Thursday, 5 May 2011
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Not Even in Your Dreams: Animals You Wish You’ll Never Encounter.
Lions and tigers are ferocious and dangerous animals when you encounter them in the wild. Sharks and snakes are scary too but not as creepy on the list of animals below. Check this out!
Image Source
Andrewsarchus mongoliensis was a ferocious-looking mammal that lived during the Eocene epoch about 45 million years ago. This creature had a long snout with large, sharp teeth and flat cheek teeth that may have been used to crush bones. An enormous skull of an Andrewsarchus measuring83 cm in length and 56 cm in width is on display at the American Museum of natural History. It was discovered in 1923 in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.
This animal is estimated to be 3.4 meter long from the snout to the back of the pelvis with a height of 1.8 meters and possibly the largest land-dwelling carnivorous mammal known. An Andrewsarchus is estimated to have weighed 1,000 kg.
1.) Andrewsarchus mongoliensis
Andrewsarchus mongoliensis was a ferocious-looking mammal that lived during the Eocene epoch about 45 million years ago. This creature had a long snout with large, sharp teeth and flat cheek teeth that may have been used to crush bones. An enormous skull of an Andrewsarchus measuring83 cm in length and 56 cm in width is on display at the American Museum of natural History. It was discovered in 1923 in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.
This animal is estimated to be 3.4 meter long from the snout to the back of the pelvis with a height of 1.8 meters and possibly the largest land-dwelling carnivorous mammal known. An Andrewsarchus is estimated to have weighed 1,000 kg.
2.) Megistotherium osteothlastes
Image Source
Megistotherium osteothlastes was a ferocious and enormous hyaenodontid creodont that lived some 23 million years ago in Africa. This creature is the largest known terrestrial carnivorous mammal with a height of up to 2,0 meter at the shoulder, up to 5,5 meter in length and weighed about 1.5 tons. These bone crushing animals might have hunted mastodons for food.
3.) Arsinoitherium giganteum
Image Source
Arsinoitherium giganteum was a rhinoceros-like herbibore that lives in Ethiopia, Africa from 36 to 30 million years ago. It was 1.8 meters tall at the shoulder and 3 meters in length. It had a pair of enormous knife-like horns with cores of solid bone that projected from above the nose.
4.) Giant Wombat or Diprotodon
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Giant Wombat or Diprotodon was an unusual-looking animal and was the largest known marsupial that ever lived. This already extinct marsupial existed from 1.6 million years ago until about 40,000 years ago. Fossils of this gigantic mammal have been found in various areas of Australia. Giant Wombat grew up to 3 meters or 10 feet in length from nose to tail and stands at 2 meters or 6 to 7 ft tall at the shoulder and weighed up to 2,786 kg. It is also known as Rhinoceros Wombat.
5.) Elasmotherium sibiricum
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Elasmotherium sibiricum or the Thin Plate Beas is an odd-looking extinct genus of giant rhinoceros that lived in Asia from 3.6 million years ago to 126,000 years ago. It weighed up to 7 tonnes, stands at 2.7 meters and 6 meters in length with a single two-meter-long horn in the forehead.
6.) Marsupial Lion
Image Source
The Marsupial Lion was a ferocious and extremely robust mammal that lived in Australia about 1.6 million to 46,000 years ago. Its scientific name Thylacoleo carnifex means the “murderous or ‘meat-cutting’ marsupial lion”. Despite the name of this extinct species of carnivorous marsupial it is not closely related to the lion. It is one of the largest marsupial carnivores from anywhere in the world. A Marsupial Lion weighed up to 130 kg and stands at 75 cm at the shoulder and about 150 cm in length from head to tail.
7.) Uintatherium
Image Source
Uintatherium is a large and strongly built extinct genus of mammals that lived in the United States. This herbivore was about the size of a rhinoceros. This animal has unusually large skull and at the same time, flat and concave skull which cannot be found in any other mammal. It became extinct due to climatic changes.
8.) Smilodon populator
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Smilodon populator or the devastating Smilodon was a saber-toothed cat that first appeared in South America about 1 million years ago. This ferocious animal became extinct about 10,000 years ago. It is the largest known variety of saber-toothed cat with a height of 5 feet at the shoulder and a weight of up to 500 kg or more. It had sabers which could be 30 centimeters long.
9.) Desmostylus
Image Source
Is it a pig? Is it a Tapir? No, it’s a Desmostylus, a monotypic extinct genus of herbivorous mammal that existed from 2.8 million years ago up to 7.2 million years ago. It existed for 21.2 million years. This hippopotamus-like animal was 1.8 meters in length and weighed about 200 kilograms.
