45 Amazing Facts About . . .Earth

45 Amazing Facts About . . .

Earth

1. Earth can be seen as a living, breathing organism: it regulates temperature, burns energy, continually renews its skin, and experiences changes to its face as it ages with time.^b
2. Researchers in the the field of astrobiology have found that Earth’s current conditions are temporary and that Earth’s stable climate is an anomaly that will end in the next billion years.^j
3. Under the oceans, there are the earth’s largest mountain ranges that circle the planet like the stitching on a baseball.^j
4. More than 80% of the Earth’s surface is volcanic.^e
5. Holes drilled as deep as 5 miles into the Earth’s reveal that the rock temperature increases about 37 degrees Fahrenheit per 320 feet. Even on the deepest sea floor, rock remains slightly above freezing.^h
6. A belief of some Native Americans was that the earth is supported by a giant tortoise, which made the earth tremble each time it took a step.^f

Earth and the planet Theia were twin planets sharing an orbit until they collided and Earth absorbed Theia

7. Earth was originally born as a twin to the planet Theia, which was about half as wide as Earth and roughly the size of Mars. The two planets shared an orbit for several million years until they collided. Earth absorbed Theia, and the remaining debris eventually coagulated into Earth’s moon. The mass donated by Theia gave Earth the gravity necessary to sustain a substantial atmosphere.ⁱ
8. The theory of Pangaea states that all of Earth’s current continents were originally a single supercontinent that existed some 200 million years ago during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. The northern part of the supercontinent, North America and Eurasia, was called Laurasia—and Gondwana, the southern part, was made up of Australia, South America, Africa, Antartica, and India. India later broke away and moved north to join Asia.^g
9. Pangaea was not the beginning position of the land on Earth, but one of as many as six lost worlds that have come and gone. Pangea was preceded by Pannotia about 550-650 million years ago and by Rhodinia around 1.8 billion years ago. Before them, at intervals of roughly 500 million years, Nuna, Kenorland, and Ur existed and then broke up.ⁱ
10. Pangea broke up starting along the line that would become the mid-Atlantic ridge when the existing fracture at the southern end of South America/Africa widened and opened the rift like a zipper. As these new continents moved apart, they pushed and folded up the Earth’s crust and created great mountain ranges.^h
11. The Earth’s plates move just a few inches a year—about as fast as a person’s fingernails grow.^h This continental pattern predicts that 250 million years from now, a new supercontinent will be born.ⁱ
12. The beginning of the Industrial Revolution marked the beginning of humanity's affecting Earth’s environment by producing enough carbon dioxide to affect the atmosphere's global balance and chemical composition.ⁱ
13. If a person extends his or her arm and index finger completely, the beginning of Earth is represented by the end of the nose and the present is the fingertip. Passing a file over the fingernail once would erase all of human history.^j
14. The metaphor of rock being like Earth’s blood works because Earth’s levels of air and water are kept in balance by rock’s continuous circulation.j
15. The amount of carbon dioxide in water and atmosphere and the amount of solar energy the planet receives are two factors that control the destiny of life on Earth and the planet itself.^j
16. Too much of the greenhouse effect is detrimental to human life—but without some greenhouse effect, Earth’s global temperature would be 0 degrees Fahrenheit (-18 degrees Celsius) rather than 59 degrees F (15 degrees C).ⁱ

