460 facts
Their invention used a special computer chip to read paper tapes from road sensors and turn the data into reports. This project taught them how to combine hardware and software, wh...
Every year, the Moon moves about 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) further into space. This happens because Earth's ocean tides give the Moon a tiny gravitational push, sending it into...
Standing 6 feet 4 inches tall, Lincoln used his long arms and legs to pin opponents easily. He was so good at the sport that he is now in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Their legs are built like heavy pillars to support their massive weight. Because their ankle bones are not bouncy, they can't spring off the ground like other animals.
Gold is a 'noble metal' that does not react with your digestive system. It passes right through your body without being absorbed or changing at all.
This simple one-to-one ratio made the recipe easy to remember hundreds of years ago. Because it used four pounds of ingredients, the finished cake was huge and very heavy.
Their wings move in a figure-eight pattern instead of just flapping up and down. This special movement lets them stay perfectly still in the air or zip in any direction they want.
Most muscles pull on bones to move your body, but the tongue moves by changing its own shape. This unique design lets it twist and turn with amazing speed so you can talk and eat.
Annie Edson Taylor wanted to get rich, so she built a special barrel padded with pillows. She survived the 167-foot drop with only a tiny scratch on her head.
The Equator and the Prime Meridian both cut right through Africa. This means parts of the continent are in the North, South, East, and West all at the same time.
This spooky name comes from old stories where people believed crows would gather to put each other on trial. In reality, crows are just very social birds that hang out together to...
Everything else—including Earth, all the other planets, moons, and asteroids—makes up less than 1% of the total weight. Because the Sun is so massive, its gravity is strong enough...
Sound moves by bumping molecules into each other. Since water molecules are packed much tighter than air molecules, the sound waves can zip along much more quickly.
Tiny insects called cochineals produce a bright red chemical to protect themselves from predators. Farmers harvest these bugs from cactus plants and grind them up to create a natur...
While your bones stop growing after you're a teenager, the cartilage in your ears and nose keeps changing. Over time, the skin loses its stretchiness and gravity pulls these parts...
Cows form very close bonds with specific members of their herd. When a cow is near her best friend, her heart rate drops and she feels less stressed.
The wall is very thin and made of materials that match the colors of the mountains around it. From hundreds of miles up, it blends right into the landscape like a piece of thread o...
Inventor Douglas Engelbart built it in 1964 using a hand-carved wooden shell and two metal wheels. It got its name because the wire coming out of the back looked like a mouse's tai...
Fleas use a special protein called resilin that acts like a powerful rubber band. They squash this protein down to store energy and then snap it open to launch themselves into the...
Giant sheets of ice once covered the land and carved deep holes into the ground. When the ice melted, these holes filled with water to create millions of lakes.
Scientists used to think we could only smell 10,000 scents, but new tests show our noses are much more powerful. We have hundreds of tiny sensors that work together to identify alm...
Venus spins so slowly that it finishes a full trip around the Sun before it even finishes one rotation. It takes about 243 Earth days to spin once, but only 225 Earth days to orbit...
When a panda cub is born, it weighs only about as much as a stick of butter. These tiny babies are born pink, blind, and hairless, so they need their moms to cuddle and protect the...
This means bamboo can grow about 1.5 inches every single hour. It grows so fast because it expands from every joint at the same time, much like a telescoping antenna stretching out...
People thought he was short because of a mix-up between French and British measuring systems. He also chose giant soldiers as his bodyguards, which made him look small when they st...
While many people think college students gain 15 pounds from cafeteria food and stress, it is usually much less. In fact, one out of every four students actually loses weight becau...
The mom seahorse puts her eggs into a special pouch on the dad's belly. He keeps them safe and feeds them through his own body until they are ready to swim out. It is like the dad...
Many people think old windows are thicker at the bottom because the glass melted downward over time. In reality, glass is so stiff that it would take trillions of years to move eve...
Cockroaches don't breathe through their mouths. Instead, they use tiny holes all over their bodies to pull in air. They only die because they can't drink water without a head, so t...
When a blue whale eats, it gulps a huge mouthful of water and tiny shrimp. Its massive tongue acts like a giant pump to push all that water out so it can swallow the food. It is th...
It began as a giant outdoor meeting where people gathered to settle arguments and create rules for everyone to follow. This happened hundreds of years before most countries even th...
This giant salt lake is so low that its shores are 1,411 feet below the level of the ocean. Because it is in a super hot desert with no way for water to flow out, the water evapora...
While your bones stop growing after your teenage years, the cartilage in your ears keeps expanding. Over time, gravity pulls on your ears and the skin loses its snap, making them s...
Shrimp don't have a chest like humans do, so their heart, stomach, and brain are all tucked away in their head. This keeps their most important organs safe under one thick, protect...
Your heart pumps blood through a massive network of tubes that is 60,000 miles long. In just one minute, a tiny blood cell visits your lungs for oxygen, drops it off at your toes o...
While most planets spin counter-clockwise, Venus turns clockwise. It spins so slowly that one single day on Venus actually lasts longer than a whole Venusian year! Scientists think...
One-quarter of an apple's volume is actually just air trapped inside its flesh. These tiny air pockets act like millions of microscopic life jackets that keep the fruit bobbing on...
Two hearts pump blood to the gills, while the third heart sends it to the rest of the body. Their blood is blue because it uses copper instead of iron to carry oxygen. This special...
While we think of turkeys as a holiday dinner, the Maya believed they were magical messengers from the spirit world. They even gave turkeys special roles in religious ceremonies to...
It is like calling your ABCs the 'AB.' Many languages name their writing systems after the very first letters you learn. The Greeks did this over 2,500 years ago, and we still use...
There are 118 elements on the periodic table, and not a single one uses the letter J in its symbol. Most elements get their names from Greek or Latin words, and those ancient langu...
These birds are famous for their bright pink feathers and love of hanging out in huge crowds. The name comes from a word that means flame because a big group looks like a flickerin...
Since the Moon has no air or water, there is no wind to move dust and no rain to wash things away. The footprints just sit there in the silence, looking exactly like they did when...
When it gets dry, this desert plant curls into a tight brown ball and waits. As soon as it touches water, it unfolds and turns green again! It uses a special type of sugar to keep...
This giant plant grows a massive flower tower that can reach 30 feet tall, which is as high as a three-story building! It produces up to 30,000 flowers at once to make sure its see...
The plant waits for two touches on its tiny hairs before snapping shut. It even waits for five touches before it starts digesting its meal to make sure it caught something worth ea...
This giant flower is called the Rafflesia. It has no leaves, stems, or roots and lives like a parasite inside grapevines until it's ready to pop out and bloom. It smells so bad tha...
This plant is called Wolffia and it is about the size of a single grain of salt. It has no roots or leaves and just looks like a tiny green speck floating on the water.
This plant, also called the Mimosa pudica, acts like it is shy or scared. It uses a super-fast water trick to collapse its leaves so it looks wilted and unappetizing to hungry anim...
These two leaves never stop growing from the base of the plant. Over hundreds of years, the desert wind shreds them into long strips, making the plant look like a giant pile of tan...