10.) Promegatherium
Image Source
Promegatherium is an odd-looking and scary animal that lived in Argentina and other parts of South America during the Miocene period.
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Top 10 Vampire Serial Killers
Lore and literature are filled with stories of oft-sensual, blood sucking monsters that terrorized many a small town and village. But, did you know that factual history is full of “vampires” as well? Ok, maybe they didn’t turn into bats at will (or wolves, depending on the lore), but they did all share the most important and recognized feature with our fictitious fiends: a thirst for blood. This list is a compilation of ten human “vampires” which I am especially keen to publish as a result of recently watching a two season marathon of True Blood.
Also known as the Vampire of Hanover or The butcher of Hanover, this German serial killer is believed to be responsible for at least 27 murders, and was convicted of 24. Although his criminal career began in 1898 (for molesting children) and later came to include assault, petty theft and burglary, his first known murder did not take place until September of 1918.
From September of 1898 to June of 1924, he would go on to rape, murder and butcher at least 27 youths (spanning from ages 10 to 22). He killed many of his victims by biting through their throats. He sold personal belongings acquired from his victims, and reportedly sold their flesh on the black market, although this may just be a rumor. Haarmann is considered one of Germany’s most prolific killers, both for the number of victims and the extremely grisly nature of his crimes. He was charged with 27 murders, convicted of 24 and guillotined, on April 15, 1925. His last words were: “I repent, but I do not fear death.”
His head was preserved in a jar by scientists so they could study his brain, and is now at Gottingen medical school.
Known as The Little Girl Killer, The Otaku Killer and Dracula, this Japanese serial killer mutilated and murdered four little girls. His murders spanned 1988–1989 and took place in Tokyo’s Saitama Prefecture. His youngest victim was four years old, the oldest was seven. He molested their corpses and drank the blood of one victim, also eating her hands. He terrorized the families of all four victims, sending them letters and postcards where he described his heinous crimes, and also may have called their houses.
He never repented for his crimes, was sentenced to death on April 14, 1997, and executed on June 17, 2008. The very mention of his name still draws contempt and disgust from the Japanese public.
With a murder toll of at least 17 (possibly 19), 32 year old Philip Oyancha confessed to Kenyan police that he had murdered and drunk the blood of his victims, supposedly as part of a cult ritual. His victims were women and children, and he claims to have committed his crime under the influence of evil “spirits” that made him thirst for blood. He stated that he attacked women because they were easier to subdue, saying; “When the urge comes, they are the easiest victims.” According to his confession, he was initiated into a blood cult by a female teacher who initiated him into ritual murder. He has led police to the bodies of some of his victims, and claims to have been aiming to kill 100 people in total “My target was to kill 100 women. I managed 17 and there were 83 to go”.
Described as a “nearly psychotic sadist” Nicola Claux was a mortician at the time of his arrest, in 1994. Upon interrogation, he confessed to murder and grave robbing. When his apartment was searched, police found unidentified skeletal remains and blood stolen from the local blood bank. A self-confessed cannibal, Claux would eat strips of flesh cut from corpses to which he had access as an assistant mortician. Claux was found guilty of one count of murder and then condemned to 12 years in prison, despite debates over whether or not he was sane enough to be held accountable for his acts. After serving seven years of his sentence, he was released from prison on March, 2002. On his website (dedicated to selling his murder-themed art) he stated:
“This website is my only official website… I have worked hard to improve myself through the development of artistic abilities. I cannot erase the past, but my goal is to channel the negativity that I have caused into pure creativity … I do not encourage other people into doing the things that I have done. The spiritual and social prices to pay are far too high.” His art can be seen here.
Marcelo de Andrade was the son of poor, Northeastern migrants and grew up in Rio de Janeiro’s Rocinha Slum. As a child, he was the victim of physical and sexual abuse and lived without running water. Around April, 1991, he began a killing spree that would last nine months and claim 14 victims, who were all poor young boys. He raped all his victims and confessed to drinking their blood, claiming to have done so in order to “become as beautiful as them”.
His warped, sick mindset can be best seen in his own declarations “I preferred young boys because they are better looking and have soft skin. And the priest said that children automatically go to heaven if they die before they’re thirteen. So I know I did them a favor by sending them to heaven”. It is interesting to note that he belonged to a Christian sect, was an avid church-goer, and worshiped his own mother like a saint. He is now in a psychiatric asylum, having been recaptured after escaping, in 1997.