The Amazon rainforest is home to one third of Earth’s land species

17. Earth’s Amazon rainforest is home to one third of the planet’s land species, illustrating Earth’s ability to sustain itself within a concentrated area.ⁱ
18. Strong evidence suggests that the universe began with the Big Bang about 13 billion years ago, and two thirds of its history passed before our own solar system was formed. During this time, stars evolved and died, supplementing the basic hydrogen, helium, and trace of lithium that the universe began with and providing more complex atoms such as carbon, oxygen, silicon, magnesium, and nitrogen. The way Earth was formed allows for its many unique traits that have developed and will develop during its life.^j
19. Earth, which can be viewed as a metal ball coated with rock, hurtles through space at 66,000 miles (107,000 km) per hour.ⁱ
20. The word “planet” comes from the Greek word planetai for “wanderer.”^a
21. Earth began as sticky dust which clumped, like snowflakes, into a planetesimal, or a body that is about a half mile in diameter.ⁱ
22. Earth is made up of hydrogen gas, stardust, and gravity. The gas and dust floating in space were drawn together by gravity and they formed into a spinning disc. As this disc collided with and absorbed rock bodies, the Earth formed. Astronomers believe the formation of Earth was relatively quick.^j
23. Orbiting debris smashed into the newly formed Earth, and gravity and radioactive processes heated its interior to nearly 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. A solid inner core formed as iron and nickel were absorbed into the center. This inner core was surrounded by a molten outer core, and then less dense silicates formed the mantle and crust.^h
24. The name “Earth” comes from Old English and Old High Germanic words (eorthe and erda, respectively) for “ground” or “soil,” and it is the only name for a planet of the solar system that does not come from Greco-Roman mythology.^d
25. One half to three quarters of Earth’s mass is made up of matter that would have made separate planets if not for Earth’s cannibalism.ⁱ
26. Earth is called a terrestrial planet because it is made almost entirely of rock and metal. Because Earth formed inside the snow line—meaning it was close enough to the sun that water, carbon, and nitrogen were all in a gaseous state—the elements so essential to supporting life had to be supplied in some other way. They were carried to the Earth by dirty snowballs—asteroids that retained water in hydrated minerals. Later those hydrated minerals were heated and the trapped water was released.^j
27. The Earth had the energy to release trapped water from the energy supplied by the collisions that had delivered the minerals in the first place.^j

Without the gravitational pull of the moon, Earth would not be habitable

28. The birth of Earth’s moon is singularly important because it stabilizes Earth’s tilt. Without the moon, Earth would still have wild changes in climate and be uninhabitable. The stabilizing tug of the moon tempers Earth, resulting in the minor tip that causes summer and winter seasons.ⁱ
29. To put the size of each of these bodies in perspective, think of the Earth’s moon as a tennis ball and Earth as the size as a basketball. The sun’s diameter is about 109 times greater than Earth’s, whereas Earth is just about four times larger in diameter than the moon.^c
30. The great impacts that gave Earth its mass had the potential to blow away the fragile atmosphere that was forming and turn the oceans into steam. Despite these threats, Earth went through a normal birthing process for a habitable planet.^j
31. Had Earth formed in a more gentle way, the result would have been a cold and dead planet, because the energy of the falling bodies would have been small enough that the bodies would bounce back into space.^j
32. Because Earth was hit by huge, hurtling chunks of rock and ice, they cratered so deeply into the interior of the planet that their heat, water, and future atmospheric gases were anchored there and retained by gravity. Earth’s ocean of magma was created by bodies crashing into the planet a bit later in its development.^j
33. Within 10 million years of Earth’s birth, its average interior temperature was hot enough to melt virtually the entire planet, which caused the core to sink to the middle of the planet and left the mantle a bubbling, viscous layer.ⁱ
34. The great heat of Earth’s core and magma ensured that Earth would have an atmosphere and oceans. It also created plate tectonics, which meant its oceans would be partitioned by dry land. Heat and pressure began creating rock lighter than the ocean floor that would eventually emerge as floating continents.^j
35. Earth’s unique mix of land and ocean makes the Earth relatively stable by cycling carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide cycling moderates temperature swings that would otherwise occur.^j
36. Earth’s greatest source of heat, besides the sun, is its interior, which conducts a hundred billion billion calories of energy to the surface each year—or 1.5 microcalories per .155 square inch of the earth’s surface each second. So much energy radiates from inside the Earth that it could satisfy all human energy needs three times over.^h
37. As the earth cooled after it had finished growing, the lithosphere—the hard, outermost layer between the mantle and the Earth’s crust—cracked like an eggshell and split into seven large and twelve small floating islands with jagged edges. These islands are the tectonic plates that move continuously over the viscous mantle, rubbing, pushing, and trying to mount one over the other.ⁱ
38. Although Earth’s plates are made of solid rock, they buckle and twist like slabs of warm clay when they collide.ⁱ
39. The Earth’s plates were divided into land masses and oceans because of the difference in the thickness and composition of the planet’s two types of crust. Continental crust, mostly composed of relatively lightweight granite, is about 18 to 30 miles thick. The much denser basalt that makes up the oceanic crust is only 5 or 6 miles thick. Because they are more buoyant, the continents “float” higher on the mantle than the ocean floors do.^h

