Pumpkin itself is native to North America and was first cultivated around 5500 BCE.
The winter squash was almost certainly introduced to European settlers by the Wampanoag people of Massachusetts, who helped the newly arrived colonists at Plymouth survive their first winter.
In October 1705, the Connecticut settlement of Colchester was facing an early winter.
While New England was known for its cold snaps, this one was unusually premature and severe, with temperatures so low that nearby waterways froze.
Foods tend to get their names from their appearance or ingredients, though not all are so clear-cut.
Take, for instance, the egg cream, a beverage that has delighted the taste buds of New Yorkers (and other diner patrons) since the 1890s. But if you’ve never sipped on the cool, fizzy drink known for its chocolate flavor and foamy top, you should know: There are no eggs or cream in a traditional egg cream drink.
On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail of how “the Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.
It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
These are common risks to avoid during Thanksgiving:
Watermeal, aka various species of the genus Wolffia, is an aquatic plant that thrives in slow-moving ponds, marshes, and lakes; to the naked eye, clusters of watermeal can resemble a floating raft of algae.
Under a microscope, it’s easier to see just how tiny individual watermeal plants are — they measure around 1/42 of an inch long and 1/85 of an inch wide, or about the size of a candy sprinkle. In fact, watermeal is so small that about 5,000 individual plants can fit inside a thimble.
But before the ingenious founding father became the first U.S. postmaster, there was another important mail manager: a tavern owner by the name of Richard Fairbanks.
About 136 years before Franklin’s post office management, Fairbanks’ tavern became the first post office in the United States.
One little-known aspect of smell is how it fluctuates throughout the day.
According to research conducted by Brown University and published in the journal Chemical Senses in 2017, our sense of smell is somewhat regulated by our circadian rhythm, the internal biological process that regulates a human’s wake-sleep cycle. (If you’ve ever traveled across the ocean, the resulting jet lag is a disruption of this rhythm.)
But fermented beverages have played a vital role in human culture for perhaps almost as long as society has existed, providing nutrients, enjoyment, and often a safer alternative to drinking water before the advent of modern sanitation.
Scholars disagree over exactly when beer was first introduced — although the earliest hard evidence for barley beer comes from 5,400-year-old Sumerian vessels that were still sticky with beer when archaeologists found them.
That is, except for a little something called “gravitational time dilation.” First explored in Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the idea is almost confusingly simple — the farther away you are from a massive object (e.g., a planet), the faster time travels.
The more massive the object, the slower time travels, which is why things get very wonky around supermassive black holes like the one at the center of our galaxy.
Not for everyone, though. Roughly 12% of people dream entirely in black and white, making their nightly visions much like watching an old movie.
That comparison isn’t a coincidence, either. The number used to be much higher: In the 1940s, 75% of Americans reported seeing color in their dreams only rarely or never, and some researchers believe that black-and-white television is part of the reason why.
Both growing up on Long Island, New York, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield became friends in seventh grade, back in 1963. Originally, they set their sights on being a doctor (Greenfield) and an artist (Cohen).
But once they reached their 20s — a rejected medical school applicant and a potter who dropped out of college — they decided to enter the food industry instead. The duo came close to becoming bagel makers, but realized that producing ice cream was cheaper (bagel-making equipment can be pretty pricey).
Well, the word itself (coined by Australian scientists in 1964) gives a clue. “Ichor” is the name for the fluid that forms the blood of the gods in Greek mythology, while “petros” in Greek means “stone” — which is one of the places this sweet-smelling chemistry happens.
When rain hits porous soil and rocks after a long dry spell, small bacteria called actinobacteria (primarily Streptomyces species) release earthy-smelling organic compounds known as geosmin (a type of alcohol) into the air and into our nostrils.
But one animal stands out among the rest of these impressive travelers: the little-known and criminally underrated bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica).
Preferring summers in Alaska and winters in Australia or New Zealand, these large, noisy sandpipers make an epic voyage twice a year.
While it’s not the longest migration in the world overall, the bar-tailed godwit flies between its two travel destinations nonstop in a journey that can last 11 days or perhaps even longer.
Despite being surrounded by an endless supply of frozen water, the coldest continent on Earth is also one of the driest — so dry, in fact, it’s technically considered a desert.
Although the parched landscapes of Death Valley or the Sahara may spring to mind when we visualize a desert, the ecosystem classification has more to do with precipitation than temperature.
For the first few weeks of their lives, these newborn bivalves zoom around in a current until they eventually settle on some hard substrate, whether it’s a rock, pier, or another oyster.
This place of protection is where the oysters will spend the rest of their lives (which can be as long as 20 years). Eventually, usually a year after birth, it’ll be time for the oysters to breed, and that’s where things get interesting.
However, not every President has entered the White House with a spouse ready to take on the demanding job of First Lady. Four Presidents — Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and Chester A. Arthur — entered the executive office as widowers, and one (James Buchanan) never married.
For these men, the supporting role was instead filled by someone other than the President’s wife, such as a female family member, friend, or even a Cabinet member’s relative.
Brunch has a hold on Americans — after all, who can pass up the opportunity to enjoy a delicious smattering of sweet and savory plates (alongside good company, of course)?
Apparently, Americans of the past couldn’t say no either, gathering to share food and fun at so-called “waffle frolics.”
These waffle-eating get-togethers were most popular during the Colonial era, eventually petering out by the mid-20th century. At their peak, they were elaborate, multicourse meals that showcased freshly ironed waffles as the main course.
The Statue of Liberty is a world-famous symbol of freedom, given in 1886 by France to the United States in celebration of American Independence.
Nearby Ellis Island was the first stop for millions of immigrants to the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The national monument recalls this period of massive immigration to the United States.
Inside the statue, a plaque added in 1903 is engraved with words from "The New Colossus", an 1883 poem by Emma Lazarus:
But if it wasn’t, you might have to watch out for flying kernels, since popcorn can pop as high as 3 feet while it transforms from kernel to puff.
However, the tiny grains don’t just fly straight skyward as they expand; high-speed recordings of popcorn as it cooks show that the kernels actually flip like a high-flying gymnast, thanks to starches that push off a cooking surface and propel the corn into the air.