Also known as the Rostov Ripper and the Shelter Belt killer, Andrei Chikatilo claimed his first victim (a nine year old girl by the name of Lena Zakotnova) on December 22nd, 1978, and would go on to kill 52 more. He evaded capture for almost 15 years. Mutilation of the eyes and complete or partial removal of the sexual organs became two signatures of his grisly crimes. He targeted adolescent boys and girls, often raping and cannibalizing them, as well as drinking their blood. Despite the ineptitude of local police, he was eventually captured and found guilty of 53 counts of murder. During the trial, he behaved erratically, screaming obscenities and beating himself against the bars of the cage to which he had been confined for the duration of the proceedings. He stated “I am a mistake of nature, a mad beast.” He was executed in 1994.
When James Riva was 23 years old he shot and killed his handicapped grandmother while she sat in her wheel-chair, and then stabbed her several times in the heart. The gun was loaded with gold-painted bullets. He drank the blood that gushed from her wounds and set fire to her house to get rid of the evidence. He claimed to be a 700-year-old vampire who needed to drink her blood, but claimed she was also a vampire and that she fed on him at night while he slept. He was convicted of second degree murder, arson, assault and battery. He was sentenced to life in prison on the murder charge, and ten to twenty years for the arson charge.
When Mauricio Lopez found out that his niece (Mariella Mendez) was having an affair with her sister’s husband, Macario Cruz, he decided to end the matter with blood, Cruz’s blood. He stabbed Macario Cruz in his heart and liver in front of Mendez and her four children. He then proceeded to fill a plastic cup with Cruz’s blood and drank it before fleeing the scene. He is now facing charges ranging from second-degree murder to aggravated assault and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
In the year 2001, this German couple murdered Daniel’s co-worker and friend, stabbing him 66 times, hitting him with a hammer and drinking his blood. Afterwards, they had sex in Manuela’s coffin. They claim to have acted on the devil’s orders and said they chose their victim (named Frank Hackert, age 33) because he was “so funny and would be the perfect court jester for Satan” During their trial, they acted completely without remorse, threatening witnesses and flashing satanic symbols. Daniel Ruda was committed for 15 years and his wife for 13.
Richard Chase was born in Santa Clara County, California, on May 23, 1950. Known as the “Vampire of Sacramento”, he killed six people in the span of one month, cannibalizing their remains and drinking their blood. The product of a troubled household, Chase showed signs of psychological problems at an early age and, later, gained himself a reputation as an alcoholic and chronic drug user during his adolescence. He became obsessed with bodily fluids, once being hospitalized for blood poisoning due to injecting himself with rabbit’s blood.
He committed his first murder on December 29, 1977. He would prowl homes and enter if the door was unlocked, believing that a locked door was a sign that he was not wanted but an unlocked door was an invitation to enter. On January 27, he committed his last murder, slaying 38-year-old Evelyn Miroth, her six-year-old son, Jason, and her 22-month-old nephew, David. He engaged in necrophilia and cannibalism with Evelyn’s corpse. He also drank her son’s blood and ate several of his internal organs, including his brain. On May 8, 1979, he was found guilty of six counts of murder in the first degree and was sentence to die in the gas chamber. He was found dead in his prison cell on December 26, 1980, having committed suicide with doctor-prescribed anti-depressants that he had stored up over several weeks.
10
Fritz Haarmann
Also known as the Vampire of Hanover or The butcher of Hanover, this German serial killer is believed to be responsible for at least 27 murders, and was convicted of 24. Although his criminal career began in 1898 (for molesting children) and later came to include assault, petty theft and burglary, his first known murder did not take place until September of 1918.
From September of 1898 to June of 1924, he would go on to rape, murder and butcher at least 27 youths (spanning from ages 10 to 22). He killed many of his victims by biting through their throats. He sold personal belongings acquired from his victims, and reportedly sold their flesh on the black market, although this may just be a rumor. Haarmann is considered one of Germany’s most prolific killers, both for the number of victims and the extremely grisly nature of his crimes. He was charged with 27 murders, convicted of 24 and guillotined, on April 15, 1925. His last words were: “I repent, but I do not fear death.”
His head was preserved in a jar by scientists so they could study his brain, and is now at Gottingen medical school.
9
Tsutomu Miyazaki
Known as The Little Girl Killer, The Otaku Killer and Dracula, this Japanese serial killer mutilated and murdered four little girls. His murders spanned 1988–1989 and took place in Tokyo’s Saitama Prefecture. His youngest victim was four years old, the oldest was seven. He molested their corpses and drank the blood of one victim, also eating her hands. He terrorized the families of all four victims, sending them letters and postcards where he described his heinous crimes, and also may have called their houses.
