sharks

»   Sharks' fossil records date back more than twice as long as that of the dinosaurs.

»   Male monkeys lose the hair on their heads in the same manner men do.

»   Sharks have a sixth sense which enables them to detect bioelectrical fields radiated by other sea creatures and to navigate by sensing changes in the earth's magnetic field.

»   Male moose have antlers 7 feet across. The antlers often weigh 60 pounds.

»   Sharks lay the largest eggs in the world.

»   Male sea lion may have more than 100 wives and sometimes go three months without eating.

»   Sheep will not drink from running water. Hence, the line in the Twenty-third Psalm: "He leadeth me beside the still waters."

»   Male western fence lizards do push-ups on tree limbs as a courtship display for females.

animals

A cat's jaws can not move sideways

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

A bear has 42 teeth.

Giraffes have no vocal cords.

Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten

Mice, whales, elephants, giraffes and man all have seven neck vertebra

Goat's eyes have rectangular pupils.

There are only two animals with blue tongues, the Black Bear and the Chow dog

A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can't.

Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.

Ants cannot chew their food, they move their jaws sideways, like scissors, to obtain the juices from the food

Crickets hear through their knees

A flea expert is a pullicologist

Chickens absorb vitamin-D through their combs from sunshine

The average hen will lay 227 eggs a year

Swans are the only birds with penises.

Kiwi birds are blind, they hunt by smell.

Hummingbirds are the only animals that can fly backwards

A flamingo can eat only when its head is upside down.

Chickens that lay brown eggs have red ear lobes. There is a genetic link between the two.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain.

Mockingbirds can imitate any sound from a squeaking door to a cat meowing.

A woodpecker can peck twenty times a second

Owls have eyeballs that are tubular in shape, because of this, they cannot move their eyes.

The fastest bird is the Spine-tailed swift, clocked at speeds of up to 220 miles per hour.

The hummingbird is the only bird that can hover and fly straight up, down, or backward!

The Kiwi, national bird of New Zealand, can't fly. It lives in a hole in the ground, is almost blind, and lays only one egg each year. Despite this, it has survived for more than 70 million years.

It is physically impossible for pigs to lookup into the sky.

When a female horse and male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny.

A donkey will sink in quicksand but a mule won't.

A diamond will not dissolve in acid. The only thing that can destroy it is intense heat.

The air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, 21.5% oxygen, .5% argon and other gases.

The only rock that floats in water is pumice.

The three most common elements in the universe are 1) hydrogen; 2) helium; 3) oxygen.

Eagles mate in mid air.

James Cook
1773 --- 1st person to cross Antarctic Circle.

Marquis d'Arlandes
Pilatre de Rozier
1783 --- 1st humans to fly. They were airborne in a hot-air balloon for 20 minutes, in Paris, on Nov. 21.

1st female Nobel Prize winners:
1903 ---  Physics: Marie Sklodowska Curie
1905 ---     Peace: Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicita von Suttner
1909 --     Literature: Selma Ottilia Lovisa LagerlØf
1911 ---    Chemistry: Marie Sklodowska Curie
1947 ---     Physiology & Medicine: Gerty Radnitz Cori

Marie Sklodowska Curie 1911 --- 1st person ever to win two Nobel Prizes. Her first was in Physics (1903) and the second in Chemistry (1911.)

What is the most common element found in the universe?
A: Hydrogen

Which planet is the hottest?
A:  Venus is the hottest planet.

Which planet is the coldest?
A: Pluto is the coldest planet. It has an icy temperature of -400 F.

How long is an astronomical unit?
A: The Astronomical Unit is the average distance between the Sun and Earth. Its value is 149,597,870 km (about 93 million miles).

Q: What landmark invention did Ts'ai Lun invent from bark and hemp in the second century?
A:  Paper.

Q: What was the occupation of cotton candy machine inventor William James Morrison?
A:  Dentist.

Q:  What Italian astronomer invented the thermometer in 1592?
A: Galileo.

Q: What did George Nisser invent after observing high wire performers bouncing on safety nets?
A:  The trampoline.

Q:  What century saw the invention of the shoelace?
A: The eighteenth. 

Q: What O-word describes oxygen with molecules that have three atoms instead of two?
A: Ozone.

Q: What unit of measure do you multiply by .39 to convert it to inches?
A: Centimeters.

Q: What sea creature can have an eye measuring 16 inches across, the largest in the animal kingdom?
A:  A squid.

: What do doctors look at through an ophthalmoscope?
A:  The eye.

: What's short for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation"?
A: Laser.

A cockroach can live for up to a week without a head.

Ants don't sleep.

Aphids are born pregnant without the benefit of sex. Aphids can give birth 10 days after being born themselves.

Dragonflies are one of the fastest insects, flying 50 to 60 mph.

Each year, insects eat 1/3 of the Earth's food crop.

Only female mosquitoes bite. Females need the protein from blood to produce their eggs.

The animal responsible for the most human deaths world-wide is the mosquito.

The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of lobsters is blue.

There are more than 900,000 known species of insects in the world.

When a queen bee lays the fertilized eggs that will develop into new queens, only one of the newly laid queens actually survives. The first new queen that emerges from her cell destroys all other queens in their cells and, thereafter, reigns alone.

