| 1581/
If you visited another world, you would notice a change in
your weight, because the force of gravity acting on you there
would be different from the force of gravity here on Earth.
If we take a weight on Earth of 100kg; then the same object
would weigh 250kg on Jupiter, 38kg on Mars and 17kg on the
Moon.
1582/ There are about
1500 volcanoes on the ground and 10,000 in the sea.
1583/ The rosy periwinkle
plant, found in Madagascar, is used to cure leukemia while
the anti-malarial drug quinine is taken from the bark of the
Andean cinchona tree. The rauvolfa shrub found in Asian and
African forests is used to cure high blood pressure and mental
illness.
1584/ On June 20th, 1782,
the United States Congress made the "American Eagle"
the national emblem of the United States.
1585/ The species of
Poison Arrow Frog, Phylobates Terribilis . has enough poison
to kill several adult humans and close to 20,000 small rodent
like animals.
1586/ While the retina
of frogs can detect movement, the retina of humans and other
primates cannot. In fact, frogs and some other simple vertebrates
may not even see an object unless it is moving. If a dead
fly on a string is dangled motionlessly in front of a starving
frog, the frog cannot sense this winged meal. The "bug-detecting"
cells in its retina are wired to respond only to movement.
The frog might starve to death, tongue firmly folded in its
mouth, unaware that salvation lies suspended on a string in
front of its eyes.
1587 In March 1999, Linda
Buck of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, proved
that mammals recognize and process odours through a code based
on varying combinations of receptors. She likens olfactory
receptors to letters of the alphabet, which can be used over
and over again to compose a vast vocabulary.
1588/ Motor vehicle accidents
are by far the greatest causes of brain injuries, accounting
for 37-50% of all brain injuries.
1589/ Head injury is
the most common cause of death in bicycle crashes accounting
for 62% of all bicycle-related deaths in the US.
1590/ There are up to
1,000 spinal cord injuries each year in the United States
when people dive into swimming pools or other bodies of water
where the water was too shallow. (The moral of this particular
tale is NOT to dive in the shallow end!)
1591/ The greatest potential
for loss of life and property related to a hurricane is from
the storm surge - water pushed ashore by the force of the
winds accompanying a hurricane. Although hurricanes are usually
described in terms of their wind speeds, historically storm-surge
flooding has claimed more victims (nine out of 10) than wind.
During the past 30 years, however, inland flooding has caused
most hurricane-related deaths.
1592/ The hand-held pocket
calculator was invented at Texas Instruments, Incorporated
(TI) in 1966 by a development team which included Jerry D.
Merryman, James H. Van Tassel and Jack St. Clair Kilby.
1593/ The Rubik's Cube
was invented by Erno Rubik in 1974. To date over 100 million
have been sold. Dave Orser broke the Unofficial World Record
for solving a Rubik's cube blindfolded, with a new record
of 4 minutes 5 seconds, including memorization on the 11th
December 2002. more
1594/ In 1767 mapmaker
John Salisbury created the first jigsaw puzzle by mounting
one of his maps on a sheet of hardwood and cutting around
the borders of the countries using a fine-bladed marquetry
saw.
1595/ There are 18 species
of Piranha, and 4 of those species are dangerous to man. They
live in "schools" (a large number living together).
Many times they will wait for prey to come to the shallow
water of the river. Then the large group of piranhas will
attack. These large groups are able to kill large animals.
They are found in clouded water, slow moving water which needs
to be between 24 and 27 degrees centigrade.
1596/ The first automobile
was created on 29 January 1886, when Carl Benz patented a
tricycle with a one horizontal cylinder engine that he designed
and built. But the production of cars and the use of the automobile
as a means of individual transportation had to await the Peugeot
brothers in France. The first Italian automobile factory was
Prinetti e Stucchi, opened in 1889. FIAT opened the next year,
and Isotta Fraschini opened in 1904.
1597/ About 600 species
of plants are carnivorous. Most eat insects but also on the
menu are frogs, birds and even small monkeys. more
1598/ The rarest and
most valuable botanical jewel is the legendary "coconut
pearl" that occasionally forms inside a coconut (Cocos
nucifera). Like the pearls of oysters and giant clams, it
is a shiny calcareous sphere. Coconut pearls are known to
form inside "blind coconuts" that lack the three
characteristic germination pores at one end. The odds of finding
one in a coconut are certainly less than one in a million.
To put it another way, if you cracked open and thoroughly
examined one coconut every 15 minutes during a normal eight
hour work day, it would take roughly 80 years to go through
a million coconuts. You can however see one on display at
the Fairchild Tropical Garden in the city of Coral Gables,
Florida.
1599/ The largest tree,
named General Sherman, is 272 feet tall with a massive trunk
35 feet in diameter and 109 feet in circumference at the base.
Even more remarkable is the fact that at a point 120 feet
in the air the trunk of General Sherman is still 17 feet in
diameter. It has been estimated to contain over 600,000 board
feet of timber, enough to build 120 average-sized houses.
In fact, a single giant sequoia may contain more wood than
is found on several acres of some of the finest virgin timberland
in the Pacific Northwest. The trunk of General Sherman alone
weighs nearly 1400 tons. By way of comparison, this is roughly
equivalent to 15 adult blue whales, 10 diesel-electric train
locomotives, or 25 average-sized military battle tanks.
1600/ The largest visible
meteorite crater in the world is in Winslow, Arizona. 4,150
feet across and 150 feet deep.
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