On December 15, 1836 the entire record of the nation's efforts to spur innovation via patent protection, records of some of the earliest and most important inventions of the young nation, were lost.
Solenopsis invicta, the “Red Imported Fire Ant”, native to South America, has proven a tenacious and destructive pest in the United States, costing Americans billions of dollars every year. That is why, in the late 1950s, the United States embarked on an all out war against the six-legged menace.