Electric speed
Up until 1902, every fastest car in the world was electric.
European rainforest
The largest national park in the European Union is in South America.
Cat-in-chief
Who rules the cats of England? Since at least the 1920s, 10 Downing Street has had an official cat: the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office.
Worst tank
In World War II, New Zealand wanted a tank, but none of their allies had any to spare. So they made their own, with a tractor, corrugated iron, a mattress, and a postcard.
Creeper vs. reaper
The first computer programme to replicate itself over the proto-Internet was made in 1971. And the second one was made to destroy it.
Largest number
What’s the largest number? If you said the googolplex, you’re off… by a lot. A lot.
Underwater unknown
A strange honeycomb pattern appears on sea ridges around the world. We think that it is created by living creatures, but no-one has ever seen one. Oh, and there are fossils of the patterns going back 500 million years.
Glacier death
The glacier Okjökull in Iceland died in 2014.
Plastic-eating bacteria
In 2016, Japanese scientists discovered a new and unique type of bacteria outside a recycling factory in Sakai. It can eat plastic.
Tractor beaming
The idea of the tractor beam first appeared in fiction in 1931. Since then, scientists have worked to make it a reality… and they’ve actually had some success.
Saltiest ponds
We’ve all heard of the Dead Sea, so salty that people naturally float in it. But the Gaet’ale Pond in Ethiopia is saltier, and the Don Juan Pond in Antarctica is so salty that it doesn’t freeze, even at -50°C.
Oldest winery and shoe
The Areni-1 cave in southern Armenia is the site of the oldest shoe, and also the oldest winery, in the world.
Two-year Mediterranean
Around five million years ago, the Strait of Gibraltar closed and the Mediterranean dried up. When it reopened, the sea refilled in less than two years.
Largest kitchen
Jagannath, the deity from whom we get the word juggernaut, receives offerings of food from the world’s largest kitchen.
Prospecting plants
You can search for gold the easy way, with a pan or a pickaxe. Or you could examine the local Eucalyptus trees. This is geobotanical and biogeochemical prospecting.