When ants find food, they lay down a chemical trail, called a pheromone, so that other ants can find their way from the nest to the food source

Our galaxy has approximately 250 billion stars.

Sea water is approximately 3.5 percent salt.

The eyeball of a human weighs approximately 28 grams.

There are approximately 13,000 identifiable varieties of roses throughout the world.

There are approximately 2,700 different species of mosquitoes.

There are approximately 250,000 sweat glands in your feet.

There are approximately 45 billion fat cells in an average adult.

There are approximately 7,000 feathers on an eagle.

There are approximately 75,000,000 horses in the world.

There are approximately 9,000 taste buds on the tongue.
A chameleon can move its eyes in two directions at the same time.

A chameleon's tongue is twice the length of its body.

A chimpanzee can learn to recognize itself in a mirror, but monkeys can't

Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been hit by a lightning strike.

Catfish have 100,000 taste buds

Elephants can communicate using sounds that are below the human hearing range: between 14 and 35 hertz.

Seals

»   Seals can sleep underwater and surface for air without even waking.

»   Lungless salamanders are the largest group of salamanders. They have no lungs or gills and breathe through their skin, which must be kept damp to allow oxygen in. If they dry out, they will die of suffocation.

»   Seals can withstand water pressure of up to 850 pounds per square inch.

»   Macaws are the largest and most colorful species of the parrot family.

»   Seals have back flippers that can’t bend under the body in order to walk on land, while sea lions use their leg-like hind flippers to “walk” on land.

»   Made of mud, small stones, straw, and feathers, flamingos build nest mounds that can be as high as 12 inches (30 cm).

»   Mahimahi is dolphin, but not the mammal with the big brain and the need to surface to breath (like Flipper). The mahimahi is a fish, but the United Nations dubbed it “dolphinfish” to end the confusion.

»   Male and female sea turtles are about the same size.

Sea sponges

  Sea sponges are used in drugs for treating asthma and cancer.

»   Llamas are smaller than horses, making them good pack animals, but they are not strong enough for people to ride upon. Typically, a llama can carry 80 to 100 pounds.

»   Sea sponges, stationary invertebrates that sometimes form a tough, flexible skeleton full of pores, were harvested as the first sponges used for bathing and cleaning.

»   Lobsters molt 20 to 30 times before reaching the one-pound market size.

»   Seabirds have salt-excreting organs above their eyes which enable them to drink salty water;seasnakes have a similar filter at the base of their tongue.

»   Lobsters, like grasshoppers — feel no pain. They have a decentralized nervous system with no cerebral cortex, which in humans is where a reaction to painful stimuli proceeds.

»   Seals and whales keep warm in the icy polar water thanks to a layer of fat called blubber under their skin. Whale blubber can reach up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) thick.

»   Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary opened in 1927 in Brisbane, Australia, and it was the first, and is still the largest, koala sanctuary in the world. Tourists can cuddle one of 130 koalas, hand feed kangaroos and emus, and see a large variety of Australian native wildlife in the 50-acre sanctuary, such as wombats, Tasmanian devils, and dingoes. Koala cuddling has been banned in New South Wales since 1997, but cuddling is still permitted in Queensland, and especially at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. In Queensland, koalas can only be cuddled for less than 30 minutes per day. They must also get every fourth day off. At Lone Pine, koalas are timed for “clock on” and “clock off” when they go to the koala cuddling area.

science trivia questions answers and facts.

science trivia questions answers and facts.

Science trivia questions answers and facts.
What was the first city to be leveled by a plutonium-based atomic bomb?
A: Nagasaki.
What high-level computer language was named after a French mathematician and philosopher?
A: PASCAL.
What Mercury astronaut had a pulse rate of 170 at lift-off-John Glenn, Alan Shepard or Gus Grissom?
A: Gus Grissom.
What type of vessel was powered by a hand-cranked propeller when first used in combat in 1176?
A: A submarine.
What creature proved to be much faster than a horse in a 1927 race in Sydney, Australia?
A: The Kangaroo.
Science trivia questions answers and facts.
What radioactive element is extracted from carnotite and pitchblende?
A: Uranium.
What organ of a buffalo did Plains Indians use to make yellow paint?
A: The gallbladder.
What optical aids was nearsighted model Grace Robin the first to show off in 1930?
A: Contact lenses.

