Vostok, Antarctica holds the record for the coldest temperature on Earth: a temperature of -129 °F / -89.4 °C was recorded on July 21, 1983. An unconfirmed report in the winter of 1997 reported an even colder temperature of -132 °F / -91 °C. This exceptionally cold weather is caused by the very high speed of the Arctic winds.

Even though the number of people in the United States as a whole has grown much since 1900 the total utilization of wood has dropped from about 12 billion cubic feet in 1900 to 10 billion cubic feet in 1976.

NASA has allocated two billion dollars to develop a 300 passenger aircraft capable of operating over 5,000 miles at Mach 2.4 - fast enough for a two and a half hour Seattle to Tokyo flight time.

Lichens are the mutually beneficial association of two organisms a fungus (called mycobiont) and a cyanobacteria (called photobiont).

The mummified body of Lady Dai, who died in China between 145 and 178 BC, is so well-preserved that it could be autopsied by scientists as if it were recently dead.

The oldest fossilized imprint of the rose was left on a slate deposit found in Florissant, Colorado. It is estimated to be 35 million years old.

The concept of matter as a collection of small indivisible particles called 'atoms' probably originated with Democritus in the 5th Century BC, but it was not generally accepted until the 19th Century.

The size of a typical satellite antenna corresponds roughly to the middle of the wavelength range of microwaves.

Jupiter's volume is about 1,400 times that of the Earth. In fact, its volume is half again bigger than all of the Solar System's other planets, moons, asteroids, and comets combined.