Thursday, March 15, 2007

Interesting facts

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Let knowledge enrich our intelligence

· Next time you drink a glass of water think about this: the hydrogen molecules in water are 14 billion years old, they were created at the same time as the universe.

· 10 percent of television ‘Snow’ is caused by microwave radiation from the big bang.An 8oz glass of water weighs ½ a pound, an 8oz glass of gas from the center of the sun would weigh about 75 pounds.

· June 1, 1999 General Motors Corp. has a device in many of its new cars that functions like the black box recorder in airplanes: It collects data as a car crashes. (Source: CNN)

· May 26, 1999 The scientists who created Dolly, the world’s first cloned mammal, said the 3-year-old sheep has DNA in her cells typical of a much older animal. (Source: CNN)

· An elephant’s trunk contains more than 50,000 muscles. (Source: U.S. Humane Society)

· The Panda bear is expected to become extinct by about 2040, barring a drastic change of events. Artificial insemination could delay the extinction of the giant panda by about 60 years or more, according to scientists who want to use the technique to produce more pandas. (Source: CNN/Associated Press)

· A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend, Indiana.


· After English, the most widely used languages on the Internet are German, Japanese, French, Spanish, Swedish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, Czech, Danish, Russian, and Malay. (Source: The Babel team)


· The sky is shrinking and has been doing so for the past 40 years, scientists have discovered. About five miles of sky have been lost since 1958, and that figure may double over the next century. Researchers studying the Earth’s upper atmosphere, 56 miles up, said the contraction is probably a result of the greenhouse effect.

· The world’s three richest people have assets that exceed the combined wealth of the 48 least developed countries, according to a recent United Nations report on global inequality.

· A car is stolen every 30 seconds in the United States.


· The Russian Blue is a breed of cat prone to having an extra toe. Six toed cats are so common in Boston and surrounding parts of Massachusetts that some experts consider it an established mutation.

· Cats have a third eyelid, called a haw, which is rarely visible. If it is visible it could be an indication of ill health.

· Blood is composed of a yellowish fluid, called plasma, in which are suspended the millions of cells that constitute about 45 percent by volume of whole blood. In an average healthy adult, the volume of blood is one-eleventh of the body weight, or between 4.5 and 6 liters (5 and 6 qt).


· The very first tools were sticks and stones picked up off the ground. Between one and two million years ago, human beings learned to improve their crude implements. Using one stone, they would hammer away at another, sharpening the sides and end. These stones could be used to cut meat, carve wood, and dig roots. The earliest tools were sharpened on just one side and were handheld. Later, stones were sharpened on both sides and attached to axe handles, spear shafts, and arrows.


On May 30, 1431, Joan of Arc-“the maid of orléans”-was burned at the stake in Rouen. One of the great heroines of France, she lived at a time when the English controlled much of her country. Joan fought several winning battles, but she was finally captured by a rival French faction and sold to the English. Tried before a pliable French court, she was proclaimed a witch and executed before reaching her 20th birthday. Almost 400 years later, in 1920, the papacy canonized her as a saint
Courtesy: Internet

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