Lightning is five times hotter than the surface of the sun
A lightning bolt can heat the air around it to 50,000°F—five times hotter than the sun's visible surface.
Science
19 facts
A Day On Venus Is Longer Than Its Year
Venus rotates so slowly that a single day on the planet lasts longer than its entire year. A sidereal day on Venus takes 243 Earth days,…
Eucalyptus Trees Are So Oily They Can Explode During Bushfires
Eucalyptus trees are packed with highly flammable volatile oils that evaporate in hot weather, forming a blue haze around the treetops and…
Plants Navigate Toward Light Using Air Pockets Between Their Cells as Lenses
Plants have no eyes, yet they can precisely determine the direction light is coming from. A 2024 study found they do it by using air…
People Worldwide Instinctively Link Nonsense Sounds to Shapes They've Never Seen
Across 25 languages and 10 different writing systems, about 72 percent of people associate the nonsense word "bouba" with a round, blobby…
Diamonds Rain Down Through the Atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn
Scientists have calculated that diamonds literally rain down through the deep atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn. Lightning storms in these…
A Teaspoon of Neutron Star Material Would Weigh as Much as Mount Everest
Neutron stars are the densest objects in the universe besides black holes. A single teaspoon of neutron star material would weigh…
DNA was not recognized as genetic material until 1952
Although DNA was discovered in 1869, it was not accepted as hereditary molecule until Hershey and Chase's 1952 experiments definitively…
Sound travels through solids faster than through air
Sound travels much faster through solid materials than through air because molecular density affects wave propagation. In steel, sound…
The sun loses four million tons of mass every second
The Sun converts 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium per second through nuclear fusion. This results in mass loss of about 4 million…
Neutron stars are so dense a teaspoon would weigh billions of tons
Neutron stars have such extreme density that a teaspoon of material would weigh approximately 5 billion tons on Earth. They are the…
Diamonds are not the hardest natural substance
While diamonds rank 10 on the Mohs scale, aggregated diamond nanorods created in laboratories are theoretically harder.
Glass is technically a liquid not a solid
Glass, while appearing solid, is technically a supercooled liquid or amorphous solid. Its molecular structure lacks the crystalline lattice…
Flowers use ultraviolet patterns to attract pollinators
Many flowers display ultraviolet patterns invisible to humans but highly visible to insects and birds. These UV 'nectar guides' direct…
The Pesticide That Nearly Silenced Spring Forever
DDT was hailed as a wonder chemical that saved soldiers from malaria, but it turned out to be an ecological nightmare that nearly wiped out…
CFCs Can Live in the Atmosphere for 140 Years
The refrigerant chemicals invented to replace toxic ammonia turned out to be super greenhouse gases that destroy the ozone layer and linger…
Neonicotinoid Pesticides Are Wiping Out Bee Populations
The most widely used insecticides in the world are killing bees and other pollinators essential for one-third of the worlds food supply.
Microbeads in Face Wash Are Filling the Oceans with Plastic
Tiny plastic beads added to cosmetics and toothpaste pass through water treatment systems and accumulate in waterways, entering the food…