What creature's fossilized leg bone did John Horner discover red blood cells in, in 1993?
A: A tyrannosaurus rex's.
What sticky sweetener was traditionally used as an antiseptic ointment for cuts and burns?
A: Honey.
What computer was introduced in 1984 Super Bowl ads?
A: The Macintosh.
What male body part did Mademoiselle magazine find to be the favorite of most women?
A: Eyes.
What planet is named after the Greek god who personified the sky?
A: Uranus.
What fat substitute got FDA approval for use in snack foods, despite reports of diarrhea and cramps?
A: Olestra.
What plant's meltdown was dubbed "Russian Roulette" by nuclear power wags?
A: Chernobyl's.
What is a single unit of quanta called?
A: A quantum.
What will fall off of the Great Sphinx in 200 years due to pollution and erosion, according to scholar Chikaosa Tanimoto?
A: It's head.
What suntan lotion was developed by Dr. Ben Green in 1944 to protect pilots who bailed out over the Pacific?
A: Coppertone.
What was Friedrich Serturner the first to extract from opium and use as a pain reliever?
A: Morphine.
What substance nets recyclers the most money?
A: Aluminum.
What are you shopping for if you are sized up by a Brannock Device?
A: Shoes.
What animal travels at 25 mph under water but finds it easier to toboggan on its belly on land?
A: The penguin.
What's the itchy skin condition tinea pedis better known as?
A: Athlete's foot.
What uncooked meat is a trichina worm most likely to make a home in?
A: Pork.
How many of every 10 victims infected by the Ebola virus will die in two days?
A: Nine.
What computer company was named after a founder's memories of spending a summer in an Oregon orchard?
A: Apple.
What butterfly-shaped gland is located just in front of the windpipe?
A: The Thyroid.
What's short for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation"?
A: Laser.
What planet is the brightest object in the sky, after the sun and moon?
A: Venus.
What weapon did German gunsmith August Kotter unload on the world in 1520?
A: The rifle.
What type of machine did 19-year-old French genius Blaise Pascal invent to help his dad do taxes in 1642?
A: An adding machine.
What do leukemia sufferers have too many of?
A: White blood cells, or leukocytes.
What Benjamin Holt invention was good news to farmers in 1900?
A: The tractor.
What weather phenomenon is measured by the Beaufort scale?
A: Wind.
What do itchy people call the "rhus radicans" they were sorry they came into contact with?
A: Poison Ivy.
What drupaceous fruit were Hawaiian women once forbidden by law to eat?
A: The coconut.

gold

science trivia facts.
A diamond will not dissolve in acid. The only thing that can destroy it is intense heat.
A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.
Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.
An ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire 50 miles long.
Colored diamonds are caused by impurities such as nitrogen (yellow), boron (blue). With red diamonds being due to deformities in the structure of the stone, and green ones being the result of irradiation.
Free science trivia facts.
Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance, and is also one of the most valuable natural substances. Diamonds are crystals formed almost entirely of carbon. Because of its hardness, the diamond is the most enduring of all gemstones. They are among the most costly jewels in the world, partly because they are rare, Only four important diamond fields have been found - in Africa, South America, India, and the Soviet Union.
In 1957, the Shipping port Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, went on line. (It was taken out of service in 1982.)
In 1982, in the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Dr. Barney Clark, who lived 112 days with the device.
Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.
Mineral deposits in caves: The ones growing upward are stalagmites, the ones growing downward are stalactites.
Natural gas has no odor. The smell is added artificially so that leaks can be detected.
Prussic acid, in a crystalline powder called Zyklon B, was used to kill in Germany's gas chambers. The gas would paralyze the victim's lungs, causing them to suffocate.
Sea water, loaded with mineral salts, weighs about a pound and a half more per cubit foot than fresh water at the same temperature.
Ten per cent of the salt mined in the world each year is used to de-ice the roads in America.
The air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, 21.5% oxygen, .5% argon and other gases.
The Chinese were using aluminum to make things as early as 300 AD Western civilization didn't rediscover aluminum until 1827.
The Cullinan Diamond is the largest gem-quality diamond ever discovered. Found in 1905, the original 3,100 carats were cut to make jewels for the British Crown Jewels and the British Royal family's collection.
The largest gold nugget ever found weighed 172 lbs., 13 oz.
The largest hailstone ever recorded was 17.5 inches in diameter - bigger than a basketball.
The most abundant metal in the Earth's crust is aluminum.
The only rock that floats in water is pumice.
The three most common elements in the universe are 1) hydrogen; 2) helium; 3) oxygen.
The United States government keeps its supply of silver at the US Military Academy at West Point, NY. A diamond will not dissolve in acid. The only thing that can destroy it is intense heat.
A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.
Absolutely pure gold is so soft that it can be molded with the hands.
An ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire 50 miles long.
Colored diamonds are caused by impurities such as nitrogen (yellow), boron (blue). With red diamonds being due to deformities in the structure of the stone, and green ones being the result of irradiation.
Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance, and is also one of the most valuable natural substances. Diamonds are crystals formed almost entirely of carbon. Because of its hardness, the diamond is the most enduring of all gemstones. They are among the most costly jewels in the world, partly because they are rare, Only four important diamond fields have been found - in Africa, South America, India, and the Soviet Union.
In 1957, the Shipping port Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania, the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States, went on line. (It was taken out of service in 1982.)
In 1982, in the first operation of its kind, doctors at the University of Utah Medical Center implanted a permanent artificial heart in the chest of retired dentist Dr. Barney Clark, who lived 112 days with the device.
Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature.  
Science trivia facts.
Mineral deposits in caves: The ones growing upward are stalagmites, the ones growing downward are stalactites.
Natural gas has no odor. The smell is added artificially so that leaks can be detected.
Prussic acid, in a crystalline powder called Zyklon B, was used to kill in Germany's gas chambers. The gas would paralyze the victim's lungs, causing them to suffocate.
Sea water, loaded with mineral salts, weighs about a pound and a half more per cubit foot than fresh water at the same temperature.
Ten per cent of the salt mined in the world each year is used to de-ice the roads in America.
The air we breathe is 78% nitrogen, 21.5% oxygen, .5% argon and other gases.
The Chinese were using aluminum to make things as early as 300 AD Western civilization didn't rediscover aluminum until 1827.
The Cullinan Diamond is the largest gem-quality diamond ever discovered. Found in 1905, the original 3,100 carats were cut to make jewels for the British Crown Jewels and the British Royal family's collection.
The largest gold nugget ever found weighed 172 lbs., 13 oz.
The largest hailstone ever recorded was 17.5 inches in diameter - bigger than a basketball.
The most abundant metal in the Earth's crust is aluminum.
The only rock that floats in water is pumice.
The three most common elements in the universe are 1) hydrogen; 2) helium; 3) oxygen.
The United States government keeps its supply of silver at the US Military Academy at West Point, NY.

