1. the university of oxford is older than many countries
Oxford University was founded in 1096, while the Ottoman Empire was not founded until 1299, the Aztec Empire - in 1325, and united Russian state - only in 1478. By the way, England itself, where this university is located, united into a single state only in 928.
Bacteria take up a large part of the biomass of the earth.
What percentage of the biomass of our planet do you think humans make up? Probably something like 20-30%, right? No, it's some measly 1.3% of the biomass of all animals and microorganisms - something like 300 million tons. Bacteria, on the other hand, are much more serious and account for 13% of the world's biomass. So humans are just ants against the background of a tree compared to microorganisms.
Clouds are not as light as they look
Cumulonimbus clouds, despite their enormous size which can eclipse the entire visible space of the sky, seem to us as something weightless, like a haze easily blown away by the wind. But in fact, the weight of a typical cumulonimbus cloud is about 500 thousand kilograms. These are all tiny drops of liquid water and/or water ice crystals.
4. The smallest continent is bigger than the moon
Australia is the smallest continent, occupying only 5.14% of the land area. At the same time it is even larger than the satellite of our planet.
Australia is about 3,700 kilometers long from north to south, and about 4,000 kilometers wide from west to east. The moon, on the other hand, is 3,474.2 kilometers in diameter.
5. More than half of the bones are in the feet and hands
An adult human being has about 205-207 bones. And about half of them are in small areas, the feet and hands. For comparison, each foot has 26 bones and each hand has 27; while the spine consists of only 32-34 bones.
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6. There is a place where the greatest number of famous people lived at one time
In 1913, virtually all of the most influential personalities of the 20th century lived or were passing through Vienna. Among them were Joseph Stalin, Lev Trotsky, Josip Broz Tito, Sigmund Freud, Adolf Hitler, and Franz Ferdinand. The last two were a direct or indirect cause of the outbreak of World Wars I and II.
7. Tomatoes have a lot more genes than you do
Not long ago, scientists discovered that tomatoes have about 31,000 to 35,000 genes. By comparison, the human genome has 20-25,000 genes, which was well below the expectations of scientists who, when they started studying human genetics, thought we contained about 100,000 genes. And to make it a complete shame about our nature - rice and corn have about 50,000 genes.
8. Half of the water on Earth is older than the sun
Despite the fact that our planet is younger than its star, scientists believe that some of the water was formed from the gas clouds that later formed the Sun. Some water was also brought to Earth by comets from outer space which may have orbited the Earth at a time when the Solar System was still a giant gas cloud.
9. Napoleon wanted to serve in the Russian army
Sometimes the story takes a steep turn. For example, Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to join the Russian army after the Paris military school with the rank of lieutenant in 1788, when Russia was recruiting volunteers for the war against Turkey. And this might have happened if, a month before Napoleon's enlistment petition, no decree had been issued that prescribed the enlistment of foreigners with a reduction by one rank. This did not suit the young, ambitious Bonaparte.
10. George Washington wanted to join the British navy
Like Napoleon Bonaparte, George Washington almost joined his future enemies. At age 14, Washington, inspired by his older half-brother, wanted to serve in the British Navy. But it wasn't meant to be, simply because his mother wouldn't let him. Apparently, it is to her that modern Americans should be grateful.
11. the best pirate was a woman
Surprised? We're sure you're used to thinking of Blackbeard, Hareddine Barbarossa, Francis Drake, and other glorious little ones as the best pirates. But in fact they were overtaken by Mistress Zheng, who dominated the Chinese Sea in the early 19th century.
At the height of her power, she commanded a fleet of 1,500 to 1,800 ships with 80,000 sailors. This enabled her to cause a lot of trouble to the strongest state at the time, the British Empire.
12. frogs were used as a pregnancy test
From the 1930s to the 1960s, smooth spurge frogs were used as a pregnancy test. They took the urine of girls and injected it into female frogs. The urine of the pregnant women caused the frogs to ovulate and start laying eggs.
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