By 1800 B.C., the ass(Donkey) had reached the Middle East where the trading city of Damascus was referred to as the “City of Asses” in cuneiform texts.

The fork as an eating utensil was introduced in the Middle East before the year 1000. First introduced to Europe in the 10th century by Theophanu, Byzantine wife of Emperor Otto II, the table fork had, by the 11th century made its way to Italy. The fork's arrival in northern Europe was more difficult. For many years it was viewed as an unmanly Italian affectation. The Roman Catholic Church expressly disapproved of its use: "God in his wisdom has provided man with natural forks — his fingers. Therefore it is an insult to Him to substitute artificial metallic forks for them when eating." It was not until the 18th century that the fork became commonly used in Great Britain.

5.9 million years ago the Strait of Gibraltar closed and the Mediterranean Sea evaporated forming a dry basin that was at some locations as deep as 2-3 miles (3.2-4.9 km) below sea level. The area underwent repeated partial flooding and desiccation at least 8 or 10 times over hundreds of thousands of years. The drop in water level caused the rivers emptying into the Mediterranean to turn into waterfalls that eroded their shelves. The Nile cut its bed down to 8,000 feet (2,400 m) below sea level under Cairo. The water that evaporated from the Mediterranean would have been redistributed in the world's oceans, raising global sea levels around 30 feet(9-10 m). About 5.4 million years ago, at the start of the Pliocene period, the barrier at the Strait of Gibraltar broke, permanently re-flooding the basin. Even now the Mediterranean is saltier than the North Atlantic because of its near isolation by the Straits of Gibraltar and its high rate of evaporation.

After Germany invaded Denmark in World War II, plans were made to hide the Nobel Prize medals of two scientists living in the country. Instead of hiding the medals in a place where they could be found, they were instead dissolved in aqua regia (a solution composed of nitric acid and hydrochloric acids). The solution, along with the dissolved medals was stored on a shelf along with other bottles of chemicals. After the war, the gold was precipitated out of solution, and sent back to the Nobel Foundation. Max von Laue and James Franck were then issued new medals, although they were most likely not made from the original gold.