‘Time to polish those very rough edges’- by chetan bhagat

Dear  Chetan Bhagat,

Your column ‘Time to polish those very rough edges’.

I do not venture to write on politics or politicians because it would be better to write about the shape of a cloud at least I can be sure that probably sometime or other I can show to people what type of cloud I was writing about. So at the outset let me make it very clear that I am not a supporter of any particular party or political figure.  

I would like you not to ignore facts even if you are not willing to accept or approve them. This is the fundamental rule for writing about politics or history. You are at liberty to then give your own interpretations, justifications, opinions etc. So, first notice facts without prejudice, take notes from political correspondents like Paul Johnson or our own M.J. Akbar [ who has incidentally written an excellent article in the same page today] and read history by authors like Will Durant, Dance etc along with reading of social psychology before venturing to write on subjects like Modi. Do your home work before arrogating yourself  to sit on judgment on all matters like TV anchors or act like the feigning petty know-all newspaper or news channel reporters. 

1] “He stands tall but does not work well as a combo meal” It is not a rough edge it is the sharp difference of a great personality and all great leaders are firm and look firm. He did not have greatness thrust upon him either by virtue of any dynasty, sect, class, caste, religion or sponsored by any political party or business house but has become great through showing to India what is governance and what a leader who gives priority to governance over corruption and promoting his family members can do. What is wrong in being a tall leader if you can deliver good governance and achieve something very important for improving the economic conditions of the people like a Margaret Thatcher, Moraji Desai, Vallabai Patel, Martin Luther King, Jothi Basu and E.M.S.Namboodiripad [ from a parties where party ideology {whether right or wrong} and cadre approval matter more than any single personality]

2] On Independence Day remember it was not aggression but it was honest appraisal and evaluation. Come on stop being hypocritical all Prime Ministers, Ministers, Chief Ministers owe their post , position , power ,pelf etc to politics and must and do use all opportunities to play politics. Unfortunately most Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers observe Independence Day and Republic Day as mere calendared observation of rituals rather than an occasion to put across what is required to make the nation a better place to live and acknowledge the mistakes that have led the nation to where it is now and also pointing out who is responsible for the mess [here though not directly- unfortunately the PM is the official face of the present Government]

3] Modi hype. Without PR, publicity or hype nothing sells anywhere. That too in a country where it involves taking on a entire government machinery , paid and biased media and a hoard of sycophants who would do anything to support a single family. Please remember it is only because of hype and promotion by business houses like IBD that your books are in the front racks in most book shops at the Air ports, Railway stations, major book stalls etc and only because of hype an ordinary small time writer like you could become popular enough to migrate from writing very ordinary novels to writing columns in newspapers and they too publish them. Please do not abuse something [hype and publicity] which has given you an identity which probably many better writers deserve in India.

4] Pan –Indian sensitivity. Please define what it is? Probably only economic development, equal opportunities to all, dignified living standards to everyone, national interest above dynastic, family, party ideology etc could be the few things that can be included in that classification called  Pan –Indian sensitivity. We cannot even include common civil code for fear of  losing a particular minority vote which is euphemistically and conveniently termed as Secularism of lately. On this Modi has declared boldly that Constitution is the only religion of a politician.

He talks frankly as all leaders who have with national and economic welfare as a vision and mission combined with  good intentions, initiatives and interest in implementing them like Margaret Thatcher, Dr. B.R . Ambedkar, Vallabhai Patel, Moraji Desai, Kamaraj etc rather than perpetuating a dynasty, promoting their kith and kin or thrusting a political ideology at the cost of economic welfare of all. It was one family which ensured that a great person like B.R. Ambedkar was never allowed to lead the nation as a main leader or sidelined Kamaraj and ultimately pushed him out they want to push aside Modi too because he belongs to very backward Ghanchi caste.

Considering all this I find your write up as highly parochial, prejudiced and perhaps paid up.

Olympic

1] The only Olympian ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

 Philip Noel-Baker of Great Britain, who won the silver in the 1500-meter dash in 1920.

2] the FIRST woman to win an Olympic event

 England's Charlotte Cooper, who won the tennis singles in 1900.

3]  FIRST team sport added to the Olympics was

Football in 1900

4] the FIRST black African to win a gold medal was

 Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila, who ran barefoot all the way in Rome, 1960.

