All facts — Page 54
The complete ONAURE library, newest first. Every fact has an explanation and a source you can check.
2056 facts
Tungsten has the highest melting point of all metals.
Tungsten melts at 3,422 degrees Celsius, the highest melting point of any metal. This property makes it ideal for…
Space smells like seared steak and hot metal.
Astronauts returning from spacewalks report that space smells like seared steak, hot metal and welding fumes. The…
Ants can lift 50 times their own weight.
Ants are capable of lifting up to 50 times their own weight and pulling up to 30 times. This extraordinary strength…
The Scoville scale measures the heat of chilli peppers.
The Scoville scale, created by chemist Wilbur Scoville in 1912, measures the concentration of capsaicin in peppers…
Dust storms on Mars can cover the entire planet.
Dust storms on Mars can grow to cover the entire planet, lasting weeks or even months. In 2018, one such storm ended…
Greenland is the largest island in the world, but it is not a continent.
Greenland is the largest island in the world, with about 2.2 million square kilometres. Despite its size, it is…
The United States Declaration of Independence was written on a piece of hemp paper.
The draft of the United States Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, was written on a piece of…
Volcanic lightning can occur during eruptions and is called dirty thunderstorms.
During an eruption, the ash and gases expelled create friction and separation of electrical charges, generating…
Astatine is the rarest element in the Earth's crust.
Astatine is the rarest naturally occurring element in the Earth's crust, with less than 30 grams present on the…
The Moon is slowly drifting away from Earth.
Measurements using reflector lasers left by the Apollo missions show that the Moon moves away by about 3.8…
The world's first electro-photo-quantum integrated chip system was developed by a European team.
The chip was developed by a Chinese team and announced in the journal Nature Electronics. The system integrates…
The goblin shark can project its jaw out of its mouth to catch prey.
The goblin shark's jaw is held by elastic ligaments that allow it to be launched forward at very high speed. This…
The platypus has hollow melanosomes, a unique feature among mammals.
Melanosomes are structures that contain melanin and give color to hair and feathers. In the platypus, they are…
The human brain consumes about 20 percent of the body's energy and generates up to 25 watts.
Despite representing only about 2 percent of body weight, the brain is one of the most energy-demanding organs. It…
The human stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks so it does not digest itself.
Gastric acid is strong enough to dissolve meat, but the stomach is protected by a mucus layer that is constantly…
An ancient Bulgarian recipe used live ants to ferment milk and make yogurt.
The almost forgotten technique involves using natural acids and enzymes from ants to coagulate milk, resulting in a…
In 19th century Brazil, beer was made exclusively from corn.
In the early 19th century, a foreign visitor recorded in Rio de Janeiro the production of a fermented beverage made…
Genuine wasabi is grown in flowing mountain water and is very hard to produce on a large scale.
The plant needs shade, cool temperatures and clean moving water. As a result, most wasabi sold is a mixture of…
Beneath Australia's soil there is a magnetic anomaly shaped like a square.
The magnetic anomaly beneath Australia has a shape that practically replicates the country's own outline, with a…
The summit of Chimborazo in Ecuador is the point on Earth's surface farthest from the planet's centre.
Earth is not a perfect sphere, as it is flattened at the poles and wider at the equator. Chimborazo is near the…
Lake Vostok is located under two kilometers of ice in Antarctica.
Lake Vostok is located under about four kilometers of ice, not two. It is one of the largest subglacial lakes in the…
Piltdown Man was one of the greatest scientific frauds in history.
In 1912, skull and jaw fragments were presented as a missing link between humans and apes. In 1953, it was discovered…
The Library of Alexandria was not destroyed in a single fire, but declined over several centuries.
Ancient accounts mention fires, funding cuts and conflicts, but there is no proof of a single event that erased it…
Cycads can heat themselves up to 15 degrees Celsius above ambient temperature to attract pollinators.
These plants, which have existed since the time of the dinosaurs, produce heat and emit infrared light to attract…