He never repented for his crimes, was sentenced to death on April 14, 1997, and executed on June 17, 2008. The very mention of his name still draws contempt and disgust from the Japanese public.
8
Philip Onyancha
With a murder toll of at least 17 (possibly 19), 32 year old Philip Oyancha confessed to Kenyan police that he had murdered and drunk the blood of his victims, supposedly as part of a cult ritual. His victims were women and children, and he claims to have committed his crime under the influence of evil “spirits” that made him thirst for blood. He stated that he attacked women because they were easier to subdue, saying; “When the urge comes, they are the easiest victims.” According to his confession, he was initiated into a blood cult by a female teacher who initiated him into ritual murder. He has led police to the bodies of some of his victims, and claims to have been aiming to kill 100 people in total “My target was to kill 100 women. I managed 17 and there were 83 to go”.
7
Nico Claux
Described as a “nearly psychotic sadist” Nicola Claux was a mortician at the time of his arrest, in 1994. Upon interrogation, he confessed to murder and grave robbing. When his apartment was searched, police found unidentified skeletal remains and blood stolen from the local blood bank. A self-confessed cannibal, Claux would eat strips of flesh cut from corpses to which he had access as an assistant mortician. Claux was found guilty of one count of murder and then condemned to 12 years in prison, despite debates over whether or not he was sane enough to be held accountable for his acts. After serving seven years of his sentence, he was released from prison on March, 2002. On his website (dedicated to selling his murder-themed art) he stated:
“This website is my only official website… I have worked hard to improve myself through the development of artistic abilities. I cannot erase the past, but my goal is to channel the negativity that I have caused into pure creativity … I do not encourage other people into doing the things that I have done. The spiritual and social prices to pay are far too high.” His art can be seen here.
6
Marcelo de Andrade
Marcelo de Andrade was the son of poor, Northeastern migrants and grew up in Rio de Janeiro’s Rocinha Slum. As a child, he was the victim of physical and sexual abuse and lived without running water. Around April, 1991, he began a killing spree that would last nine months and claim 14 victims, who were all poor young boys. He raped all his victims and confessed to drinking their blood, claiming to have done so in order to “become as beautiful as them”.
His warped, sick mindset can be best seen in his own declarations “I preferred young boys because they are better looking and have soft skin. And the priest said that children automatically go to heaven if they die before they’re thirteen. So I know I did them a favor by sending them to heaven”. It is interesting to note that he belonged to a Christian sect, was an avid church-goer, and worshiped his own mother like a saint. He is now in a psychiatric asylum, having been recaptured after escaping, in 1997.
5
Andrei Chikatilo
Also known as the Rostov Ripper and the Shelter Belt killer, Andrei Chikatilo claimed his first victim (a nine year old girl by the name of Lena Zakotnova) on December 22nd, 1978, and would go on to kill 52 more. He evaded capture for almost 15 years. Mutilation of the eyes and complete or partial removal of the sexual organs became two signatures of his grisly crimes. He targeted adolescent boys and girls, often raping and cannibalizing them, as well as drinking their blood. Despite the ineptitude of local police, he was eventually captured and found guilty of 53 counts of murder. During the trial, he behaved erratically, screaming obscenities and beating himself against the bars of the cage to which he had been confined for the duration of the proceedings. He stated “I am a mistake of nature, a mad beast.” He was executed in 1994.
4
James P. Riva
When James Riva was 23 years old he shot and killed his handicapped grandmother while she sat in her wheel-chair, and then stabbed her several times in the heart. The gun was loaded with gold-painted bullets. He drank the blood that gushed from her wounds and set fire to her house to get rid of the evidence. He claimed to be a 700-year-old vampire who needed to drink her blood, but claimed she was also a vampire and that she fed on him at night while he slept. He was convicted of second degree murder, arson, assault and battery. He was sentenced to life in prison on the murder charge, and ten to twenty years for the arson charge.
