Illustration by Arnie Bermudez

· The word "toast," meaning a proposal of health, originated in Rome, where an actual bit of spiced, burned bread was dropped into wine to improve the drink's flavor, absorb its sediment, and thus make it more healthly.

· In the early days of baseball, between 1840 and 1850, a fielder put a runner out by hitting him with the ball. Home base and the batter's plate were two separate spots ÷ and thus the lineup included a fourth baseman ÷ and there was no distinction between fair and foul balls.

· Kangaroo rats never drink water. Like their relatives, the pocket mice, they carry their own water source within them, producing fluids from the food they eat and the air they breathe.

· One cannot catch a cold at the North Pole in winter, and neither can one contract the flu or most of the ailments transmitted by viruses and germs. The winter temperature is so low in this part of the world that no standard disease-causing microorganisms can survive.

· A condition known as hypertrophy, or enlarging, of the tongue can sometimes reach such extremes that the tongue becomes too large for the mouth. In this instance, the tongue protrudes over the chin, reaching down as far as the chest. This extraordinary enlargement may cause deformity of the teeth and the jaw, and may even cause the sufferer to choke on his or her own tongue.

· Bees create their own air conditioning. When the weather becomes especially hot and the temperature inside the hive threatens to melt the wax, one group of bees stations itself at the entrance to the colony while another remains inside. Both groups then flap their wings simultaneously, sometimes at a rate of 400 flaps per second. Thus, they create a cross-draft that pulls the hot air out of the hive and draws cooler air in.