 |
Did you know that there
are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300 in children (as they
grow some of the bones fuse together). |
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Flea's can jump 130
times higher than their own height. In human terms this is equal to a 6ft.
person jumping 780 ft. into the air. |
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The most dangerous
animal in the world is the common housefly. Because of their habits of visiting
animal waste, they transmit more diseases than any other
animal. |
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Snakes are true
carnivorous because they eat nothing but other animals. They do not eat any type
of plant material. |
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The world's largest
amphibian is the giant salamander. It can grow up to 5 ft. in
length. |
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100 years ago: The
first virus was found in both plants and animals. |
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90 years ago: The Grand
Canyon became a national monument & Cellophane is
invented. |
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80 years ago: The food
mixer and the domestic refrigerator were invented. |
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70 years ago: The
teletype and PVC (polyvinyl-chloride) were invented. |
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60 years ago: Otto Hahn
discovered nuclear fission by splitting uranium, Teflon was
invented. |
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50 years ago: Velcro
was invented. |
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40 years ago: An
all-female population of lizards was discovered in Armenia. |
| |
30 years ago: The
computer mouse was invented. |
| |
20 years ago: First
test-tube baby born in England, Pluto’s moon, Charon,
discovered. |
| |
10 years ago: First
patent for a genetically-engineered mouse was issued to Harvard Medical
School. |
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5 years ago: The first
successful cloning of human embryo |
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The smallest bone in
the human body is the stapes or stirrup bone located in the middle ear. It is
approximately .11 inches (.28 cm) long. |
| |
The longest cells in
the human body are the motor neurons. They can be up to 4.5 feet (1.37 meters)
long and run from the lower spinal cord to the big toe. |
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There are no poisonous
snakes in Maine. |
| |
The blue whale can
produce sounds up to 188 decibels. This is the loudest sound produced by a
living animal and has been detected as far away as 530
miles. |
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The largest man-made
lake in the U.S. is Lake Mead, created by Hoover Dam. |
| |
The poison arrow frogs
of South and Central America are the most poisonous animals in the
world. |
| |
A new born blue whale
measures 20-26 feet (6.0 - 7.9 meters) long and weighs up to 6,614 pounds (3003
kg). |
| |
The first
coast-to-coast telephone line was established in 1914. |
| |
The Virginia opossum
has a gestation period of only 12-13 days. |
| |
The Stegosaurus
dinosaur measured up to 30 feet (9.1 meters) long but had a brain the size of a
walnut. |
| |
The largest meteorite
crater in the world is in Winslow, Arizona. It is 4,150 feet across and 150 feet
deep. |
| |
The human eye blinks an
average of 4,200,000 times a year. |
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Skylab, the first
American space station, fell to the earth in thousands of pieces in 1979.
Thankfully most over the ocean. |
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It takes approximately
12 hours for food to entirely digest. |
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Human jaw muscles can
generate a force of 200 pounds (90.8 kilograms) on the
molars. |
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The Skylab astronauts
grew 1.5 - 2.25 inches (3.8 - 5.7 centimeters) due to spinal lengthening and
straightening as a result of zero gravity. |
| |
An inch (2.5
centimeters) of rain water is equivalent to 15 inches (38.1 centimeters) of dry,
powdery snow. |
| |
Tremendous erosion at
the base of Niagara Falls (USA) undermines the shale cliffs and as a result the
falls have receded approximately 7 miles over the last 10,000
years. |
| |
40 to 50 percent of
body heat can be lost through the head (no hat) as a result of its extensive
circulatory network. |
| |
A large swarm of desert
locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) can consume 20,000 tons (18,160,000 kilograms)
of vegetation a day. |
| |
The largest telescope
in the world is currently being constructed in northern Chile. The telescope
