Some Curious Facts

Here are some amazing and interesting facts.....  

•  The universe became the size of a pea one million, million, million, million, millionth of a second after the Big Bang and kept on growing!
• Your skin has more living organisms than the total people living on earth.  In fact the human body itself is like a planet
• A vehicle travelling at the speed of light can travel around the world in 0.13 seconds.  That means if you were in such a vehicle, you would have travelled around the world even before you finish reading this sentence
• It is estimated that one in every 2000 babies is born with teeth!
• The largest living structure on Earth is the Great Barrier Reef.  It extends over 2300 Kms, along the Australian Coast and covers a huge area of 35 million hectares.  Astronauts can actually see it from the Moon!  They have described it as 'fine white line in the blue ocean'.
• A typical hurricane produces energy equivalent to 8,000 one megaton bombs.  It is really a great wonder that hurricanes cause so much destruction
• There are some rain bows which are colorless. They are called as fog bows, and are formed when sun shines through a fog.  The drops of water in a fog are too small to split up light into different colors, so the fog bow is white in color
• Some times if you look at the sky, you see what appears to be three Suns.  This happens when there are thin clouds high in the sky.  The clouds are actually made up of bits of Ice that bend Sun rays so that it appears that there are two more Suns present.  That false Suns ar only an illusion, and it is called as Sun Dogs
• The Blue Whale is the loudest animal on Earth.  It produces sound of 188 decibels which can be detected 800 Kms away.  The blue whale is much louder than a jet plane engine, which reaches only 140 decibels
• Snakes do not have eye lids like us.  Instead, they have a transparent moist shield over their eyes.  So the snakes can never blink their eyes or close its eyes.
• Cheetahs are so fast that they can reach a speed of 1132 Km/hour within few seconds. Their eye sight is so incredible that they can spot their prey which is 5 Kms away!
• Your body has miles and miles of blood vessels.  if they were laid end to end, they would stretch for 99,000 Kilometers.  This is enough to circle the Earth 2.5 times.
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World's first bionic human walks, talks and breathes

He walks, he talks and he has a beating heart, but he's not human — he's the world's first fully bionic man.

Scientists have developed the world's first robot human made up of entirely artificial parts and he can talk, walk and also has a beating heart.  The robot costed about 1 million US dollars was assembled from prosthetic body parts and artificial organs donated by laboratories around the world,   Roboticists Rich Walker and Matthew Godden of Shadow Robot Co in England put together the bionic man.

"You put a prosthetic part on a human who is missing that part. We had no human; we built a human for the prosthetic parts to occupy," Walker said. 

The robot was modelled in some physical aspects after Bertolt Meyer, a social psychologist at the University of Zurich, in Switzerland, who wears one of the world's most advanced bionic hands.

The bionic man has nearly complete set of artificial organs including artificial heart, blood, lungs ( and wind pipe), pancreas, spleen, kidney and also functional circulatory system.  However, he lacks a few major organs, including a liver, stomach and intestines, which are too complex to replicate in a lab.

The bionic man's brain can mimic certain functions of human brain.  He has speech recognition and speech production systems.  The engineers have equipped the bionic man with a sophisticated chat bot program which can carry on a conversation.  The only problem is that it has the voice of a 13 year old boy.

The bionic man simulates about two-thirds of the human body but he lacks few major organs like liver, stomach and intestines which are very difficult to replicate in a lab.


The bionic man made his U.S. debut at New York Comic Con Oct. 10-13, and he will be on display at Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. this fall.

Robot commits suicide - fed up with tedious work

This is the world's first case of a 'Robot suicide'.  A house robot fed up with its tedious job of cleaning works in the house ended its life by climbing onto a kitchen hotplate and destroyed itself in the flames.

The robot was used for cleaning up some split cereal when it has climbed onto a kitchen hotplate and destroyed itself.  The robot was tired of being forced to clean the same house every day, according to reports in Austria.


"It seems to have reactivated itself and made its way along the work surface where it pushed a cooking pot out of the way and that was the end of it", explained a fireman who was called to tackle the blaze at Hinterstoder in Austria.   The robot quickly started to melt underneath and then stuck to the kitchen hotplate and then caught fire.  By the time the fireman has come, there was a pile of ash.

