All facts — Page 51
The complete ONAURE library, newest first. Every fact has an explanation and a source you can check.
2056 facts
The lenticel is the name of the small opening in the leaf through which the plant breathes.
The lenticel is a small opening in the epidermis of woody plants that allows gas exchange between the interior of the…
The Hyperion redwood is the tallest tree in the world.
The Hyperion redwood is a California redwood about 115.9 metres tall, the tallest in the world. It was discovered in…
Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius anywhere on the planet.
Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius only at sea level. At higher altitudes, atmospheric pressure is lower and water…
Most of an iceberg is underwater.
About 90 percent of an iceberg's volume is submerged. This happens because ice is less dense than seawater, but not…
Venus is often mistaken for a star.
Venus is often called the morning star or evening star, because it is the brightest planet seen from Earth. Its dense…
Mercury has water ice in polar craters.
Despite being the planet closest to the Sun, Mercury has craters at its poles that never receive direct sunlight. In…
The world's smallest programmable robot is the size of a grain of salt.
The robot measures only 200 by 300 micrometres wide and 50 micrometres thick, smaller than a grain of salt. It can…
ARPANET was the precursor of the internet.
ARPANET was the first computer network to use the TCP/IP protocol, created in the United States in 1969 by the…
Elephants communicate only through sounds audible to humans.
Elephants also communicate through infrasounds, low-frequency sounds below the limit of human hearing. These sounds…
There are only four types of true tea.
There are six main types of true tea (Camellia sinensis): white, green, yellow, oolong, black and pu-erh. The…
The baguette was invented in Paris in the 19th century.
The baguette was invented in Vienna, Austria, in the 19th century, and brought to France by August Zang, an Austrian…
The Danakil Depression is one of the hottest places on Earth.
The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia has average annual temperatures of 34.4 degrees Celsius and has reached over 50…
The titanoboa was the largest snake that ever existed.
The titanoboa, which lived about 60 million years ago, could reach 13 metres in length and weigh more than a tonne…
HTML was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) was created by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in 1991, together with the World Wide Web. It…
Google uses an algorithm called PageRank to rank search results.
PageRank, developed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1996, evaluates the importance of a web page based on the number…
The lamprey has no jaw.
The lamprey is a jawless fish that attaches to prey with a circular mouth full of keratinous teeth. It feeds by…
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…
Tardigrades can survive 30 years without water.
Tardigrades enter a state of cryptobiosis when they lose 99 percent of their body water. In this state, metabolism…
The mimic octopus can imitate more than 15 different animals.
The mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) is capable of imitating the shape, colour and behaviour of more than 15…
The hydra has a life expectancy of about 20 years.
The hydra is a freshwater animal that appears to be biologically immortal. Its tissues are composed of stem cells…
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 wasabi served with sushi is always real wasabi.
Most wasabi served in restaurants is an imitation made from horseradish, mustard and green food colouring. Real…
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…