5] what is the theme of The 2008 Summer Games Torch Relay

 "Journey of Harmony

6] when did the Olympic flag make its debut

The Olympic Flag made its debut at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp, Belgium.

7] who adopted the Olympic ring first and when ?

Baron Pierre de Coubertin (founder of the modern Olympic Movement) in 1913 after he saw a similar design on an artifact from ancient Greece.  The five rings represent the five major regions of the world: Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

8] why was Rome  not able to host the 1908 Olympics as planned

because Mount Vesuvius erupted!

9] Youngest Female Gold Medallist
Nadia Comaneci of Romania was 14 years and 252 days old when she took gold medals in three events - all-around, balance beam, and uneven bars - at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games.

10] Youngest Female Gymnastics Medallist 
Luigina Giavotti was 11 years and 302 days old when she won a gymnastics silver medal in 1928 as a member of the Italian gymnastics team.

11] Most Career Gymnastics Medals for Women (18)
Larisa Latynina holds the all-time Olympic record for medals won in any sport with 18, won in a twelve year three Olympic Games (1956, 1960, and 1964) gymnastics career for the Soviet team.

12] Most Gymnastics Medals in One Olympics for Women (7)
Maria Gorokhovskaya won seven medals at the 1952 Helsinki Games for the Soviet Union.  She won a silver medal in a team event using a hoop that was a  forerunner to modern rhythmic gymnastics.

13] Oldest Gymnastics Female Gold Medallist
Agne Kelleti of Hungary was 35 years and 332 days old when she won medals on floor, balance beam and uneven bars in 1956

14] What country fielded 1996 Olympic women's teams that won gold in basketball, soccer and softball?
A:  The U.S.

15] which game was allowed to play in Olympics from 1900 - 1920 only. Later on it was removed from Olympics

Tug of war

16] what is the size of Beijing  Olympic medals

 70mm in diameter and 6mm in thickness.

 

gem stones

»   Most gemstones contain several elements. Except the diamond – it's all carbon.

»   Most landfilled trash retains its original weight, volume, and form for 40 years.

»   Most plant pollen is highly inflammable. It will ignite and explode when placed on an extremely hot surface. In the early days of modern theater, artificial lightning was produced by throwing pollen grains of the club moss onto a hot shovel.

»   The highest ordinary type cloud is the cirrus, which occurs at an average altitude of 27,000 feet.

»   The highest rating given a top quality diamond is D-flawless.

»   The highest temperature ever recorded on Earth was 136º Fahrenheit on September 13, 1992, in Azizia, Libya.

»   Most precious gems are actually colorless. Their color comes form impurities in the stone than act as pigmenting agents.

»   The highest tides in the world are in the Bay of Fundy in southeastern Canada. Tides have reached 70 feet at the head of this bay.

nature facts

»   More than 71 million gallons of water pass over Victoria Falls in Africa every minute.

»   The greatest snowfall in the world belongs to Mount Rainer in Washington, for the 1971-1972 season. During that time it accumulated 1,224 inches of snow.

»   More than 75 million people are estimated to have been killed by earthquakes in the history of our planet.

»   The Gulf Stream travels 111 miles across the Atlantic Ocean each day.

»   Morning glory seeds are poisonous, and can be fatal if eaten in large amounts.

»   The guppy gets its name from the man who discovered it and presented specimens to the British Museum, naturalist R. J. L. Guppy of Trinidad.

»   Most dangerous of all avalanches, snow avalanches occur about a million times a year.

»   The heaviest hailstones on record, weighing 2¼ pounds, are reported to have killed 92 people in the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh on April 14, 1986.

cashew,aluminium,tree

Living as long as 40 years, cashew trees can grow up to 50 feet tall. Surprisingly, though, one entire tree only produces around 10 pounds of edible cashews a year, which is why cashews are so costly.

»   The fiber of the stinging nettle was used to make the fine linen sheets upon which Mary, Queen of Scots, slept.

»   Living creatures create tiny weather systems called microclimates in their nests and burrows. For instance, bees fan their wings at the hive entrance during hot weather. This makes a cooling draft blow through the hive.

»   The first hurricane given a male name was "Bob," in July 1979.

»   Long before it was used as a "kiss encourager" during the Christmas season, mistletoe had long been considered to have magic powers by Celtic and Teutonic peoples. It was said to have the ability to heal wounds and increase fertility. Celts hung mistletoe in their homes in order to bring themselves good luck and ward off evil spirits.

»   The first known item made from aluminum was a rattle – made for Napoleon III in the 1850s. Napoleon also provided his most honored guests with knives and forks made of pure aluminum. At the time, the newly discovered metal was so rare, it was considered more valuable than gold.

»   Many parts of a tree can die without killing the whole tree. In fact, much of a normal, healthy tree is dead — the wood in the center, for example.

»   The flower of the Calla lily is 8 feet high and 12 feet wide. It is grown in Sumatra.

Lightning

»   Lightning puts 10 million tons of nitrogen into the Earth each year.

»   Lightning strikes the Earth 1,800 times at any moment.

»   Lightning strikes the earth somewhere more than 17 million times every day, or about 200 times every second.

»   The EPA says that gas-powered lawn mowers contribute to 7 percent of the ozone pollution in the United States.