The entire building was to be evacuated as there was severe smoke in the flat where the robot was being used.  It is a mystery how the robot came to be activated and ended up its life on the hot plate.  This is because the house owner says that the robot was switched off.

Some interesting and funny facts

Here are some more interesting and funny facts!

• Babies can breath and eat at the same time until they are 6 months old.  
• If a new pen is offered for writing, 97% of the people will write their own names.
• Do you know that male mosquitoes are vegetarians.  Only female mosquitoes bite us.
• There was a snow fall in Sahara desert in February, 1979.
• Do you know that plants watered with warm water grow larger and quickly than plants watered with cold water.
• Those stars and colors you see when you rub your eyes are called Phosphenes.
• Wearing a headphone for 1 hour will increase bacteria in your ear by 700 times
• A hotel in Sweden is built by ice completely.  It is built every year.
• Onions help reduce cholesterol if eaten after taking fatty food
• Babies eyes do not produce tears until they are 8 weeks old.

Funny and interesting facts

Here is a list of funny, amazing and interesting for your General Knowledge.

1. A fire in Australia has been burning for 5000 years!
2. 20% of garbage in the world is generated by Americans!
3. Hong Kong has more Rolls Royce cars per person than any country in the world!
4. If you drop a bullet from top of Empire State Building, you can kill a person!
5. The Bank of America was originally the Bank of Italy!
6. There are 2,500,000 rivets in Eiffel Tower!
7. Oak trees can live for 200 or more years!
8. In many countries, urine was used as detergent for washing!
9. In Tokyo, a bycycle is faster than a car for trips of less than 50 minutes!
10. 80% of millionaires drive used cars!

Interesting Facts about Forests

Here are some interesting facts about forests.

• Forests occupy 1/3rd of the total land area on earth.
• An area of the size of a football size in the forest is being destroyed each second
• The single oldest living thing on earth is a tree.  It is 4,700 years old and located in USA. It was growing when Egyptians built the pyramids.
• In a period of less than 100 years, half of the entire forest area of the world has been cut.  
• A forest area of more than 3,00,000 acres was burnt in Indonesia's East Kalimantan.  Many people are now suffering from smog related diseases due to that.
• 3/4th of the world population still depends on wood as this is the main source of energy for them.
• Over 1.8 million hectares of forest disappear every year
• Canada's rate of deforestation is zero and is like this from past two decades
• If we assume a tree lives for 50 years, it exhales 6,000 pounds of oxygen in its life time or about 120 pounds per year.
• About 1% of the world forests ( equal to area of New Zealand )are destroyed by fire every year.

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Headless Chicken lives for 18 months

This is a real story of a Headless chicken which lived for 18 months after its head was removed by a  farmer.  Mike the Headless Chicken also known as Miracle Mike was a chicken which lived for 18 months after his head was removed.  

On 10th September, 1945, the farmer LLoyd Olsen of Colorado in USA wanted to cut a chicken for the dinner.  So he went to the yard and chosen a 5 month old chicken named Mike  The axe missed the main Jugular vein leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact.  

Even then Mike was able to balance and walk and the bird did not die.  So Mr., Olsen was surprised and decided to continue to take care of the chicken for ever.  He started feeding the chicken with milk and water via an eye dropper and also small grains of corn.  

Mike was able to jump to highest perches without falling.  His crowing was something like gargling sound made in his throat.  Mike spent his time attempting to search for food with his neck.

In March 1947 at a hotel in Phoenix while traveling back home from tour, Mike started choking in the middle of night.  Mr. Olsen left his feeding and cleaning syringes at home, he could not save Mike.   People say that the chicken could not take enough air properly to be able to breathe; and so choked to death in the hotel.

 In the Post Mortem, it was found that the axe had missed the carotid artery and a clot prevented Mike from bleeding to death.  Even though most of his head was removed, most of his brain stem and one ear were left on his body.  As the basic functions like breathing, heart rate etc. are controlled by the brain stem, Mike was able to remain healthy.