will utilize four - 26 ft. 8 in. (8.13 meters) mirrors which will gather as much
light as a single 52 ft. 6 in. (16 meters) mirror. |
| |
The Hubble Space
Telescope weighs 12 tons (10,896 kilograms), is 43 feet (13.1 meters) long, and
cost $2.1 billion to originally build. |
| |
The longest living
cells in the body are brain cells which can live an entire
lifetime. |
| |
The largest flying
animal was the pterosaur which lived 70 million years ago. This reptile had a
wing span of 36-39 feet (11-11.9 meters) and weighed 190-250 pounds (86-113.5
kilograms). |
| |
The Atlantic Giant
Squid's eye can be as large as 15.75 inches (40 centimeters)
wide. |
| |
Armadillos, opossums,
and sloth's spend about 80% of their lives sleeping. |
| |
The starfish species,
Porcellanaster ivanovi, has been found to live in water as deep as 24,881
feet (7,584 meters). |
| |
The tentacles of the
giant Arctic jellyfish can reach 120 feet (36.6 meters) in
length. |
| |
The greatest tide
change on earth occurs in the Bay of Fundy. The difference between low tide and
high tide can be as great as 54 ft. 6 in. (16.6 meters). |
| |
The highest temperature
produced in a laboratory was 920,000,000 F (511,000,000 C) at the Tokamak Fusion
Test Reactor in Princeton, NJ, USA. |
| |
The most powerful laser
in the world, the Nova laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA, USA,
generates a pulse of energy equal to 100,000,000,000,000 watts of power for
.000000001 second to a target the size of a grain of sand. |
| |
The fastest computer in
the world is the CRAY Y-MP C90 supercomputer. It has two gigabytes of central
memory and 16 parallel central processor units. |
| |
The heaviest human
brain ever recorded weighed 5 lb. 1.1 oz. (2.3 kg.). |
| |
The deepest part of the
ocean is 35,813 feet (10,916 meters) deep and occurs in the Mariana Trench in
the Pacific Ocean. At that depth the pressure is 18,000 pounds (9172 kilograms)
per square inch. |
| |
The largest cave in the
world (the Sarawak Chamber in Malaysia) is 2,300 feet (701 meters) long, 980
feet (299 meters) wide, and more than 230 feet (70 meters)
high. |
| |
The hottest planet in
the solar system is Venus, with an estimated surface temperature of 864 F (462
C). |
| |
The ears of a cricket
are located on the front legs, just below the knee. |
| |
The first electronic
digital computer (called ENIAC - the Electronic Numerical Integrator and
Calculator) was developed in 1946 and contained over 18,000 vacuum
tubes. |
| |
The leg muscles of a
locust are about 1000 times more powerful than an equal weight of human
muscle. |
| |
The cosmos contains
approximately 50,000,000,000 galaxies. |
| |
There are between
100,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000,000 stars in a normal
galaxy. |
| |
Sound travels about 4
times faster in water than in air. |
| |
Scientists have
discovered that copper pollution of the atmosphere occurred about 2500 years
ago. This was discovered by analyzing ice cores from Greenland. The pollution
was attributed to the Romans who used copper for military purposes and to
produce coins. |
| |
Hydrofluoric acid will
dissolve glass. |
| |
In a full grown rye
plant, the total length of roots may reach 380 miles (613
km). |
| |
In a full grown rye
plant, the total length of fine root hairs may reach 6600 miles (10,645
km). |
| |
A large sunspot can
last for about a week. |
| |
If you could throw a
snowball fast enough, it would totally vaporize when it hit a brick
wall. |
| |
Boron nitride (BN) is
the second hardest substance known to man. |
| |
The female Tarantula
Hawk wasp paralyzes a large spider with her sting. She then lays her eggs on the
motionless body so that her developing young have a fresh supply of spider meat
to feed on. |
| |
The seeds of an Indian
Lotus tree remain viable for 300 to 400 years. |
| |
The only letter not
appearing on the Periodic Table is the letter “J”. |
| |
Velcro was invented by
a Swiss guy who was inspired by the way burrs attached to
clothing. |
| |
Hershey's Kisses are
called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the
conveyor belt. |
| |
October 10 is National
Metric Day. |
| |
If you stretch a
standard Slinky out flat it measures 87 feet long. |
| |
The microwave was
invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in
his pocket. |
| |
Super Glue was invented
by accident. The researcher was trying to make optical coating materials, and
would test their properties by putting them between two prisms and shining light
through them. When he tried the cyano-acrylate, he couldn't get the prisms
apart. |
| |
No matter its size or
thickness, no piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7
times. |
| |
A car traveling at 80
km/h uses half its fuel to overcome wind resistance. |
| |
Knowledge is growing so
fast that ninety per cent of what we will know in fifty years time, will be