Earth’s earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains are evidence of a living and changing planet

40. Earthquakes, volcanoes, and mountains are all formed by Earth’s moving plates.ⁱ
41. Other planets and moons in our solar system have volcanoes, but they do not have mountain ranges like Earth’s because only Earth has plate tectonics.^j
42. Plate tectonics contributed to making Earth habitable by creating volcanoes as well. The water vapor and other gases emitted by volcanoes during Earth’s early years helped to create Earth’s oceans and atmosphere.^h
43. When a tectonic plate lingers over a hot spot for a while and then moves on, a volcanic island is formed.^f
44. A hot spot is a column of basalt that punctures the earth’s crust and allows magma to escape from the interior. The movement of a tectonic plate over a hot spot forms a chain of volcanic islands, called a seamount. One well known example of a seamount is a chain of ancient volcanoes that were once over the hot spot that is now under Hawaii.^f
45. The Himalayas are examples of the movement of tectonic plates against each other.^j

FACTS ABOUT THE SUN

		The Sun is one out of billions of stars.  The Sun is the closest star to Earth.  The Sun rotates once every 27 days.  The Sun is now a middle-aged star, meaning it is at about the middle of its life.  The Sun formed over four and a half billion years ago.  You may think the Sun will die soon, but it will keep shining for at least another five billion years.       The Sun’s surface is called the photosphere.  The temperature of the photosphere is about 10,000° Fahrenheit.  Its core is under its atmosphere. The temperature at the core, or very middle, of the Sun, is about 27 million° Fahrenheit.  That’s pretty hot!       The Sun’s diameter is about 870,000 miles wide.  The Sun is 109 times wider than Earth, and is 333,000 times heavier.  That means if you put the Sun on a scale, you would need 333,000 objects that weigh as much as the Earth on the other side to make it balance.       The Sun is only one of over 100 billion stars.  In ancient times, the people believed the Sun was a burning ball of fire created by the gods.  Later, people thought it was a solid object, or a liquid ball.  Over one million Earths could fit inside the Sun.   Looking directly at the Sun can permanently damage your eyes because it is so bright.  A star mostly gives off light and heat.  The larger the star, the hotter its temperature.  A supergiant star can get to be 400 times larger than our Sun, which is almost a million miles in diameter.  The Sun is tilted.      Without the Sun, Earth could not support life.  The Sun gives off heat and light that the Earth needs to support life (us).  If you lived on the Sun, and you built a spacecraft, it would have to go over 618.2 kilometers per second to escape the Sun’s gravitational pull.  The Sun is 695,000 kilometers at its equator.  The Sun is the largest mass in our Solar System.     Sun loops are large loops caused by the Sun’s magma (molten rock) shooting off of the Sun’s surface.  These loops can fly millions of miles into space.  Our Sun is approximately 25,000 light-years from the galactic core of our galaxy (the Milky Way).  It is like a really big star.  It is a million times bigger than the biggest.     Did you know that the Sun is made out of 92% hydrogen, 7% helium and the rest is other low number gasses? The Sun’s core is the hottest part of its matter.  It is 27 billion° Fahrenheit.  The Sun does not rise or set.  It just looks like it does because the Earth is moving.  The Earth orbits the Sun every 365 space days.  Can you believe that the Sun can burn over seven million tons of natural gas every second?  A star can live for over three billion years.  If the Sun was hollow, you could fit 333,000 Earths inside!  The Sun rotates, too.  It rotates every 25-36 days.  It seems as if stars always stay in the same position night after night, year after year, but they actually do move over time.  They helped scientists to develop a reference system for charting a planet’s movement.      The moon does not give off light of its own.  It is the Sun that gives light to the Moon.  The Moon reflects the Sun’s light. A star is the only body in space that emits its own light; everything else reflects light from the closest star.  Can you believe that it is over 4.24 light-years to the nearest star?  Did you know that about 65% of all “stars” are actually double stars?  They are stars that look like one, but when viewed through a telescope, they are actually two stars.  Stars vary in sizes.  They can be as small as 7,000 miles in diameters, or as large as 900 billion miles in diameter.  Some stars change in brightness over a period of time.  They do this when the star’s temperature dramatically drops.  These stars are called Variable Stars.       A star has many different characteristics, such as their position, motion, size, mass, chemical ingredients and temperature.  No two stars are exactly alike.  The number of stars in the known Universe exceeds one billion.