The scientist concluded that Mike had no problem by losing his head aside from loss of sensory input from tongue and eyes.  The farmer missed an ear as well as brain stem.  So Mike could hear also.



Here is a documentary on Mike, the headless Chicken

 

Amazing Facts about Solar Energy

Here are some of the most interesting facts about Solar Energy.  You can read some interesting facts about solar energy and sun related information.

• Solar Energy is very good for environment than the traditional forms of energy
• There are many uses of solar energy like producing electricity and heating water
• Solar energy can be used for heating swimming pools, powering cars and also for calculators.  
• It is possible to cook food with solar energy
• Solar energy is measured in Kilowatt-hours.   
• 1 Kilo watt hour = the amount of energy required to burn a 100 watt light bulb for 10 hours
• According to the US Department of Energy, an average American household used approximately 866-kilowatt hours per month in 1999 costing them $70.68.
• About 30% of the total energy consumption by us is used for heating water 
• A solar system for homes typically contains solar panels on roof top, a charge controller unit, an inverter, wiring and support structure
• It takes about 2 days to install a 1 Kilowatt home solar system and costs around Rs.5,00,000 ( US $10,000) and it can vary greatly
• A 1 KW home solar system contains about 10 solar panels of 100 Watts each  and may need a space of 100 square feet for installation  
• A 1 KW home solar power system generates nearly 1,600 Kilowatt hours per year in a sunny climate ( receiving 5 hours of sun shine per day) and nearly 750 Kilowatt hours in a cloudy climate ( 2.5 hours of sun shine per day) 
• You can prevent nearly 77 Kgs. of coal from burning, 135 Kg of CO2 being released into atmosphere and 105 gallons of water from consumed each month by using a 1 KW home solar system
• Around 40 solar cells are usually combined into a single solar panel and 10 to 12 panels are mounted in an array facing due north for receiving maximum sun shine.
• Solar panels come in various colors
• Solar energy can be collected and stored in batteries, which can provide electricity 24x7 even on cloudy days and at night
• The amount of sun light that falls on earth in one hour is more than what is being used by entire world population in one year.
• In the year 1990, a solar powered air craft flew 4060 Kms. across USA using no fuel.  This was the world record.
• About 2 billion people in the world are without electricity at present.
• The third world countries with abundant quantity of sun light and most population are currently without electricity represent the fastest growing market for solar energy. 

  
        Read more articles about solar energy and solar panels.

Most interesting and unusual facts

Here are the most interesting and unusual facts.

• There are only two words in English language which contain all the vowels in the correct order.  These words are Facetious and Abstemious.
• The word  "Almost" is the longest commonly used word in English with all the letters in alphabetical order.
• Do you know that "Canada" is an Indian word which means ' Big Village'?
• "Forty" is the only number which has its letters in alphabetical order.   
• "One" is the only number with its letters in reverse alphabetical order
• Do you know what is the first song performed in outer space?  It is "Happy Birthday" sung by the Apollo IX astronauts on 8th March, 1969.
• Do you know that the word "one thousand" contains the letter A.  but none of the words from one to nine hundred and ninety nine contains letter A.
• One person in every three people in Israel use mobile phone.
• Do you know that 10% of human dry weight comes from bacteria?
• Do you know that 166,875,000,000 pieces of mail are delivered each year in USA?
• Do you know that 27% of Americans believe that we never landed on the moon
• A 17 year old girl from Miami, Florida started to sneeze on 4th January, 1966 and continued till 8th June, 1966.
• Do you know that the bat is the only mammal that can fly?
• The blue whale's heart beats only 9 times per minute
• A butterfly can look at you through 12,000 eyes
• The cucumber is 96% water
• The lifespan of a dragonfly is 24 hours
• The memory span of a fish is only 3 seconds
• The full moon is 9 times brighter than a half moon
• Do you know that a hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside?
• A jelly fish is 95% water
• The lion's roar can be heard five miles away
• A shark can detect one part of blood in 100 million parts of water
• Do you know that a snail can have about 25,000 teeth?
• A snail can sleep for 3 years
• The snail can travel over a razor blade without cutting itself 
• 10% of total world population is left handed
• Nearly 10,000,000 people have same birthday as you
• The closest star to earth is 25,000,000,000,000 miles away after the sun which is the first closest star to us

Interesting facts about Snow

Do you know that one septillion ( 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) of snow crystals drop from the sky during each winter?  It takes one million little droplets to make one snowflake..  Here are some interesting facts about Snow.