»   The Eternal God is a redwood tree in California that is believed to be 12,000 years old. That makes the tree four times older than the great pyramids in Egypt. Located in the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, the Eternal is 238 feet tall and 19.6 feet in diameter.

»   The fastest jet stream seen was found to be traveling at a speed of 408 miles per hour at height of 154,200 feet above South Uist, Outer Hebrides, Scotland.

»   Lightning travels 90,000 miles a second – almost half the speed of light.

»   The fastest temperature change on record is a rise of 49° F in two minutes, from -4° to 45° F. This occurred in Spearfish, South Dakota, January 1943, between 7:30 and 7:32 a.m.

TRIVIA GEN

»   It takes about five years for an oyster to produce a medium-sized pearl.

»   It takes about nine minutes for a snowflake to fall to Earth from a height of 1,000 feet.

»   It takes more than a million begonia seeds to weigh an ounce, which accounts for the seeds being so costly.

»   It takes more than two tons of South African rock to produce less than an ounce of gold.

»   It takes nearly two million flowers to create one pound of jasmine.

»   It's been estimated that 700 grocery bags can be made from one average-sized 20-year-old tree.

»   Ivy has long been identified with immortality. Because it's always green and clings tenaciously to life, it is often used as a symbol of eternal life in Christian art.

»   Katharine Lee Bates wrote the words to the classic American anthem "America The Beautiful" after her trip to the summit of Pikes Peak in 1893.

Insect Trivia

Insect Trivia Facts and more.

Insect trivia facts. Most people would consider the largest insect to be the bulkiest, in this case the  Acteon Beetle (Megasoma acteon) from South America the males of which can be 9cms long by 5cms wide by 4cms thick Insect trivia and facts.
A one-day old baby cockroach, about the size of a spec of dust, can run almost as fast as its parents. 
More human deaths have been attributed to fleas than all the wars ever fought. As carriers of the bubonic plague, fleas were responsible for killing one-third of the population of Europe in the 14th century. 
Bees must collect the nectar from two thousand flowers to make one tablespoonful of honey.
A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours. 
Ants cannot chew their food, they move their jaws sideways, like scissors, to obtain the juices from the food.
There are more beetles than any other kind of creature in the world.
Crickets hear through their knees. 
Most spiders belong to the orb weaver spider family, Family Aranidae. This is pronounced "A Rainy Day."
It is a misdemeanor to kill or threaten a butterfly -- so says City Ordinance No. 352 in Pacific Grove, California.
A flea expert is a pullicologist. 
Dragonflies are one of the fastest insects, flying 50 to 60 mph.
The Madagascan Hissing Cockroach is one of the few insects who give birth to live young, rather than laying eggs.
In its entire lifetime, the average worker bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey.
Tapeworms range in size from about 0.04 inch to more than 50 feet in length.
Megaphragma caribea from Guadeloupe, measuring out at a huge 0.17 mm long, is now probably the smallest known insect in the world.
Scientist have recorded the otherwise inconspicuous Springtails at densities as high 100,000,000 per square meter in the ordinary farm soil of Iowa U.S.A.
In Africa swarms of Orthoptera ( Desert Locusts Schistocerca gregaria) may contain as many as 28,000,000,000 individuals.
The highest sustained ground speed recorded is that of the black cutworm (Agrotis ipsilon) which flies at speeds of between 97 and 113 km/h (60-70 mph)
The dehydrated larvae of the African chironomid Polypedilum vanderplanki were able to withstand exposure to liquid helium (-270 C) for up to 5 min. with a 100% survival rate
The "long-tailed" South African Scorpion (Hadogenes troglodytes) reaches a length of over 8 inches, and is probably the longest scorpion in the world.
The average scorpion probably lives three to five years, but some species undoubtedly live at least 10-15 years.
The world's largest roach (which lives in South America) is six inches long with a one-foot wingspan.
A cockroach can live a week without its head. The roach only dies because without a mouth, it can't drink water and dies of thirst.
Roaches can live without food for a month, but will only survive a week without water.
The House Fly is often a carrier of diseases, such as typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, and anthrax.
The complete life-cycle of a house fly takes from 10 to 21 days

