Page 3 - Best of the Month

Scientists believe that the Challenger astronauts did not die from the explosion, but from hitting the water!

The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred back in the 1980s, leading to the death of it's seven crew members. The disintegration of the entire vehicle occurred after an O-ring seal in it's right solid rocket booster failed at liftoff!

And even thought the explosion was devastating it is believed that most of the crew members were able to survive it! And rather than dying from it, they died after falling for 3 minutes until they hit the water.

The findings till today are inconclusive. Several researchers’ conclusions suggest that the cause of death of the Challenger astronauts cannot be really determined, since they might’ve also died during the explosion.

However most of the experts believe most of them were alive and still conscious during the entire descent until impact with the ocean.

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Some spiders have parts of their brain in their legs!

Just when you thought arachnids couldn’t be more cringe-inducing. According to researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the brains of tiny spiders are so large that they fill all their body cavities, and as a last resort, seem into their legs.

As spiders get smaller, their brain proportionality gets bigger, leading to more and more cerebral overflow. Some of the tiniest, most immature spiders have bulging deformed bodies. The bulge contains brain matter. According to a staff scientist, the smaller the spider, the more it has to invest in it's brain, meaning that very tiny spiders are able to weave more complicated webs and perform fairly complex behavior.

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An episode of time-traveling show Quantum Leap predicted the future!

Quantom Leap is a TV show that aired on NBC in the late 80s - early 90s. The show was about a quantum physicist from the near future who gets lost in time after a failed experiment in time travel. Each episode would feature him in a different time period, and at the end he would 'leap' to the setting for the next episode.

The second season episode entitled All American has a scene where a charactar says that he is watching Superbowl XXX and that the Steelers are down by 3. Six years later when the game was actually played, the Pittsburg Steelers trailed the Dallas Cowboys by 3 with 4:15 left to play.

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Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers was also in Back to the Future and The Big Lebowski!

For most people, being in a famous band or being in movies would be enough for them. One or the other. Not for Flea from The Red Hot Chili Peppers apparently. Flea, whose real name is Michael Balzary, is one of the most famous bass players in the world. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been and continue to be incredibly successful.

Flea apparently wanted to do more though. He appeared in a handful of films, some of which are famous in their own right. In 1989 and 1990, he appeared as Needles in "Back to the Future" parts II and III. And in 1998, Flea appeared as Nihilist #2 or Kieffer in the film "The Big Lebowski."

He has also done voice acting for the popular children's television shows, Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys. It seems Flea is a man of many talents.

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Before the 20th Century, Sugar was sold as a big rock which required special tools to break pieces off!

In our modern day and age, sugar is found in tiny grains, or even sometimes in a cube form. This method of refining sugar only came into existence at the beginning of the 20th Century. So, what did people do with sugar before?

Sugar used to be refined into what was called a Sugarloaf, a tall cone shape with a rounded top. Although we view it as a funny looking way to refine sugar, historians believe that people in Jordan have been making sugarloaves since at least the 12th Century!

Typically, the bigger the sugarloaf, the lower the grade of sugar. If you wanted a lot of sugar that wasn't very sweet, then you would buy a big loaf. However, if you wanted a really strong sweet taste, you would buy a very small sugarloaf. A small sugarloaf was approximately 5 inches high and 5 inches in diameter at the base. A large sugarloaf was anywhere from 10-14 inches in diameter at the base, and up to 30 inches tall!

If you've got a sweet tooth, check out the source to learn how sugarloaves were made!

(Source)