Nature — Page 7
Natural phenomena
204 facts
Mount Everest grows a few millimetres per year due to the movement of tectonic plates.
The collision between the Indian plate and the Eurasian plate continues to push the Himalayas upwards. Satellite…
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…
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…
Bananas are naturally slightly radioactive due to their potassium content.
They contain potassium-40, an unstable isotope that decays by emitting radiation. The dose is so small that you would…
A single average-sized cloud can weigh more than four hundred and fifty thousand kilograms.
The weight comes from liquid water suspended in the atmosphere. Despite this huge mass, the cloud floats because the…
A strand of spider silk is stronger than steel of the same thickness.
The silk protein has a molecular structure that gives it extraordinary tensile strength. It is also very elastic…
Lightning strikes the Earth's surface about eight million times a day.
The difference in electrical charge between clouds and the ground continuously discharges. This results in about one…
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…
Dust from the Sahara Desert fertilizes the Amazon Rainforest across the Atlantic Ocean.
Winds carry millions of tons of phosphorus-rich dust from the Bodele Depression to South America, replenishing the…
The eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in eighteen eighty-three produced the loudest sound ever recorded.
The explosion was heard nearly five thousand kilometers away and the shockwave circled the globe multiple times. It…
Bananas are naturally slightly radioactive.
They contain potassium-40, a naturally occurring radioactive isotope, though the radiation dose from eating one is…
Octopuses have three hearts and blue blood.
Two hearts pump blood to the gills and one to the rest of the body, while hemocyanin with copper gives the blood its…
The Amazon is not the true lung of the planet.
Although it produces a lot of oxygen, the forest also consumes it, and marine phytoplankton is responsible for most…
Ants represent about twenty percent of terrestrial animal biomass.
It is estimated that there are ten quadrillion ants on the planet, collectively weighing as much as all humans…
The banana plant is not a tree, but a giant herb.
What appears to be a trunk is actually a pseudostem formed by leaf bases, and the plant belongs to the herb family.
Sequoias can live for over three thousand years.
The tree known as Methuselah, in California, is over four thousand eight hundred years old, making it one of the…
The world's largest flower can measure over one meter.
The Rafflesia arnoldii, found in Indonesian forests, can reach one meter in diameter and weigh over ten kilograms.
Some bamboo species can grow almost a meter per day.
Under ideal conditions, bamboo reaches growth speeds of up to ninety-one centimeters in twenty-four hours, making it…
The world's largest flower smells like rotting meat.
The Rafflesia arnoldii emits this foul odor to attract flies and carrion beetles, which are its main pollinators in…
The world's oldest living tree is almost five thousand years old.
Known as Methuselah, this bristlecone pine in California started growing before the Egyptian pyramids were built and…
Bananas are naturally radioactive.
They contain a small amount of potassium-forty, a natural radioactive isotope, although the dose is harmless to…
There is a lake in Canada that forms polka dot patterns in the summer.
Spotted Lake loses water through evaporation and leaves behind mineral deposits of sulphates and calcium that create…