• Do you know that snow forms when water vapor in the atmosphere freezes into ice crystals?
• Snow is a form of precipitation,  the other forms of precipitation are rain, hail and sleet.
• Snow storms are nothing but heavy snow falls.
• Normally the snow flakes are less than one-half inch across.  But the biggest snow flake ever recorded in the world is a giant snow flake which was found at Fort Keogh, Montana on January, 28, 1887.   It was 15 inches wide and 8 inches thick.
•  Do you know that a single snowstorm can drop more than 39 million tons of snow whose energy is equivalent to 120 atomic bombs?  
• The greatest amount of snow fall within 24 hours in US occurred in Silver Lake - Colorado in 1921.  76 inches of snow has fallen within 24 hours. 
• The largest piece of ice to fall on earth was an ice block of 6 meters across that fell in Scotland on 13th August, 1849. 
• Permanent snow and ice cover about 12% of earth land surface. 
• 80% of the world's fresh water is locked up as ice or snow.

Amazing leviating stone of Shivapur

This is something which is unbelievable!   A stone weighing  70 Kg.  which can float in air.   We know it is extremely difficult to lift a stone of 70 Kg weight even with our both hands.   But it can be easily thrown into air with just forefingers of a few people!!!!!!

Can you believe it or not?   Yes it is true

Shivapur is a small village in Maharashtra state in India near Pune city.  This place is famous for its leviating stone.   The actual story behind this leviating stone is like this.  Qumar ali who is famous for his miraculous power on his death bed requested others to keep a circular stone near his tomb.  He said, " If  11 men place their right index fingers under the stone and call my name together, the stone will be lifted higher than their heads".     Otherwise neither a single person or more than 11 people can not lift the stone even 2 feet.

 Qamar Ali was born in a middle class Muslim  family.  When he was six years old,  he became a disciple of a Sufi Pir ( Great Teacher) who spent his time meditating and fasting.   Qamar Ali died in his late teens and on the death bed, he requested other people to place a circular stone on his tomb ( weighing 70 Kg).  According to the legend, Qamar ali said "If 11 people placed their index fingers below the stone and call my name together, I will cause to rise the stone in the air above their heads".  

Even though Qamar Ali was a Muslim,  the 11 people need not be Muslims.  They can be from any religion.  But females cannot lift the stone.  Only males are allowed to lift the stone.   Any one can try to attempt to lift the stone,  but it never gets lifted unless 11 people put their index fingers and utter Qamar Ali's name.

As soon as 11 men placed their index fingers of their right hands below the stone, count upto three and then utter "Qamar Ali Darvesh!",  the stone would float in the air like a living thing.   The stone would fall on the ground several seconds later with a thud sound.

 The participants in this activity are selected randomly.   This is being done frequently in Shivapura for many decades.   Researchers are unable to explain the mystery behind the leviating stone of Shivapura.  If the number of men is more than 11, then it is impossible to lift the stone into air.

Amazing leviating stone of Shivapur

This is something which is unbelievable!   A stone weighing  70 Kg.  which can float in air.   We know it is extremely difficult to lift a stone of 70 Kg weight even with our both hands.   But it can be easily thrown into air with just forefingers of a few people!!!!!!

Can you believe it or not?   Yes it is true

Shivapur is a small village in Maharashtra state in India near Pune city.  This place is famous for its leviating stone.   The actual story behind this leviating stone is like this.  Qumar ali who is famous for his miraculous power on his death bed requested others to keep a circular stone near his tomb.  He said, " If  11 men place their right index fingers under the stone and call my name together, the stone will be lifted higher than their heads".     Otherwise neither a single person or more than 11 people can not lift the stone even 2 feet.