self pasting scrapbook in 1872

send in by: @perseid88

Mark Twain was a lifelong creator and keeper of scrapbooks. He took them with him everywhere and filled them with souvenirs, pictures, and articles about his books and performances. But in time, he grew tired of the lost glue, rock-hard paste, and the swearing that resulted from the standard scrapbook process. So, he came up with the idea of printing thin strips of glue on the pages to make updates neat and easy to do. In 1872, he patented his “self-pasting” scrapbook, and by 1901, at least 57 different types of his albums were available. It would be his only invention that ever made money. Inspired by his invention, this interactive scrapbook tells Twain’s life story through a collection of texts, photos, illustrations, and clippings from his day. To begin exploring, click one of the chapters to the right.

http://www.pbs.org/marktwain/scrapbook/index.html

The Arctic Terns migration is the longest regular migration known

The Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, breeding colonially in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America (as far south as Brittany and Massachusetts). The species is strongly migratory, seeing two summers each year as it migrates from its northern breeding grounds to the oceans around Antarctica and back (about 24,000 miles) each year. This is the longest regular migration by any known animal. The arctic tern flies as well as glides through the air, performing almost all of its tasks in the air. The arctic tern lands once every one to three years (depending on their mating cycle) to nest; once they have finished nesting they take to the sky for another long southern migration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterna_paradisaea

A tiny animal called Hydra doesnt age

Hydra is a genus of simple fresh-water animals possessing radial symmetry. Hydras are predatory animals belonging to the phylum Cnidaria and the class Hydrozoa. They can be found in most unpolluted freshwater ponds, lakes and streams in the temperate and tropical regions by gently sweeping a collecting net through weedy areas. They are usually a few millimeters long and are best studied with a microscope. Biologists are especially interested in hydras due to their regenerative ability and because they appear to undergo senescence (aging) very slowly, if at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_(genus)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_immortality#Hydra

The largest know pearl weights 6.4kg

The largest pearl known, was found in the Philippines in 1934. It is a naturally-occurring, non-nacreous, calcareous concretion from a giant clam. Because it did not grow in a pearl oyster it is not pearly, instead it has a porcellaneous surface. In other words, it is glossy like a china plate. Other pearls from giant clams are known to exist, but this is a particularly large one. The pearl weighs 14 lb (6.4 kg) and was supposedly first discovered by an anonymous Filipino Muslim diver off the island of Palawan in 1934. According to the legend as it is currently told, a Palawan chieftain gave the pearl to Wilbur Dowell Cobb in 1936 as a gift for having saved the life of his son. The pearl had been named the "Pearl of Allah" by the Muslim tribal chief, because it resembled a turbaned head. Another even more elaborate legend says that this object is actually the Pearl of Lao-Tzu, a cultured pearl created with a carved amulet and then supposedly progressively grafted into several giant clams, before supposedly being lost due to a shipwreck in 1745. ^[6] This legend has been discredited, however because this pearl is indeed the product of a giant clam, Tridacna gigas, which cannot be grafted. The pearl is also a whole pearl, not a mabe pearl, and whole pearl culturing technology is only 100 years old. ^[7]

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearls#Creation_of_a_pearl}