1. More than 5,000 years have passed since the world's oldest wooden wheel was created.
It was discovered in 2002 around 12 miles south of Ljubljana, Slovenia's capital, and is now kept at the city's museum. The wheel's age was determined via radiocarbon dating, and it is believed to be between 5,100 and 5,350 years old. These are the oldest tourist attractions in each state, closer to home.
2. Household dust contains a lot of dead skin cells.
Here's a fun tidbit about science for you: Humans shed roughly 200 million skin cells per hour, according to Imperial College London researchers, and those cells have to go somewhere when we're indoors. If the concept of skin dust bothers you, you should know that a skin oil called squalene can naturally lower indoor ozone levels by up to 15%, according to a study published by the American Chemical Society.
3. Sudan boasts the most pyramids of any country on the planet.
Sudan not only has more pyramids than Egypt, but the numbers are nowhere near equal. Sudan has roughly 255 pyramids, compared to Egypt's 138. Next, try if you can answer these geography-related Jeopardy! questions.
4. The bumblebee bat is the smallest animal on the planet.
The bumblebee bat, also known as Kitti's hog-nosed bat, is the world's smallest mammal, weighing 0.05 to 0.07 ounces and measuring 1.14 to 1.29 inches in length from head to body and 5.1 to 5.7 inches in wingspan, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. You'd have to go to one of the few limestone caves on the Khwae Noi River in Kanchanaburi Province, southwest Thailand, to witness this little bat. Here are some more of the smallest organisms on the planet that have a major impact on the ecosystem.
5. More than 60,000 kilometers of blood vessels make up the circulatory system.
According to the Franklin Institute, if a child's whole circulatory system—veins, arteries, and capillaries—were put out flat, it would stretch for more than 60,000 miles. Our bodies have around 100,000 miles of blood vessels by the time we reach maturity. That's just one of the incredible facts that appear to be true (but aren't).
6. Africa can be found in all four hemispheres.
It may come as a surprise to those whose education has been mostly centered on the Western world to learn just how enormous the continent of Africa is. For example, it encompasses almost 12 million square miles and spans all four hemispheres. Another fascinating fact: Do you know the only city in the world that spans two continents?
7. Only two areas of the human body are devoid of blood vessels: the cornea and the iris.
The cornea is the transparent component of the eye that protects the pupil and other sections of the eye from the elements. According to experts at the Harvard Department of Ophthalmology's Schepens Eye Research Institute, cartilage and the cornea are the only forms of tissue in the human body that do not have blood veins. Your eye has a few more peculiar characteristics that you probably aren't aware of.
Comments