3
Mauricio Lopez
When Mauricio Lopez found out that his niece (Mariella Mendez) was having an affair with her sister’s husband, Macario Cruz, he decided to end the matter with blood, Cruz’s blood. He stabbed Macario Cruz in his heart and liver in front of Mendez and her four children. He then proceeded to fill a plastic cup with Cruz’s blood and drank it before fleeing the scene. He is now facing charges ranging from second-degree murder to aggravated assault and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
2
Daniel and Manuela Ruda
In the year 2001, this German couple murdered Daniel’s co-worker and friend, stabbing him 66 times, hitting him with a hammer and drinking his blood. Afterwards, they had sex in Manuela’s coffin. They claim to have acted on the devil’s orders and said they chose their victim (named Frank Hackert, age 33) because he was “so funny and would be the perfect court jester for Satan” During their trial, they acted completely without remorse, threatening witnesses and flashing satanic symbols. Daniel Ruda was committed for 15 years and his wife for 13.
1
Richard Chase
Richard Chase was born in Santa Clara County, California, on May 23, 1950. Known as the “Vampire of Sacramento”, he killed six people in the span of one month, cannibalizing their remains and drinking their blood. The product of a troubled household, Chase showed signs of psychological problems at an early age and, later, gained himself a reputation as an alcoholic and chronic drug user during his adolescence. He became obsessed with bodily fluids, once being hospitalized for blood poisoning due to injecting himself with rabbit’s blood.
He committed his first murder on December 29, 1977. He would prowl homes and enter if the door was unlocked, believing that a locked door was a sign that he was not wanted but an unlocked door was an invitation to enter. On January 27, he committed his last murder, slaying 38-year-old Evelyn Miroth, her six-year-old son, Jason, and her 22-month-old nephew, David. He engaged in necrophilia and cannibalism with Evelyn’s corpse. He also drank her son’s blood and ate several of his internal organs, including his brain. On May 8, 1979, he was found guilty of six counts of murder in the first degree and was sentence to die in the gas chamber. He was found dead in his prison cell on December 26, 1980, having committed suicide with doctor-prescribed anti-depressants that he had stored up over several weeks.
Fun Science Facts You Didn't Know
Try these
on your Family, Class or Troop
on your Family, Class or Troop
 | Did you know that there are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300 in children (as they grow some of the bones fuse together). |
| | Flea's can jump 130 times higher than their own height. In human terms this is equal to a 6ft. person jumping 780 ft. into the air. |
| | The most dangerous animal in the world is the common housefly. Because of their habits of visiting animal waste, they transmit more diseases than any other animal. |
| | Snakes are true carnivorous because they eat nothing but other animals. They do not eat any type of plant material. |
| | The world's largest amphibian is the giant salamander. It can grow up to 5 ft. in length. |
| | 100 years ago: The first virus was found in both plants and animals. |
| | 90 years ago: The Grand Canyon became a national monument & Cellophane is invented. |
| | 80 years ago: The food mixer and the domestic refrigerator were invented. |
| | 70 years ago: The teletype and PVC (polyvinyl-chloride) were invented. |
| | 60 years ago: Otto Hahn discovered nuclear fission by splitting uranium, Teflon was invented. |
| | 50 years ago: Velcro was invented. |
| | 40 years ago: An all-female population of lizards was discovered in Armenia. |
| | 30 years ago: The computer mouse was invented. |
| | 20 years ago: First test-tube baby born in England, Pluto’s moon, Charon, discovered. |
| | 10 years ago: First patent for a genetically-engineered mouse was issued to Harvard Medical School. |
| 5 years ago: The first successful cloning of human embryo |
| | The smallest bone in the human body is the stapes or stirrup bone located in the middle ear. It is approximately .11 inches (.28 cm) long. |
| | The longest cells in the human body are the motor neurons. They can be up to 4.5 feet (1.37 meters) long and run from the lower spinal cord to the big toe. |
| | There are no poisonous snakes in Maine. |
| | The blue whale can produce sounds up to 188 decibels. This is the loudest sound produced by a living animal and has been detected as far away as 530 miles. |
| | The largest man-made lake in the U.S. is Lake Mead, created by Hoover Dam. |
| | The poison arrow frogs of South and Central America are the most poisonous animals in the world. |
| | A new born blue whale measures 20-26 feet (6.0 - 7.9 meters) long and weighs up to 6,614 pounds (3003 kg). |
| | The first coast-to-coast telephone line was established in 1914. |
| | The Virginia opossum has a gestation period of only 12-13 days. |
| | The Stegosaurus dinosaur measured up to 30 feet (9.1 meters) long but had a brain the size of a walnut. |
| | The largest meteorite crater in the world is in Winslow, Arizona. It is 4,150 feet across and 150 feet deep. |
