Home > Facts > Science Facts
9 Feb 2010
Fact of the day
Nostradamus wrote 942 quatrains (4 line long poems) in his lifetime which he organised into centuries. Many people believe that he could predict the future and that these poems contain cryptic information about future events.
Random Facts
Does the sixth sense really exist? Possible magnetic field sensory organs have been found in homing pigeons and in Monarch butterflies. Both have tiny magnetic field-sensing materials in their bodies that could be used for navigation. Millions of tiny compass-like magnetite crystals occur in a pod next to the pigeon's skull; in the butterfly the magnetite is distributed in the wings. Now that magnetite has been found in these animals, it seems likely that future research will discover its existence in others.
The highest temperature ever recorded at the South Pole was minus 13C.
The origin of the word butterfly comes from the fact that butterflies were thought to steal milk. A similar word occurs in Dutch.
An elephant can lift an object that weighs up to half a ton (452 kg) with its trunk.
Scientists can track the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere by comparing modern air with that trapped in air bubbles in Greenland's ice. These measurements seem to show that there are 360 parts per million today, as against 315 parts per million in 1958 and 270 parts per million in the time of the dinosaurs.
Find facts about:
Ireland has the highest calorie consumption in the world at 3,952 calories per person per year.
|
Pitcairn is a volcanic island some 2170km southeast of Tahiti. Named after Robert Pitcairn (who found it in 1767), it was uninhabited when nine mutineers from the Bounty sought refuge on it in 1790.
|
The bulldozer was first introduced in 1923 by the American Caterpillar Tractor company. Their first job was building Autobahns on Germany.
|
Enzymes are natural catalysts that increase the rate of chemical reactions. Perhaps the most popular example is found in the brewing industry in which sugars are converted into ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide by the action of enzymes secreted by yeast cells.
|
People who study crop circles call these patterns 'agriglyphs'.
|
Ancient Egyptians believed in chromatherapy, the ability to heal with colors: Red stimulates mental energy, yellow stimulates the nerves, blue heals organic disorders such as colds and hay fever.
|
Hot water is heavier than cold.
|
The first radio message transmitted through space pre-dated satellites. The US Navy radioed Washington to Hawaii in 1954 by bouncing a signal off the Moon.
|
Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) is responsible for 'Hubble's Law' which describes that the farther away from us a Galaxy is, the faster it is receding from us.
|
About | Privacy policy | Terms & conditions
© 1995-2010 All rights reserved
