As an invader, Water Lettuce is older than the United States itself—it was first recorded in Florida way back in 1765. And now this tough little aquatic plant has become a full-fledged environmental pest.
Water Lettuce
Continue reading Florida’s Invaders: Water Lettuce
The Brothers Grimm are best-known for their collection of traditional folk fairytales, which includes Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, and Sleeping Beauty. But Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were also serious scientists who made major contributions to the linguistic study of the history of languages.
The Brothers Grimm
One of the most significant finds in science was made on a small farm in New Jersey in 1846, by an amateur fossil hunter.
Hadrosaur skeleton at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences
Although ironclad warships—wooden hulls covered with metal plates—were a staple of both the Union and Confederate navies in the Civil War, the first US Navy ship to be made completely of iron had already been built some twenty years before, and launched on the Great Lakes.
Prow of USS Michigan, on display at the Erie Maritime Museum
Continue reading USS Michigan: The US Navy’s First Iron-Hull Ship
The US Navy carried out a number of crucial early experiments with aircraft, using a specially-designed seaplane from Glenn Curtiss. Ultimately, this led to the aircraft carrier which has dominated naval warfare for decades.
A-1 Triad on display at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola FL
One of the oddest events in the Civil War happened in 1864 when a group of Confederate partisans crossed the border from Canada and occupied a small Vermont town for a short time.
Historical marker in St Albans VT
The submarine is often thought of as a weapon of the 20th century. But the first submarine attack on an enemy warship was actually made during the American Revolution, in 1776.
Cutaway replica of Bushnell’s Turtle, on display in Groton CT