Fun world trivia

Fun world trivia questions and facts with answers.
What was an official language in 87 nations and territories, by 1994?
A: English.
What's the third-largest continent in square miles?
A: North America.
What is the capital of Kuwait?
A: Kuwait City. World trivia questions.
"What town name did residents of a Florida retirement community switch to because they found Sunset Depressing?
A: Sunrise.
What's the second most populous continent?
A: Europe.
What finally went out of fashion in ancient Rome, prompting people to begin wearing short pants called feminalia?
A: The Toga.
What southwestern U.S. state has the highest percentage of non-English speakers?
A: New Mexico.
What M-word did Texas citizens choose as a town name that would "attract" folks?
A: Magnet.
What state leads the U.S. with 15 tons of solid waste per citizen each year?
A: California.
Which is further from the equator, Tasmania, Tanzania, or Transylvania?
A: Transylvania.
What eastern town is home for a service academy and the U.S. Sliver Depository?
A: West Point.
What's the University of Paris more commonly called?
A: The Sorbonne.
What two French cities are connected by the planet's fastest passenger train?
A: Paris and Lyons.
What religion has the most adherent, Buddhism, Christianity or Islam?
A; Christianity.
What U.S. state boasts a town called Captain Cook?
A: Hawaii.
What's the Greek name for hell?
A: Hades.
What European country does Aruba maintain the strongest ties to?
A: The Netherlands.
What do the Chinese call kwai-tsze, or "quick little fellows"?
A: Chopsticks.
What European country uses its Latin name, Helvetia, on its stamps?
A: Switzerland.
What British university boasts and endowment called the Jackie Mason Lectureship in Contemporary Judaism?
A: Oxford.
What country did Greek historian Herodotus dub "the gift of the Nile"?
A: Egypt.
What country is only bordered by Spain?
A: Portugal.
What's the flattest U.S. state?
A: Florida.
What U.S. state, after much debate, made the bizcochito the official state cookie?
A: New Mexico.
What Australian city boasts the largest Greek population in the world outside of Greece?
A: Melbourne.
What U.S. state boasts the towns of Gulf Stream, Lakebreeze and Frostproof?
A: Florida.
What country has bee the planet's largest aid donor since 1991?
A: Japan.
What island nation is a must for anyone wishing to see 40 species of lemours?
A: Madagascar.
What country is almost twice as large as either the U.S. or China?
A: Russia.
What South Asian city is the planet's biggest feature film producer?
A: Bombay.
How many Great Lakes do not border Michigan?
A: One.
What cowboy tune is the official song of Kansas?
A: Home on the Range.
What continent boasts the most telephone lines?
A: Europe.
What do Texas beef partisans call "wool on a stick"?
A: Lamb.
What South American country was home to the early human 'Patagnian giants"?
A: Argentina.
What Western Hemisphere people spoke Nahuatl?
A: The Aztecs.
What New Orleans soup has a name derived from the Bantu word for okra?
A: Gumbo.
What Pacific atoll got its name from its location between the Americas and Asia?
A: The Midway Islands.
What state volunteered to drop the moniker Hog and Hominy State?
A: Tennessee.
What regional accent did Americans deem sexiest, most liked and most recognizable?
A: Southern.
What interstate highway connects Boston and Seattle?
A: I-90

Food trivia

Food trivia questions and answers.
What milk product did the U.S. Agriculture Department  propose as a substitute for meat in school lunches, in 1996?
A: Yogurt.
What breakfast cereal was Sonny the Cuckoo Bird "cuckoo for"?
A: Cocoa Puffs.
Why was the Animal Crackers box designed with a string handle?
A: The animal shaped cookie treats were introduced in 1902 as a Christmas novelty, and packaged so they would be hung from the Christmas trees.
On what vegetable did an ancient Egyptian place his right hand when taking an oath?
A: The onion.  Its round shape symbolized eternity.
How many flowers are in the design stamped on each side of an Oreo cookie?
A: Twelve. Each as four petals.
Black-eyed peas are not peas.  What are they?
A: Beans
What European nation consumes more spicy Mexican food than any other?
A: Norway   Food trivia questions and answers.
What part of the banana is used to make banana oil?
A: No part.  Banana oil, a synthetic compound made with amyl alcohol, is named for its banana-like aroma.  
Under what name did the Domino's Pizza chain get its start?
A: DomNick's
What was margarine called when it was first marketed in England?
A: Butterine
What are the two top selling spices in the world?
A: Pepper is 1st and mustard is second.
What was the name of Cheerios when it was first marketed 50 years ago?
A: Cheerioats
What flaver of ice cream did Baskin-Robbins introduce to commemorate Americ's landing on the moon on July 20, 1969?
A: Lunar Cheescake
What is the most widely eaten fish in the world?
A: The Herring
What is the name of the evergeen shrub from which we get capers?
A: The caper bush.
What fruits were crossed to produce the nectarine?
A: None.  The nectarine is a smooth skinned variety of the peach.
What animals milk is used to make authentic Italian mozzarella cheese?
A: The water buffalo's.
What nation produces two thirds of the world's vanilla?
A: Madagascar.
Why did candy maker Milton S. Hershey switch from making caramels to chocolate bars in 1903?
A: Caramels didn't retain the imprint of his name in summertime, chocolate did.
What was the drink we know as the Bloody Mary originally called?
A: The Red Snapper, which was its name when it crossed the Atlantic from Harry's New York Bar in Paris.
What was the first commercially manufactured breakfast cereal?
A: Shredded Wheat.
When Birdseye introduced the first frozen food in 1930, what did the company call it?
A: Frosted Food.  Company officials feared the word frozen would suggest flesh burns.  The name was changed to frozen soon after.
What American city produces most of the egg rolls sold in grocery stores in the United States?
A: Houston, Texas.
What was the first of H.J. Heinz' "57 varieties"?
A: Horseradish, marketed in 1869
What is the literal meaning of the Italian word linguine?
A: Little tongues.

