All facts — Page 27
The complete ONAURE library, newest first. Every fact has an explanation and a source you can check.
1196 facts
There is a parasite that replaces a fish's tongue.
Cymothoa exigua is a parasitic crustacean that attaches to a fish's tongue, sucks blood until the tongue atrophies…
There are worms that eat whale bones.
Worms of the genus Osedax bore into the bones of dead whales and feed on the bone marrow and collagen. They have no…
The human small intestine is about 7 metres long.
The human small intestine is about 7 metres long, divided into the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. The villi inside…
The art of Neapolitan pizzaiolos is UNESCO Intangible Heritage.
The traditional art of Neapolitan pizzaiolos was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2017…
The Champagne region produces about 300 million bottles per year.
The Champagne region in France has about 34,000 hectares of vineyards and produces about 300 million bottles of…
The IBM Simon was the first smartphone in history.
The IBM Simon, launched in 1994, is considered the first smartphone in history because it combined phone, diary, fax…
The transistor was invented in 1947.
The transistor was invented in 1947 at Bell Labs by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley. They received…
The naked mole-rat is one of the few cold-blooded mammals.
The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) cannot regulate its body temperature like most mammals. Its temperature…
Blinking helps clean and lubricate the cornea.
Each blink spreads a film of tears over the cornea, removing dust and microorganisms and keeping the eye surface…
Umami was discovered by a Japanese chemist in 1908.
Umami, the fifth basic taste, was identified in 1908 by the Japanese chemist Kikunae Ikeda, who associated it with…
The House of Wisdom in Baghdad was one of the greatest centres of knowledge in the world.
The House of Wisdom, founded in Baghdad in the 8th century, brought together translation, astronomy, mathematics…
The Brocken spectre is a person's own shadow magnified in the mist.
The Brocken spectre is an optical phenomenon in which the observer's shadow is projected onto mist or cloud…
The pitch drop experiment has been running for almost a century.
The pitch drop experiment began in 1927 at the University of Queensland in Australia, to demonstrate that pitch…
Wine tears are due to the Marangoni effect.
Wine tears or legs are droplets that run down the walls of the glass. They form because ethanol evaporates faster…
Halley's comet only passes near Earth every 76 years.
Halley's comet completes one orbit around the Sun in about 76 years. Its last passage near Earth was in 1986, and the…
Facebook was called TheFacebook at the beginning.
When it was launched in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and Harvard colleagues, the site was called TheFacebook. In 2005, the…
Chimpanzees use twigs to fish for termites.
Chimpanzees insert thin twigs into termite mounds and wait for the termites to grab them, then pull them out to eat…
The croissant was invented in Austria.
The croissant, despite being a symbol of France, was invented in Vienna, Austria. It was originally a crescent-shaped…
The Nile is one of the two longest rivers in the world.
The Nile, which crosses northeastern Africa, is about 6,650 kilometres long and disputes with the Amazon the title of…
Egyptian scribes could be punished for writing errors.
Scribes in ancient Egypt were highly valued but also severely punished. Didactic texts from the period mention…
Lightning can be several kilometres long.
Lightning can extend over several kilometres between the cloud and the ground or within the cloud itself. In 2020…
Graphene conducts electricity better than copper.
Graphene, a sheet of carbon one atom thick, conducts electricity with much less resistance than copper, making it…
The planetary nebulae have nothing to do with planets.
Planetary nebulae are clouds of gas and dust ejected by dying stars. The name arose in the 18th century when…
There are more than 300 varieties of honey in the United States.
There are more than 300 varieties of honey in the United States, each with a unique colour and flavour determined by…
