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The modern decimal position system was the invention of the Hindus (around 800 AD), involving the placing of numerals to indicate their value (units, tens, hundreds, and so on).
Urine turns bright yellow if larger than normal amounts of certain substances are consumed; one of these substances is asparagus.
Atropine was named after the Greek goddess Atropos, the oldest and ugliest of the three sisters known as the Fates, who controlled the destiny of men.
Nitroglycerin is used to alleviate various heart-related conditions, and it is also the chief component of dynamite (but mixed in a solid clay base to stabilize it).
Cancer has been around as long as humankind, but only in the second half of the twentieth century did the number of cancer cases explode.