Illustration by Jennifer Kearney

Things you've always never wanted to know

Bore-hole seismometry indicates that the land in Oklahoma moves up and down 25 centimeters throughout the day, corresponding with the tides. Earth tides are generally about one-third the size of ocean tides.

The Wright brothers spent time observing the flight of the buzzard to help them solve the mystery of flight. They realized that the bird retained balance in the air by twisting the tips of its wings. By creating a wing warping method based upon this observation, the brothers were able to obtain a remarkable degree of maneuverability.

On average, there are eight peas in a pod.

Ergonomic waterbeds are the latest must-have on the bovine circuit. Listed at $175 each, they are said to enhance cattle health by reducing joint damage.

The oak tree can take as long as 30 years to produce its first crop of acorns.

Lisa Kudrow was originally cast as producer Roz on NBC's "Frasier," but was fired and replaced before filming began. She had a recurring bit part as inept waitress Ursula on "Mad About You" before landing the role of ditzy free spirit Phoebe on NBC's "Friends."

Toward the end of the 15th century, men's shoes had a square tip like a duck's beak, a fashion launched by Charles VIII of France to hide the imperfection of one of his feet, which had six toes.

The star Antares is 60,000 times larger than our sun. If our sun were the size of a softball, Antares would be as large as a house.

The kidney consists of more than 1 million tubes, and the total length of the tubes in both kidneys runs to about 40 miles.

Fog is made up of tiny droplets between 1 and 10 microns across; mist droplets are even smaller, less than 1 micron. One micron equals about one-two-hundredth of the thickness of a human hair.