All facts — Page 9

Pistachios are seeds, not nuts.

Botanically, the pistachio is the seed of a drupe, the fruit of the Pistacia vera tree. What we eat is the seed…

Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined.

Canada holds about 62 percent of the worlds lakes, estimated at more than 3 million. Most are in the Canadian Shield…

The Dead Sea is a lake, not a sea.

Despite its name, the Dead Sea is a saltwater lake with no connection to the ocean. It is located in the Jordan…

Africa is the only continent that lies in all four hemispheres.

The African continent is crossed by the Equator and the Prime Meridian. This means that parts of Africa lie in the…

There are more than 80,000 edible plants, but we only consume about 150.

Humanity knows and uses only a small fraction of edible plant diversity. Of the roughly 80,000 edible plant species…

The largest living organism in the world is an underground fungus in Oregon.

Known as Armillaria ostoyae, this fungus covers about 9.6 square kilometres in the Malheur National Forest, Oregon…

A lightning bolt can contain up to one billion volts.

An average lightning bolt carries a current of about 30,000 amperes and a potential difference that can reach one…

Water is the only natural substance on Earth that exists as a solid, liquid and gas.

Under natural conditions, water can be found in all three physical states at the same time. Ice at the poles, liquid…

Helium cannot be solidified at normal pressure.

Helium is the only element that remains liquid down to absolute zero at normal atmospheric pressure. To solidify it…

The first webcam in the world was created to monitor a coffee pot at the University of Cambridge.

In 1991, scientists at the Cambridge Computer Laboratory connected a camera to the local network so they would not…

Trees can communicate with each other and share nutrients through an underground fungal network.

This network, often called the Wood Wide Web, is formed by mycorrhizae, which are symbiotic associations between…

The first computer bug was an actual real-life moth found trapped in a computer relay in 1947.

Admiral Grace Hopper and her team found a moth trapped in a relay of the Harvard Mark II computer. They taped the…

Wombat poop is cube-shaped, which prevents it from rolling away.

Wombats are the only known animals to produce cube-shaped feces. This unique shape is the result of varying…

Humans share about 60 percent of their DNA with bananas.

This genetic similarity is due to the fact that all life forms on Earth share a common ancestor. The genes…

There is a town in Norway called Hell that freezes over every winter.

The village of Hell in Norway has this name, which means Inferno in English. Due to its Nordic climate, the locality…

Sound travels about 4.3 times faster in water than in air.

The speed of sound depends on the density and elasticity of the medium through which it propagates. Water is much…

The footprints left on the Moon by Apollo astronauts will likely remain there for millions of years.

The Moon has no atmosphere, wind, or liquid water, which are the main agents of erosion on Earth. Without these…

The first message sent over the internet was the word LOGIN, but the system crashed after the first two letters.

On October 29, 1969, a student attempted to send the word LOGIN from a computer at UCLA to another at the Stanford…

Apples float in water because they are 25 percent air.

The internal structure of an apple contains microscopic air spaces between the fruit's cells. This composition makes…

Mount Everest is not the tallest mountain on Earth when measured from base to peak. That title belongs to Mauna Kea in Hawaii.

Although Mount Everest has the highest elevation above sea level, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is taller when measured from…

There is a giant cloud of alcohol in space, specifically ethyl alcohol, near the center of the Milky Way.

Astronomers have detected a massive molecular cloud in the Sagittarius B2 region, near the center of our galaxy. This…

Your nose and ears never stop growing throughout your entire life.

Although bone growth stops after puberty, the cartilage in the nose and ears continues to grow and expand…

The spiciest part of a chili pepper is not the seeds, but the white pith inside.

This is a common myth. Capsaicin, the chemical compound responsible for the heat, is concentrated mainly in the…

The Son Doong cave in Vietnam is so large it has its own weather system.

Its volume is so immense that the air inside cools and condenses, creating underground clouds and localized rain. It…