| | The human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year. |
| | Skylab, the first American space station, fell to the earth in thousands of pieces in 1979. Thankfully most over the ocean. |
| | It takes approximately 12 hours for food to entirely digest. |
| | Human jaw muscles can generate a force of 200 pounds (90.8 kilograms) on the molars. |
| | The Skylab astronauts grew 1.5 - 2.25 inches (3.8 - 5.7 centimeters) due to spinal lengthening and straightening as a result of zero gravity. |
| | An inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain water is equivalent to 15 inches (38.1 centimeters) of dry, powdery snow. |
| | Tremendous erosion at the base of Niagara Falls (USA) undermines the shale cliffs and as a result the falls have receded approximately 7 miles over the last 10,000 years. |
| | 40 to 50 percent of body heat can be lost through the head (no hat) as a result of its extensive circulatory network. |
| | A large swarm of desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) can consume 20,000 tons (18,160,000 kilograms) of vegetation a day. |
| | The largest telescope in the world is currently being constructed in northern Chile. The telescope will utilize four - 26 ft. 8 in. (8.13 meters) mirrors which will gather as much light as a single 52 ft. 6 in. (16 meters) mirror. |
| | The Hubble Space Telescope weighs 12 tons (10,896 kilograms), is 43 feet (13.1 meters) long, and cost $2.1 billion to originally build. |
| | The longest living cells in the body are brain cells which can live an entire lifetime. |
| | The largest flying animal was the pterosaur which lived 70 million years ago. This reptile had a wing span of 36-39 feet (11-11.9 meters) and weighed 190-250 pounds (86-113.5 kilograms). |
| | The Atlantic Giant Squid's eye can be as large as 15.75 inches (40 centimeters) wide. |
| | Armadillos, opossums, and sloth's spend about 80% of their lives sleeping. |
| | The starfish species, Porcellanaster ivanovi, has been found to live in water as deep as 24,881 feet (7,584 meters). |
| | The tentacles of the giant Arctic jellyfish can reach 120 feet (36.6 meters) in length. |
| | The greatest tide change on earth occurs in the Bay of Fundy. The difference between low tide and high tide can be as great as 54 ft. 6 in. (16.6 meters). |
| | The highest temperature produced in a laboratory was 920,000,000 F (511,000,000 C) at the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor in Princeton, NJ, USA. |
| | The most powerful laser in the world, the Nova laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA, USA, generates a pulse of energy equal to 100,000,000,000,000 watts of power for .000000001 second to a target the size of a grain of sand. |
| | The fastest computer in the world is the CRAY Y-MP C90 supercomputer. It has two gigabytes of central memory and 16 parallel central processor units. |
| | The heaviest human brain ever recorded weighed 5 lb. 1.1 oz. (2.3 kg.). |
| | The deepest part of the ocean is 35,813 feet (10,916 meters) deep and occurs in the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean. At that depth the pressure is 18,000 pounds (9172 kilograms) per square inch. |
| | The largest cave in the world (the Sarawak Chamber in Malaysia) is 2,300 feet (701 meters) long, 980 feet (299 meters) wide, and more than 230 feet (70 meters) high. |
| | The hottest planet in the solar system is Venus, with an estimated surface temperature of 864 F (462 C). |
| | The ears of a cricket are located on the front legs, just below the knee. |
| | The first electronic digital computer (called ENIAC - the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator) was developed in 1946 and contained over 18,000 vacuum tubes. |
| | The leg muscles of a locust are about 1000 times more powerful than an equal weight of human muscle. |
| | The cosmos contains approximately 50,000,000,000 galaxies. |
| | There are between 100,000,000,000 and 1,000,000,000,000 stars in a normal galaxy. |
| | Sound travels about 4 times faster in water than in air. |
| | Scientists have discovered that copper pollution of the atmosphere occurred about 2500 years ago. This was discovered by analyzing ice cores from Greenland. The pollution was attributed to the Romans who used copper for military purposes and to produce coins. |
| | Hydrofluoric acid will dissolve glass. |
| | In a full grown rye plant, the total length of roots may reach 380 miles (613 km). |
| | In a full grown rye plant, the total length of fine root hairs may reach 6600 miles (10,645 km). |
| | A large sunspot can last for about a week. |
| | If you could throw a snowball fast enough, it would totally vaporize when it hit a brick wall. |
| | Boron nitride (BN) is the second hardest substance known to man. |
| | The female Tarantula Hawk wasp paralyzes a large spider with her sting. She then lays her eggs on the motionless body so that her developing young have a fresh supply of spider meat to feed on. |
| | The seeds of an Indian Lotus tree remain viable for 300 to 400 years. |
| | The only letter not appearing on the Periodic Table is the letter “J”. |
| | Velcro was invented by a Swiss guy who was inspired by the way burrs attached to clothing. |
| | Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt. |
| | October 10 is National Metric Day. |
| | If you stretch a standard Slinky out flat it measures 87 feet long. |
| | The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket. |
| | Super Glue was invented by accident. The researcher was trying to make optical coating materials, and would test their properties by putting them between two prisms and shining light through them. When he tried the cyano-acrylate, he couldn't get the prisms apart. |
| | No matter its size or thickness, no piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times. |
| | A car traveling at 80 km/h uses half its fuel to overcome wind resistance. |
| | Knowledge is growing so fast that ninety per cent of what we will know in fifty years time, will be discovered in those fifty years. |
| | According to an old English system of time units, a moment is one and a half minutes. |
| | The typewriter was invented in 1829, and the automatic dishwasher in 1889. |
| | The wristwatch was invented in 1904 by Louis Cartier. |
| | When glass breaks, the cracks move at speeds of up to 3,000 miles per hour. |
| | By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand. |
| | Ten minutes of one hurricane contains enough energy to match the nuclear stockpiles of the world. |
| | Most gemstones contain several elements. The exception? The diamond. It's all carbon. |
| | Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man. |
| | Which of the 50 states has never had an earthquake? North Dakota. |
| | When hydrogen burns in the air, water is formed. |
| | Sterling silver contains 7.5% copper. |
| | Cars were first made with ignition keys in 1949. |
| | J.B Dunlop was first to put air into tires. |
| | Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone, also set a world water-speed record of over seventy miles an hour at the age of seventy two. |
| | It is energy-efficient to turn off a fluorescent light only if it will not be used again within an hour or more. This is because of the high voltage needed to turn it on, and the shortened life this high voltage causes. |
| | The Earth's equatorial circumference (40,075 km) is greater than its polar circumference (40,008 km). |
| | Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world. |
| | Due to gravitational effects, you weigh slightly less when the moon is directly overhead. |
| | The Earth's average velocity orbiting the sun is 107,220 km per hour. |
| | There is a high and low tide because of our moon and the Sun. |
| | The United States consumes 25% of all the world’s energy. |
| | Flying from London to New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours before you leave. |
| | There is enough fuel in a full tank of a Jumbo Jet to drive an average car four times around the world. |
| | The surface speed record on the moon is 10.56 miles per hour. It was set with the lunar rover. |
| | If you could drive to the sun -- at 55 miles per hour -- it would take about 193 years |
| | The moon is one million times drier than the Gobi Desert. |
| | Just twenty seconds worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon. |
| | A Boeing 707 uses four thousand gallons of fuel in its take-off climb. |
| | The planet Saturn has a density lower than water. So, if placed in water it would float. |
| | Since 1959, more than 6,000 pieces of 'space junk' (abandoned rocket and satellite parts) have fallen out of orbit - many of these have hit the earth's surface. |
| | It takes 70% less energy to produce a ton of paper from recycled paper than from trees. |
| | Every year in the US, 625 people are struck by lightning. |
| | Hawaii is moving toward Japan 4 inches every year. |
| | The rocket engine has to supply its own oxygen so it can burn its fuel in outer space. |
| | The North Atlantic gets 1 inch wider every year. |
| | Oxygen is the most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, waters, and atmosphere (about 49.5%) |
| | A stroke of lightning discharges from 10 to 100 million volts & 30,000 amperes of electricity. |
| | A bolt of lightning is about 54,000°F (30,000°C); six times hotter than the Sun. |
| | Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe (75%). |
| | The average distance between the Earth & the Moon is 238,857 miles (384,392 km). |
| | The moon is 27% the size of the Earth. |
| | The Earth weighs 6.6 sextillion tons, or 5.97 x 1024 kg. |
| | The center of the Sun is about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million °C). |
| | Sunlight takes about 8 minutes & 20 seconds to reach the Earth at 186,282 miles/sec (299,792 Km/sec). |
| | The highest temperature on Earth was 136°F (58°C) in Libya in 1922. |
| | The lowest temperature on Earth was -128.6°F (-89.6°C) in Antarctica in 1983. |
| | Sunlight can penetrate clean ocean water to a depth of 240 feet. |
| | The average ocean floor is 12,000 feet. |
| | The temperature can be determined by counting the number of cricket chirps in fourteen seconds and adding 40. |
| | House flies have a lifespan of two weeks. |
| | Chimps are the only animals that can recognize themselves in a mirror. |
| | Starfish don't have brains. |
| | The average person falls asleep in seven minutes. |