                                      

    

 

79 Interesting Facts About . . .

Spain

1. Many different groups of people have settled in Spain throughout history, including Iberians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Visigoths, Celts, Basques, and the Moors (Muslims who came from North Africa).^f
2. The quill pen is thought to have originated in Spain about 1,400 years ago.^f
3. The most enduring contribution of Spain to the world is its language, which was imported to the Americas with the expansion of the Spanish Empire in the 16th century. Now, more than 400 million people speak Spanish in 22 countries, including 35 million who speak it in the United States.^a
4. Since the Pyrenees Mountains were such a significant barrier in the north, and Spain is just 9 miles from Morocco in the south, Spain shares much of its early history with Africa.^c
5. The official name of Spain is the Kingdom of Spain.^f
6. The Iberian Peninsula was one of several refuges during the last ice age, so it was largely from Spain that northern Europe was repopulated after the ice age ended.^c
7. Famous Spaniards include Seneca, Hadrian, Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz, Salvador Dalí, El Greco, Pablo Picasso, Francisco de Goya, Jose Carreras, and Plácido Domingo.^a
Spain is one of the most visited countries in the world
8. In 2006, 58 million tourists visited Spain and its islands. Foreign tourists spent $51 billion in 2006. Spain is second most visited country in the world after France.^a
9. Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (1499-1543) discovered California.^f
10. In 1603, Spanish sailor Gabriel de Castilla (1577-1620) became the first the man ever to see Antarctica.^f
11. Spanish sailor Juan Sebastián Elcano (1476-1526) was the first man to circumnavigate the world.^f
12. Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa (1475-1519) was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.^f
13. The first novel, Tirant lo Blanc (1490), was written by Spanish author Joanot Martorell (1413-1468). Translated as Tirant the White, it played an important role in the development of the Western novel.^f
14. The Phoenicians who entered Spain in the 8th century B.C. called the peninsula Span or “the hidden land.”^e
15. The official language of Spain is Castilian Spanish (74%), though Catalan (17%) Galician (7%), and Basque (2%) are also spoken.^a
16. Tomás de Torquemada (1420-1498) was the first Grand Inquisitor in the Spanish Inquisition. His name has been associated with the Inquisition’s horror, fanaticism, and bigotry. Ironically, he was a descendent of a converso, or someone who had converted to Christianly from Judaism or Islam. In 1832, his tomb was raided and his bones were stolen and burned.^f
17. During the last ice age, most of Europe was covered in glaciers, but most of Spain was far enough south to escape the ice. Consequently, plants that were wiped out across Europe survived in Spain. Europe as a whole has 9,000 plant species; there are over 8,000 plant species in Spain alone, with 2,000 of them being unique to the country.^c
18. Spanish inventor Manuel Jalón Corominas (1925-2011) invented the mop in 1956.^f
19. Spanish sailor and engineer Isaac Peral (1851-1895) designed the first fully operative military submarine.^f
20. Spanish surgeon and scientist Miguel Servet (1511-1553) was the first European to describe pulmonary circulation.^f
21. Spanish double agent Joan Pujol Garcia is perhaps the only person ever to receive an Iron Cross from both the British and the Germans. Code named Garbo, he played an important role in the success of D-Day at the end of WWII.^f
22. Spain is home to a type of tailless monkey, the macaque, which is the only type of wild monkey that lives in Europe.^a
Spain sells over 3 billion corks per year
23. Spain and Portugal provide most of the world’s cork. Cork trees flourish in the dry Meseta region in Spain.^c
24. The Moors, who ruled Spain for 800 years, introduced new scientific techniques to Europe, such as an astrolabe, a device for measuring the position of the stars and planets. At its height, Córdoba, the heart of Moorish territory in Spain, was the most modern city in Europe, with streetlights and running water.^e
25. The famous Spanish poem Cantar del mio Çid tells the story of the legendary El Cid, a Spanish hero in the war between the Christians and Moors. The poem was based on a real man, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043-1099). He actually was a mercenary who fought on both sides. His name “El Cid” comes from the Arabic al sayyid meaning “the lord.”^a
26. Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe after France and the second most mountainous after Switzerland.^c
27. In 1478, the Pope gave the Spanish King, Ferdinand V, power to initiate the Spanish Inquisition, during which people were tortured to prove they were true Christians. Thousands of converts fled Spain as the Inquisition spread fear across Europe. During the first 50 years of the Inquisition, 5,000 people were executed. The Inquisition was finally abolished in 1834.^f
28. In 1492, Ferdinand V of Aragon and Queen Isabella paid for Christopher Columbus to explore the west in search of a new route to India. Columbus landed on one of the islands of the Bahamas by mistake. His mistake made Spain one of the richest nations in the world for a time.^f
29. In 1588, the king of Spain sent 133 ships (the Armada) to England. Almost half of the ships sank in stormy weather or while fighting the British navy. It was a significant defeat for Spain and marked the beginning of the end of Spain’s global power.^e
Spain produces over 260 olive varieties
30. The largest producer of olive oil, Spain accounts for 45% of the world’s total olive oil production.^a
31. In 2012, the population of Spain was 47,042,984, making it the 27th most populous country in the world and the 5th most populous nation in Europe.^g
32. Spain is divided into 17 regions. Fifteen of the regions are on the mainland of Spain. The other two regions are island groups. The Balearic Islands lie off Spain’s eastern coast. The Canary Islands are off the western coast of Morocco.^f
33. The oldest known cave painting is found in the Cave of El Castillo in northern Spain. There researchers have found a faint red dot that is thought to be over 40,000 years old. The second-oldest known cave art is in France. The Cave of Altamira near Santander, Spain, is also known as the “Sistine Chapel” of cave painting.^f
34. The ancient Roman Aqueduct of Segovia in Spain was built in the 1st century A.D. and still supplies water to the city.^f
35. The outer castle wall of the Moorish palace Alhambra (literally “the red one”) at Granada is one of Spain’s architectural masterpieces. Alhambra was the seat of Muslim rulers from the 13th century to the end of the 15th century. The Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has inspired many stories and songs.^a
36. Philip III expelled the Moriscos (Christians of Moorish ancestry) between 1609 and 1614. The Moriscos had significantly contributed much to Spain economically. After he expelled them, his reign saw the decline of Spain as a great European power.^e
37. The estimated annual cost of desertification in Spain due to climate change and pool land use is $200 million.^a
38. The Basques in Spain were great warriors and the only people in Spain who never totally came under control of the Romans. Some Basque separatist groups are currently fighting for complete independence from Spain. The Basque region in Spain is one of most prosperous.^f
39. Muslims founded the first Spanish university at Valencia in 1209.^f
40. Enrollment at Spain’s universities more than doubled from 692,000 in 1982 to 1,540,596 in 2001.^e
41. The Moors occupied Spain for 800 years; consequently, over 4,000 Arabic words and Arabic-derived phrases have been absorbed into the Spanish language. Words beginning with “al,” for example, are derived from Arabic. The Moors were also advanced in medicine, science, and astronomy, and Arabic words such as algebra, alcohol, chemistry, nadir, alkaline, and cipher entered the language. Even words such as checkmate, influenza, typhoon, orange, and cable can be traced back to Arabic origins.^c
The reddish resin is used to stain Stradivarius violins
42. On the Canary Islands lives the dragon tree, which was once thought to be the source of dragon’s blood because its orange fruit contains a thick, red liquid. On the island of Tenerife, the oldest and tallest dragon tree reaches 70 feet high.^c
43. A common expression in Spain, Ojalá (o-ha-LAH), meaning “I hope that” or “So it may come to pass,” derives from the Muslim war cry Wa Allah. The expression Si Dios quiere (see dee-OS kee-AY=reh) is similar to the common Arabic expression Insha’Allah (EN-sha ahl-LAH). Many Spanish cities (such as those that begin with “al”) have Arabic origins, such as Almeria, Albarracin, and Alicante.^f
