On November 20, 1916, Ruth Law took off from Chicago in a small Curtiss pusher biplane. Fighting freezing temperatures and thick fog, she covered 590 miles to Hornell, New York, breaking the American cross-country flight record. She completed 884 miles upon reaching New York City, greeted by cheering crowds.

David Livingstone, a Scottish explorer and missionary, spent years mapping Africa and searching for the source of the Nile. He battled disease, extreme conditions, and long periods of isolation while documenting the continent’s geography and cultures.

Jaouad Benaddi spends his mornings trying to get his goats to climb an argan tree. His 13-year-old son, Khalid, climbs first, using a bag of grain to lure them. Some follow naturally, while others must be lifted onto small wooden platforms. Eventually, a dozen goats stand motionless in the tree’s branches, drawing the attention of passing tourists.

Leopold II became King of Belgium in 1865 and sought to expand Belgium’s influence. He focused on acquiring territory in Africa, eventually gaining control over the Congo Free State in 1885 after securing approval from European powers.

Lonnie G. Johnson, born in 1949, was an Air Force engineer and NASA scientist who worked on the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Stealth Bomber project. He had a lifelong interest in inventing and often worked on projects in his spare time.

In 1952, Marvin Minsky, an artificial intelligence pioneer, created a device at Bell Labs with an unusual purpose—it turned itself off. When switched on, a small lever or mechanical hand would emerge from the box, flip the switch back off, and then disappear inside.

Polydactyl cats are born with more than the usual number of toes due to a congenital condition called polydactyly. Normal cats have 18 toes, but polydactyl cats can have up to 28 digits. This trait is most commonly found along the East Coast of North America and in South West England and Wales.

Hallgrímskirkja, the tallest church in Iceland, stands at 74.5 meters (244 ft) in Reykjavík. Designed by architect Guðjón Samúelsson in 1937, its exterior was inspired by Iceland’s basalt lava columns, formed by cooling volcanic rock.

Ōkunoshima, a small island in Japan’s Seto Inland Sea, is home to hundreds of feral rabbits. Tourists flock to the island, now called Usagi Jima, or “Rabbit Island,” to feed and photograph the tame bunnies. With no natural predators and an abundance of food from visitors, the rabbit population thrives.

On March 24, 1863, at midnight, Peter escaped captivity from the Louisiana plantation of Capt. John Lyons. Lyons owned 3,000 acres and 38 enslaved people in St. Landry Parish. Peter traveled through swamps and rivers, covering miles of dangerous terrain. His goal was to reach Union forces stationed in Baton Rouge.