Where did the pineapple plant originate?
A: In South America. It didn't reach Hawaii until the early nineteenth century.
What recipe, first published 50 years ago, has been requested most frequently through the years by the readers of  "Better Homes and Garden"?
A: The recipe for hamburger pie, which has been updated and republished a number of times over the years.
What is the only essential vitamin not found in the white potato?
A: Vitamin A

Fish trivia

Fish trivia  
A baby dolphin can swim and keep up with adults an hour after it’s born.
The common goldfish is the only animal that can see both infra-red and ultra-violet light.
.The Mola Mola, or Ocean Sunfish, lays up to 5,000,000 eggs at one time.
It takes a lobster approximately seven years to grow to be one pound.
Ninety-nine percent of all lobsters die a few weeks after hatching. In fact, the odds are 10,000 to 1 against any larval lobster living long enough to end up as a lobster dinner.
A dolphin's hearing is so acute that it can pick up an underwater sound from fifteen miles away.  
A group of whales is called a pod.  Free fish trivia facts.
The embryos of tiger sharks fight each other while in their mother's womb, the survivor being the baby shark that is born.
The eye of the giant squid is fifteen inches in diameter -- the size of a basketball.
The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
A baby eel is called an elver, a baby oyster is called a spat.
It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of it's mouth. Then the frog uses it's forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
Starfish don't have brains.
Shrimps' hearts are in their heads.
Shrimp can only swim backwards.
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
Scientists found a whole new phylum of animal on a lobster's lip.
The only way to stop the pain of the sting of the flathead fish is by rubbing the slime of the belly of the same fish that you were stung by on the wound that it inflicted upon you.
Only one in one thousand animals born in the sea survives to maturity
Female orcas live twice as long as male orcas. The larger numbers of female orcas in a pod are because of the female's longer lifespan, not because the males have collected a harem.
Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
Octopi have gardens.
A type of jellyfish found off the coast of England is the longest animal in the world.
A whale's penis is called a dork.
A barnacle has the largest penis of any other animal in the world in relation to its size.
One way to tell seals and sea lions apart is that, sea lions have external ears and testicles.
The sea wasp is half an inch long at best and more poisonous than any other jellyfish known to man.
The difference between male and female blue crabs is the design located on their apron (belly.) The male blue crab has the Washington Monument while the female apron is shaped like the U.S. Capitol.
The pupil of an octupus' eye is rectangular.
A father sea catfish keeps the eggs of his young in his mouth until they are ready to hatch. He will not eat until his young are born, which may take several weeks.

animal trivia

Farm animal trivia facts.
The first bird domesticated by man was the goose.
There are more chickens in the world than people.
Chickens absorb vitamin-D through their combs from sunshine.
The average hen will lay 227 eggs a year
Roosters can't crow if they can't fully extend their necks.
A group of geese on the ground is gaggle, a group of geese in the air is skein.
A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
Chickens that lay brown eggs have red ear lobes. There is a genetic link between the two.
The underside of a horse's hoof is called a frog. The frog peels off several times a year with new growth.
The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times.
It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs, because a cows' knees can't bend properly to walk back down.
A female swine, or a sow, will always have a even number of teats or nipples, usually twelve.
Twelve or more cows are known as a "flink."
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
A Holstein's spots are like fingerprints -- no two cows have the same pattern of spots.
A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
A pig's penis is shaped like a corkscrew.
It is physically impossible for pigs to lookup into the sky.
A pig's skin is thickest at the back -- 1/6 of an inch.
The "wild" horses of western North America are actually feral, not wild.
Over the average lifespan of 11 years, a dog will cost you $13,350.00.
When a female horse and male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny.
The way to get more mules is to mate a male donkey with a female horse.
A donkey will sink in quicksand but a mule won't.
Pigs, walruses and light-colored horses can be sunburned.
Today's cattle are descended from two species: wild aurochs -- fierce and agile herd animals that populated Asia, North Africa and Europe -- and eotragus -- anantelope-like, Asian forest creature.
Horses cannot vomit.
Goat's eyes have rectangular pupils.
A 1,200-pound horse eats about seven times it's own weight each year.
A capon is a castrated rooster.
A Cornish game hen is really a young chicken, usually 5 to 6 weeks of age, that weighs no more than 2 pounds.
A cow gives nearly 200,000 glasses of milk in her lifetime.
A Holstein's spots are like a fingerprint or snowflake. No two cows have exactly the same pattern of spots.
A normal cow's stomach has four compartments: the rumen, the recticulum (storage area), the omasum (where water is absorbed), and the abomasum ( the only compartment with digestive juices).
A quarter of the horses in the US died of a vast virus epidemic in 1872.
Brown eggs come from hens with red feathers and red ear lobes; white eggs come from hens with white feathers and white ear lobes. Shell color is determined by the breed of hen and has no effect on its quality, nutrients or flavor.
By feeding hens certain dyes they can be made to lay eggs with varicolored yolks.
Elephants can communicate using sounds that are below the human hearing range: between 14 and 35 hertz.
Female chickens, or hens, need about 24 to 26 hours to produce one egg. Thirty minutes later they start the process all over again. In addition to the half-hour rests, some hens rest every three to five days and others rest every 10 days.
Hummingbirds are the smallest birds - so tiny that one of their enemies is an insect, the praying mantis.
In its entire lifetime, the average worker bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey.
On average, pigs live for about 15 years.
Pigs, walruses and light-colored horses can be sunburned.

Prairie dogs are not dogs. A prairie dog is a kind of rodent.