discovered in those fifty years. |
| |
According to an old
English system of time units, a moment is one and a half
minutes. |
| |
The typewriter was
invented in 1829, and the automatic dishwasher in 1889. |
| |
The wristwatch was
invented in 1904 by Louis Cartier. |
| |
When glass breaks, the
cracks move at speeds of up to 3,000 miles per hour. |
| |
By raising your legs
slowly and laying on your back, you can't sink in
quicksand. |
| |
Ten minutes of one
hurricane contains enough energy to match the nuclear stockpiles of the
world. |
| |
Most gemstones contain
several elements. The exception? The diamond. It's all
carbon. |
| |
Diamonds are the
hardest substance known to man. |
| |
Which of the 50 states
has never had an earthquake? North Dakota. |
| |
When hydrogen burns in
the air, water is formed. |
| |
Sterling silver
contains 7.5% copper. |
| |
Cars were first made
with ignition keys in 1949. |
| |
J.B Dunlop was first to
put air into tires. |
| |
Alexander Graham Bell,
who invented the telephone, also set a world water-speed record of over seventy
miles an hour at the age of seventy two. |
| |
It is energy-efficient
to turn off a fluorescent light only if it will not be used again within an hour
or more. This is because of the high voltage needed to turn it on, and the
shortened life this high voltage causes. |
| |
The Earth's equatorial
circumference (40,075 km) is greater than its polar circumference (40,008
km). |
| |
Lake Baikal is the
deepest lake in the world. |
| |
Due to gravitational
effects, you weigh slightly less when the moon is directly
overhead. |
| |
The Earth's average
velocity orbiting the sun is 107,220 km per hour. |
| |
There is a high and low
tide because of our moon and the Sun. |
| |
The United States
consumes 25% of all the world’s energy. |
| |
Flying from London to
New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours
before you leave. |
| |
There is enough fuel in
a full tank of a Jumbo Jet to drive an average car four times around the
world. |
| |
The surface speed
record on the moon is 10.56 miles per hour. It was set with the lunar
rover. |
| |
If you could drive to
the sun -- at 55 miles per hour -- it would take about 193
years |
| |
The moon is one million
times drier than the Gobi Desert. |
| |
Just twenty seconds
worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the
moon. |
| |
A Boeing 707 uses four
thousand gallons of fuel in its take-off climb. |
| |
The planet Saturn has a
density lower than water. So, if placed in water it would
float. |
| |
Since 1959, more than
6,000 pieces of 'space junk' (abandoned rocket and satellite parts) have fallen
out of orbit - many of these have hit the earth's surface. |
| |
It takes 70% less
energy to produce a ton of paper from recycled paper than from
trees. |
| |
Every year in the US,
625 people are struck by lightning. |
| |
Hawaii is moving toward
Japan 4 inches every year. |
| |
The rocket engine has
to supply its own oxygen so it can burn its fuel in outer
space. |
| |
The North Atlantic gets
1 inch wider every year. |
| |
Oxygen is the most
abundant element in the Earth’s crust, waters, and atmosphere (about
49.5%) |
| |
A stroke of lightning
discharges from 10 to 100 million volts & 30,000 amperes of
electricity. |
| |
A bolt of lightning is
about 54,000°F (30,000°C); six times hotter than the Sun. |
| |
Hydrogen is the most
abundant element in the Universe (75%). |
| |
The average distance
between the Earth & the Moon is 238,857 miles (384,392
km). |
| |
The moon is 27% the
size of the Earth. |
| |
The Earth weighs 6.6
sextillion tons, or 5.97 x 1024 kg. |
| |
The center of the Sun
is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million °C). |
| |
Sunlight takes about 8
minutes & 20 seconds to reach the Earth at 186,282 miles/sec (299,792
Km/sec). |
| |
The highest temperature
on Earth was 136°F (58°C) in Libya in 1922. |
| |
The lowest temperature
on Earth was -128.6°F (-89.6°C) in Antarctica in 1983. |
| |
Sunlight can penetrate
clean ocean water to a depth of 240 feet. |
| |
The average ocean floor
is 12,000 feet. |
| |
The temperature can be
determined by counting the number of cricket chirps in fourteen seconds and
adding 40. |
| |
House flies have a
lifespan of two weeks. |
| |
Chimps are the only
animals that can recognize themselves in a mirror. |
| |
Starfish don't have
brains. |
| |
The average person
falls asleep in seven minutes. |
| |
Shrimp's hearts are in
their heads. |
| |
Every time you lick a
stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie. |
| |
The longest recorded
flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds |
| |
Emus and kangaroos
cannot walk backwards. |
| |
Cats have over one
hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten. |
| |
Porcupines float in
water. |
| |