| | Shrimp's hearts are in their heads. |
| | Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie. |
| | The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds |
| | Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards. |
| | Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten. |
| | Porcupines float in water. |
| | An ostrich's eye is bigger that its brain. |
| | An iguana can stay under water for twenty-eight minutes. |
| | The common goldfish is the only animal that can see both infra-red and ultra-violet light. |
| | It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. |
| | The pupil of an octopus' eye is rectangular. |
| | Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. |
| | The leg bones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk. |
| | Ants cannot chew their food, they move their jaws sideways, like scissors, to extract the juices from the food. |
| | Hummingbirds are the only animals able to fly backwards. |
| | A cat has 32 muscles in each ear. |
| | Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur. |
| | A cat's jaws cannot move sideways. |
| | Armadillos get an average of 18.5 hours of sleep per day. |
| | Armadillos can walk underwater. |
| | There are more beetles than any other kind of creature in the world. |
| | Certain frogs that can survive the experience of being frozen. |
| | Only humans sleep on their backs. |
| | The human brain is 80% water. |
| | Everyone's tongue print is different. |
| | As an adult, you have more than 20 square feet of skin on your body--about the same square footage as a blanket for a queen-sized bed. |
| | In your lifetime, you'll shed over 40 pounds of skin. |
| | 15 million blood cells are produced and destroyed in the human body every second. |
| | Every minute, 30-40,000 dead skin cells fall from your body. |
| | The brain uses more than 25% of the oxygen used by the human body. |
| | If your mouth was completely dry, you would not be able to distinguish the taste of anything. |
| | There are more living organisms on the skin of a single human being than there are human beings on the surface of the earth. |
| | Muscles are made up of bundles from about 5 in the eyelid to about 200 in the buttock muscle. |
| | Muscles in the human body (640 in total) make up about half of the body weight. |
| | The human body has enough fat to produce 7 bars of soap. |
| | The human head is a quarter of our total length at birth, but only an eighth of our total length by the time we reach adulthood. |
| | Most people blink about 17,000 times a day. |
| | Moths have no stomach. |
| | Hummingbirds can't walk. |
| | Sea otters have 2 coats of fur. |
| | A starfish can turn its stomach inside out. |
| | A zebra is white with black stripes. |
| | The animal with the largest brain in relation to its body is the ant. |
| | The largest eggs in the world are laid by a shark. |
| | A crocodile’s tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth. |
| | Crocodiles swallow stones to help them dive deeper. |
| | Giraffes are unable to cough. |
| | Sharks are immune to cancer. |
| | Despite the hump, a camel’s spine is straight. |
| | Cheetah's can accelerate from 0 to 70 km/h in 3 seconds. |
| | A giraffe's neck contains the same number of vertebrae as a human. |
| | The heart of giraffe is two feet long, and can weigh as much as twenty four pounds. |
| | On average, Elephants sleep for about 2 hours per day. |
| | Lobsters have blue blood. |
| | Shark's teeth are literally as hard as steel. |
| | A mosquito has 47 teeth. |
| | Oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen make up 90% of the human body. |
| | Seventy percent of the dust in your home consists of shed human skin |
| | Fish are the only vertebrates that outnumber birds. |
| | A cockroach can live for several weeks without its head. |
| | The average human produces a quart of saliva a day -- about 10,000 gallons in a lifetime |
| | Elephants have been known to remain standing after they die. |
| | The embryos of tiger sharks fight each other while in their mother's womb, the survivor being the baby shark that is born. |
| | Ants do not sleep. |
| | Nearly a third of all bottled drinking water purchased in the US is contaminated with bacteria. |
| | Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over 1 million descendents. |
| | An Astronaut can be up to 2 inches taller returning from space. The cartilage disks in the spine expand in the absence of gravity. |
| | The oldest known fossil is of a single-celled organism, blue-green algae, found in 3.2 billion year-old stones in South Africa. |
| | The oldest multicellular fossils date from ~700 million years ago. |
| | The earliest cockroach fossils are about 280 million years old. |
| | Healthy nails grow about 2 cm each year. Fingernails grow four times as fast as toenails. |
| | 20/20 vision means the eye can see normally at 20 feet. 20/15 is better; the eye can see at 20 feet what another eye sees at 15 feet. |
| | The average person has 100,000 hairs on his/her head. Each hair grows about 5 inches (12.7 cm) every year. |
| | There are 60,000 miles (97,000 km) in blood vessels in every human. |
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