Facts You Probably don’t Need
- There is an exposed bedrock near Hudson Bay, Canada that is 4.3 billion years old. It is the oldest known rock and was around when the earth was only 200 million years old with no atmosphere or oceans.
- Alcatraz was the only federal prison at the time to offer hot-water showers for its inmates. The prison staff reasoned that prisoners acclimated to hot water would not be able to withstand the freezing waters of the San Francisco Bay during an escape attempt.
- The diving bell spider lives underwater in a spun silk chamber which acts as an air bubble.
- Some bamboo plants can grow nearly a full meter in a single day.
- Some estimates suggest there are around 5 billion habitable planets in the Milky Way alone.
- A dog’s sense of smell is around 10,000 to 100,000 times stronger than humans. Dogs have up to 300 million olfactory receptors in their noses, compared to about 6 million in humans.
- Reindeer can see ultraviolet light. The rare ability helps them see in snowy conditions.
- If you could drive a car at 60 mph towards the second nearest star to us, it would take 48,000,000 years to reach it.
Facts by Sean McVeigh, factologist.