An ostrich's eye is
bigger that its brain. |
| |
An iguana can stay
under water for twenty-eight minutes. |
| |
The common goldfish is
the only animal that can see both infra-red and ultra-violet
light. |
| |
It's impossible to
sneeze with your eyes open. |
| |
The pupil of an
octopus' eye is rectangular. |
| |
Our eyes are always the
same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop
growing. |
| |
The leg bones of a bat
are so thin that no bat can walk. |
| |
Ants cannot chew their
food, they move their jaws sideways, like scissors, to extract the juices from
the food. |
| |
Hummingbirds are the
only animals able to fly backwards. |
| |
A cat has 32 muscles in
each ear. |
| |
Tigers have striped
skin, not just striped fur. |
| |
A cat's jaws cannot
move sideways. |
| |
Armadillos get an
average of 18.5 hours of sleep per day. |
| |
Armadillos can walk
underwater. |
| |
There are more beetles
than any other kind of creature in the world. |
| |
Certain frogs that can
survive the experience of being frozen. |
| |
Only humans sleep on
their backs. |
| |
The human brain is 80%
water. |
| |
Everyone's tongue print
is different. |
| |
As an adult, you have
more than 20 square feet of skin on your body--about the same square footage as
a blanket for a queen-sized bed. |
| |
In your lifetime,
you'll shed over 40 pounds of skin. |
| |
15 million blood cells
are produced and destroyed in the human body every second. |
| |
Every minute, 30-40,000
dead skin cells fall from your body. |
| |
The brain uses more
than 25% of the oxygen used by the human body. |
| |
If your mouth was
completely dry, you would not be able to distinguish the taste of
anything. |
| |
There are more living
organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human beings on the
surface of the earth. |
| |
Muscles are made up of
bundles from about 5 in the eyelid to about 200 in the buttock
muscle. |
| |
Muscles in the human
body (640 in total) make up about half of the body weight. |
| |
The human body has
enough fat to produce 7 bars of soap. |
| |
The human head is a
quarter of our total length at birth, but only an eighth of our total length by
the time we reach adulthood. |
| |
Most people blink about
17,000 times a day. |
| |
Moths have no
stomach. |
| |
Hummingbirds can't
walk. |
| |
Sea otters have 2 coats
of fur. |
| |
A starfish can turn its
stomach inside out. |
| |
A zebra is white with
black stripes. |
| |
The animal with the
largest brain in relation to its body is the ant. |
| |
The largest eggs in the
world are laid by a shark. |
| |
A crocodile’s tongue is
attached to the roof of its mouth. |
| |
Crocodiles swallow
stones to help them dive deeper. |
| |
Giraffes are unable to
cough. |
| |
Sharks are immune to
cancer. |
| |
Despite the hump, a
camel’s spine is straight. |
| |
Cheetah's can accelerate from 0 to 70 km/h in
3 seconds. |
| |
A giraffe's neck
contains the same number of vertebrae as a human. |
| |
The heart of giraffe is
two feet long, and can weigh as much as twenty four pounds. |
| |
On average, Elephants
sleep for about 2 hours per day. |
| |
Lobsters have blue
blood. |
| |
Shark's teeth are
literally as hard as steel. |
| |
A mosquito has 47
teeth. |
| |
Oxygen, carbon,
hydrogen and nitrogen make up 90% of the human body. |
| |
Seventy percent of the
dust in your home consists of shed human skin |
| |
Fish are the only
vertebrates that outnumber birds. |
| |
A cockroach can live
for several weeks without its head. |
| |
The average human
produces a quart of saliva a day -- about 10,000 gallons in a
lifetime |
| |
Elephants have been
known to remain standing after they die. |
| |
The embryos of tiger
sharks fight each other while in their mother's womb, the survivor being the
baby shark that is born. |
| |
Ants do not
sleep. |
| |
Nearly a third of all
bottled drinking water purchased in the US is contaminated with
bacteria. |
| |
Rats multiply so
quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over 1 million
descendents. |
| |
An Astronaut can be up
to 2 inches taller returning from space. The cartilage disks in the spine expand
in the absence of gravity. |
| |
The oldest known fossil
is of a single-celled organism, blue-green algae, found in 3.2 billion year-old
stones in South Africa. |
| |
The oldest
multicellular fossils date from ~700 million years ago. |
| |
The earliest cockroach
fossils are about 280 million years old. |
| |
Healthy nails grow
about 2 cm each year. Fingernails grow four times as fast as
toenails. |
| |
20/20 vision means the
eye can see normally at 20 feet. 20/15 is better; the eye can see at 20 feet
what another eye sees at 15 feet. |
| |
The average person has
100,000 hairs on his/her head. Each hair grows about 5 inches (12.7 cm) every
year. |
| |
There are 60,000 miles
(97,000 km) in blood vessels in every human. |
