Did you know? - Amazing facts!

I have a predilection to learn interesting and abnormal sounding facts for which I keep visiting interesting websites. Here is a compilation of some of what I found.

I achieved a dual purpose in recording these - 1) I'm using it for my blog :) and 2) I, as an editorial team member in my company's internal e-zine, used it in this month's edition of the e-zine. Double purpose!


Ruminate this!
We are about 1/4 inch taller whilst sleeping at night than in the day.

The truth about transportation
According to the studies based on transportation based deaths, accidents etc, bicycle is the most dangerous form of transport, and lifts are the safest ones. This is incredible, isn't it?

A tall order
Some species of Bamboo grow at a rate of 3 feet everyday. No!, they don't take Horlicks or Complan. :)

The natural missile
The fastest speed with which a drop of rain can hit us is around 30 kmph. If we are driving oblique to the direction of rainfall, the relative speed of rain makes it so powerful that it could really hurt us!

The Dalmation story
'101 Dalmations' was a pleasant movie to watch. But the life of Dalmations is a different story. 30% of Dalmations die of heart problems due to in-breeding (breeding within themselves). A wrong choice for a pleasant movie!

The snooze race
Koalas, on an average, sleep for 22 hours a day, 2 hours more that the sloth. Now, this is some competition to people who love slumber.

A journey to the centre of the earth
Grey whales of the Arctic travel 12,500 miles every year to Mexico, and then return back to the Arctic. Truly intrepid explorers these!

Escape velocity
This is a sitter for Physics enthusiasts. To escape the Earth's gravity a rocket needs to travel at 7 miles a second. Anything less, it can't go out of earth's atmosphere. As a rule, all rockets have to be faster than this.

A dry life
The driest inhabited place in the world is Aswan, Egypt where the annual average rainfall is 0.02 inches. I'm searching for a better term than drought - please let me know if you know one.

The Black Death
In the 14th century the Black Death killed 75,000,000 people. It was carried by fleas on the black rat. I suspect this has something to do with the origin of Zemmiphobia.

The whiff power
A dog's sense of smell is 1,000 times more sensitive than a human's. No wonder they are used to trace felons.

The not-so-mellifluous 'mellitus' problem
Diabetes Mellitus strikes 1 out of every 16 people.

The indefatigable
Camels can travel in scorching desert heat without water for 17 days.

A tribute to the creator
When Alexander Graham Bell expired, the entire telephone system in the US was shut down for a minute. A silent farewell.

The Utopia
Utopia, which is a word used almost everyday, is actually a large, smooth lying area in Mars. This certainly doesn't sound Utopian, does it?

Human Power
By the year 2010, a quarter of all the plants in the world are threatened to be extinct. The primary reason - needless to say: man, and the harmful byproducts that are slowly making earth as inhospitable as the other planets.

Courtesy: http://www.firstscience.com