Facts You Probably don’t Need

• Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution, was just 19 years old when Congress made him a major general in the Continental Army.

• The Guinness World Record for longest echo is 75 seconds, recorded in an abandoned Scottish oil tank.

• Penguins taste with their beaks, not their tongues.

• John Surratt, one of the conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, fled to Canada after the President’s murder. He later traveled to Italy, where he joined the army of the Papal States, a precursor to Vatican City. By chance, an acquaintance from Maryland visiting Italy recognized him and alerted the U.S. embassy in Rome, prompting Surratt to flee to Egypt. He was ultimately captured there and returned to the United States for trial. The case ended in a mistrial, and he was never retried after the statute of limitations expired. Surratt died in 1916 at the age of 72.

• Saturn would float in water because its average density is lower than water’s.

• Humans are the only animals with chins. Scientists are still not entirely sure why we have them.

• A day on Mercury is about 59 Earth days long.

• A bumblebee’s wings flap around 200 to 230 times per second.

Facts by Sean McVeigh, factologist.