Chicken manure has a heavy concentration of what element?

You probably don’t give much thought to chicken manure, but some chemists and engineers are up to their elbows in the stuff working on ways to repurpose it. It can be fine fertilizer, but its runoff is loaded with phosphorus, which can throw off the chemical balance of adjacent waterways. So the goal is to extract the phosphorus from manure, use the refined manure for fertilizer and use the phosphorus for other purposes. We’re talking about millions of pounds of poop each year, with a commercial value of hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s not chicken feed! Trivia question: In 1669, Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus by distilling what liquid? A) Beer B) Milk C) Urine D) Water

Happy 100th year of nationhood to Latvia! Among the many cultural treasures that Latvians hold dear, knitted mittens incorporating symbols from Latvian folklore might be the most charming. Traditionally, a Latvian bride’s dowry would have included dozens of pairs of mittens to be given to her new family. Today, mittens still are given as tokens of affection and respect on important occasions. That’s why, when NATO held a summit in Riga in 2006, Latvians knitted 4,500 pairs of mittens as gifts for the delegates.

The tale of J.K. Rowling’s 12 rejections for the first book in her Harry Potter series is widely told, but Rowling’s tally seems minimal compared with other writers’ collections of rejections. Sylvia Plath, the esteemed poet and author, received nearly 50 rejections from “Seventeen” magazine alone before her first short story, “And Summer Will Not Come Again,” was published there in 1950. Jack London collected some 600 rejection letters, which he saved for the rest of his life. They’re now in the museum collection at Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen, Calif.

Ever visited an IDSP? That’s an International Dark Sky Park, a designation given by the International Dark-Sky Association, to natural areas that are blissfully free of light pollution. Stargazers know these places well. They’re some of the best places on earth for unobstructed, unadulterated views of the night sky — from Albanya in Northern Spain to Zselic National Landscape Protection Area in Hungary. Ansa-Borrego State Park in California and Steinaker State Park in Utah made the list earlier this year. They’re worth staying up past your bedtime to see.

The landlocked West African country of Mali takes its name from the Bambara word for hippopotamus. That might sound odd until you consider that even though hippos look placid and sort of slow, they’re strong and can be fast and fierce if threatened. Historically, the Mali Empire was among the more influential kingdoms in Africa with major centers of business and scholarship in Djenne and Timbuktu.

Porcupines are excellent tree climbers. With their waddling gait, they might not look agile, but they can shinny up a tree trunk, strip it of its bark and continue on to the upper branches where they will feed on leaves or evergreen needles. Often, porcupines will nest in trees to be close to their food source and safe from predators, but their chubby bodies pose a functional dilemma: Not only do porcupines live in trees, also they tend to fall out of them. Trivia answer: In 1669, Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus by distilling urine.