All facts — Page 48
The complete ONAURE library, newest first. Every fact has an explanation and a source you can check.
2056 facts
Plasma is the most common state of matter in the universe.
Plasma is the fourth state of matter, after solid, liquid and gas. It is formed by ionised gas at very high…
Saturn's rings are made mainly of ice.
Saturn's rings are composed of millions of pieces of ice, rock and dust, ranging from tiny grains to house-sized…
A pulsar is a young star that emits visible light.
A pulsar is a rapidly rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation. These beams are detected…
The first website was created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991.
The first website, info.cern.ch, was created by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in 1991. It explained what the World Wide Web…
The first tweet was sent by Elon Musk.
The first tweet was sent by Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, on 21 March 2006. It said just setting up my twttr…
The Bitcoin whitepaper was published in 2008 by a person or group called Satoshi Nakamoto.
The document describing Bitcoin, titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, was published in 2008 by…
The osprey can detect fish from hundreds of metres above.
The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) has extremely sharp vision that allows it to detect fish from hundreds of metres above…
Spermaceti from the sperm whale is used for buoyancy.
Spermaceti, a waxy substance found in the sperm whale's head, helps the animal regulate buoyancy by being heated or…
Carbonised loaves of bread were found in the ruins of Pompeii.
In the bakeries of Pompeia were found loaves of bread carbonised by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Some still had…
A walrus's tusks can grow up to 1 metre long.
A walrus's tusks are canine teeth that continue to grow throughout life and can reach 1 metre in length. They help…
A mutation in the LRP5 gene can make bones extremely dense and difficult to break.
A mutation in the LRP5 gene can make bones extremely dense and hard to break. People with this mutation rarely suffer…
The human body has more bacteria than its own cells.
For decades it was thought that the human body had ten times more bacteria than its own cells. Recent studies show…
Bananas emit natural ionising radiation.
Bananas contain potassium-40, a natural radioactive isotope that exists in all living things. The dose emitted by a…
Carrots are always orange.
The original carrots were purple or yellow. The orange variety was developed in the Netherlands in the 17th century…
Vatican City is the smallest country in the world by area and population.
Vatican City has only 0.44 square kilometres and about 800 inhabitants, making it the smallest country in the world…
The inhabitants of Pompeii covered the city walls with graffiti.
The inhabitants of Pompeii wrote on the walls political messages, declarations of love, insults and even…
The Aztecs used cocoa beans as currency.
The Aztecs used cocoa beans as currency and a unit of exchange. A rabbit cost about 10 beans, and a slave could cost…
A pineapple takes about two months to grow.
The pineapple is a herbaceous plant that can take between 18 and 24 months to produce a single fruit. The plant…
The binturong has a smell that resembles popcorn.
The binturong, a mammal from Southeast Asia also called the bearcat, has a gland in its tail that releases a chemical…
The thymus grows throughout life.
The thymus is a gland of the immune system that reaches its maximum size at puberty and then gradually shrinks, being…
The pineal gland produces melatonin, the sleep hormone.
The pineal gland, located in the centre of the brain, produces melatonin, a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake…
The pituitary gland is the largest gland in the human body.
The pituitary gland is the size of a pea, about 1 centimetre in diameter and 0.5 grams. Despite its tiny size, it…
Casu marzu is an Italian cheese with live fly larvae.
Casu marzu, a traditional cheese from Sardinia, is left in the open for the cheese fly to lay its eggs. The larvae…
Hakarl is a fermented cheese from Iceland.
Hakarl is an Icelandic dish made from fermented and dried Greenland shark meat. The meat is buried for weeks to…