All facts — Page 44
The complete ONAURE library, newest first. Every fact has an explanation and a source you can check.
2056 facts
Gelatin made with fresh pineapple sets normally.
Gelatin made with fresh pineapple does not set because bromelain, an enzyme in pineapple, destroys collagen. If the…
Capsaicin in chilli has no taste or smell.
Capsaicin activates heat and pain receptors in the mouth, tricking the brain into thinking the mouth is burning…
Apples turn brown because they lose vitamins.
Apples turn brown due to oxidation, when oxygen in the air reacts with phenolic compounds in the flesh, catalysed by…
Hawaii is the southernmost state in the United States.
Hawaii is the southernmost state in the United States. It stretches for 2,400 kilometres in the Pacific and is the…
Maya blue is a pigment so unstable that it disappeared within a few years.
Maya blue is made from vegetable indigo mixed with palygorskite clay. The hybrid molecular structure makes it…
The terracotta army was built to protect the tomb of the first emperor of China.
The terracotta army was built to protect the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, who died in 210 BC…
Roman concrete is more durable than modern concrete.
Roman concrete, made with volcanic ash, withstands time better than modern concrete. Buildings such as the Pantheon…
Mansa Musa, emperor of Mali, is considered the richest man in history.
Mansa Musa ruled the Mali Empire in the 14th century and his fortune is estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars…
Sunflowers follow the Sun throughout their entire life.
Young sunflowers exhibit heliotropism, turning their heads to follow the Sun from east to west. At night, they turn…
Snowflakes are ice crystals with six sides.
Snowflakes are ice crystals with six sides, because the molecular structure of water forms hexagons. No two…
The baobab stores water in its trunk and can survive extreme droughts.
The baobab, native to Madagascar and Africa, has an enormous trunk that can store up to 120,000 litres of water. This…
A saguaro cactus can live more than 150 years and grow 12 metres tall.
The saguaro, native to the Sonora Desert, is the tallest cactus in the United States. It grows very slowly, reaching…
Water is the only substance that expands when it freezes.
Water is one of the few substances that expands when it freezes. Unlike most liquids, water solidifies into an open…
Liquid oxygen has a pale blue colour.
Unlike oxygen gas, which is colourless, oxygen in the liquid state is pale blue. This colour is due to the absorption…
Olympus Mons on Mars is the largest known volcano in the solar system, about 22 kilometres high.
Olympus Mons is about 22 kilometres high, almost three times the height of Mount Everest, with a base hundreds of…
In 1997, the computer Deep Blue beat the world checkers champion.
IBM s Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov in a six-game match in 1997. It was the first time a computer beat a world…
Wikipedia exists in more than 300 languages.
Wikipedia exists in more than 300 languages and, in 2024, surpassed 60 million articles across all versions. It is…
The world's first webcam was created to monitor a zoo.
In 1991, researchers at the University of Cambridge set up a camera pointed at the laboratory coffee pot so they…
The pangolin is the only mammal covered in scales.
The pangolin is the only known mammal with true scales. The scales are made of keratin, the same material as human…
The starfish has no brain.
The starfish has no brain or blood. Its nervous system is a network of nerves spread throughout its body, and…
The jellyfish has no brain, heart or bones.
Jellyfish are simple animals, made up of about 95 percent water. They have no brain, heart, bones or true eyes. Their…
The octopus can taste with its arms.
The octopus has taste receptors on the suckers of its arms. This allows it to identify whether an object is edible…
Cows have nearly 360-degree vision.
Cows have eyes on the sides of their heads, giving them almost 360-degree vision. This helps them detect predators…
The hyoid bone is the only bone in the human body not connected to other bones.
The hyoid bone, located in the throat, is not directly attached to any other bone. It is suspended by muscles and…