All facts — Page 47
The complete ONAURE library, newest first. Every fact has an explanation and a source you can check.
2056 facts
Vanilla is naturally pollinated by bees in all regions of the world.
Outside Mexico, vanilla has no natural pollinators. That is why all vanilla flowers grown in other countries are…
The red rain of Kerala was caused by animal blood.
In 2001, red rain fell in the state of Kerala, India. After several hypotheses, scientists concluded that the colour…
Some sand dunes produce sound when the wind makes them slide.
Singing dunes, such as those in the Mojave Desert, emit a low-pitched sound similar to distant thunder when the sand…
Orchids of the genus Ophrys imitate the scent of female bees to attract males.
Ophrys orchids produce pheromones identical to those of female bees. Males, attracted by the smell, try to mate with…
Most tornadoes last less than 15 minutes.
Most tornadoes last less than 15 minutes, although some can last more than an hour. The longest tornado ever recorded…
Graphene is the strongest known material, 200 times stronger than steel.
Graphene is a sheet of carbon only one atom thick, arranged in a honeycomb pattern. It is the strongest known…
The first email was sent in 1971.
The first email in history was sent in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson, an ARPANET engineer. He chose the at symbol to separate…
Diamond is the hardest known natural material.
Diamond is the hardest known natural material, with a hardness of 10 on the Mohs scale. It is formed from pure carbon…
A day on Jupiter lasts only about 10 hours.
Jupiter is the fastest-rotating planet in the solar system, completing one rotation in about 9 hours and 56 minutes…
Mars is a completely dry planet with no water.
Mars has frozen water at the poles and underground. In 2018, scientists confirmed the existence of a lake of liquid…
There is a maximum limit for the mass of a star.
Stars with a mass greater than about 150 times the mass of the Sun would be unstable due to radiation pressure and…
The term computer bug originated when a moth got stuck in a computer in 1947.
In 1947, a team of researchers found a moth stuck inside a primitive computer. The creature was removed and taped…
The anglerfish attracts prey with a light it produces on the tip of its tail.
The anglerfish has a rod on its head with a luminous tip, not on its tail. The light is produced by bioluminescent…
Goosebumps are a useful reflex for modern humans.
Goosebumps are a vestigial reflex inherited from our hairy ancestors. When they were cold, the hairs stood up to…
Real wasabi is a type of radish.
Authentic wasabi is made from the root of Eutrema japonicum, a plant in the radish family. The spicy green paste…
Fugu, a Japanese fish, contains a deadly poison.
Fugu (pufferfish) contains tetrodotoxin, a poison that can be fatal if ingested. Only licensed chefs in Japan can…
The century egg is an egg fermented for decades.
The century egg, a Chinese delicacy, is preserved for weeks or months in a mixture of clay, ash, salt and lime. The…
Mount Thor in Canada has the largest vertical drop in the world.
Mount Thor, located in Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island, has a rock face with a vertical drop of about 1,250…
Tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited place in the world.
Tristan da Cunha, a volcanic island in the South Atlantic, is 2,400 kilometres from the nearest mainland. It has…
The deepest hole ever drilled by humans is in Russia and is about 12 kilometres deep.
The Kola Superdeep Borehole, on the Kola Peninsula in Russia, was drilled between 1970 and 1989 and reached about…
The Antikythera mechanism is considered the first analog computer.
The Antikythera mechanism, found in a Greek shipwreck in 1901, is a bronze device with more than 30 gears. It was…
Auroras are always green.
Auroras can be green, red, blue or purple, depending on the gas and altitude. Oxygen at different altitudes produces…
A lichen is a partnership between a fungus and an alga or cyanobacterium.
Lichens are organisms composed of a fungus and an alga or cyanobacterium. The fungus provides shelter and minerals…
Volcanic lightning is a rare phenomenon observed only on Mount Etna.
Volcanic lightning, also called dirty thunderstorms, occurs in many volcanic eruptions around the world. It is caused…