44. Spain was neutral in WWI and WWII but experienced a civil war (1936-1939) which killed over 500,000 people. The victorious General Francisco Franco ruled as a brutal dictator until his death in 1975. After his defeat, Spain began to transform itself into a modern, industrial, and democratic European nation.^e
45. The total area of Spain is 505,370 sq. km, which makes it the 52nd largest country in the world. It is slightly more than twice the size of Oregon. It is Europe’s third-largest nation.^g
46. Spain is one of the most decentralized democracies in Europe. Each of its 17 regions manages its own school, hospitals, and other public services.^a
47. Under Islamic law in Spain during the Middle Ages, Christians and Jews were considered dhimmi, which allowed them to practice their religion as “people of the book” but they had to pay a special tax.^a
48. The etymology of “Spain” is unknown. Some historians believe it derives from the Punic word for “rabbit,” Ispanihad. Other historians note that the ancient Romans called Spain Hesperia ultima, or “the ultimate west.” Additionally, the name might derive from the Basque word Ezpanna meaning “edge” or “border.” And still yet, some historians claim that the term is from the Phoenician spy, meaning “to forge metal.”^f
49. When a child loses a tooth in Spain, a small mouse called “Ratoncito Pérez” leaves a surprise under the pillow.^f
50. Penelope Cruz was the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in the 2008 romance comedy-drama Vicky Cristina Barcelona.^a
51. Spain legalized same sex marriage in 2005.^a
52. There are no laws against public nudity in Spain.^h
53. Spain has the lowest age of consent for sexual activity in Europe at 13 years old. Both Malta and Turkey have the highest at 18.^a
Guernica serves as warning against the horrors of war
54. Along with El Greco (1541-1612) and Francisco José de Goya (1746-1828), Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) is one of Spain’s most famous artists. One of his most famous paintings is Guernica, which depicts an air attack during the Spanish Civil War.^f
55. Long after primitive horses became extinct in the Western Hemisphere, Spanish conquistadors introduced the horses we know today. Christopher Columbus (who is actually Italian) and Hernán Cortés are just two of the explorers who brought horses to the Americas. Today the Andalusian, also known as Pure Spanish Horse, is known around the world for its beauty and athletic ability.^a
56. Tipping is not common in Spain, especially for cheap dinners.^f
57. In March 2012, Spain’s high-class prostitutes refused to have sex with the nation’s bankers until they opened credit lines to cash-strapped families.^d
58. In 2010, the U.S. State Department reported that 200,000-400,000 women worked in prostitution in Spain. The report said that 90% were trafficked. The Criminal Code of Spain does not address prostitution itself, but some activities associated with prostitution, such as pimping, are illegal. In other words, prostitution is essentially legal in Spain.^b,d
59. Spain’s national sport is fútbol, or soccer.^f
60. The name “Madrid” is from the Arabic magerit, which means “place of many streams.”^a
61. One of the country’s best known works of fiction is the novel Don Quixote, written by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616). The novel has inspired a wide range of literary movements, from the 18th century picturesque to 21st century postmodernism.^a
62. The Spaniards invented a diving bell in 1538. It was a bell-shaped device made of leather and metal and was lowered over the person to keep the water out.^a
63. The most popular type of music in Spain is the Flamenco. Flamenco is thought to have been developed by the Moors who brought it to Spain from North Africa in the early A.D. 700s. It has been influenced by Andalusian, Islamic, Sephardic, and Gypsy cultures.^e
Bullfighting was originally a sport for the aristocracy
64. Bullfighting has been a popular sport in Spain for thousands of years. Called corridas, bullfights are considered either a contest of art and skill or a cruel sport.^c
65. Spain has many festivals, and one of the most famous is the Running of Bulls. It occurs on St. Fermin’s Day in July in the northern town of Pamplona. Over 1 million people attend the festival. Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises introduced the festival on a wider scale in the United States.^c
66. La Tomatina, or “The World’s Biggest Food Fight,” is held ever year on the last Wednesday of August in the town of Buñol, outside of Valencia. Over 150,000 tomatoes are thrown.^c
67. Spain has a huge contrast in rainfall between the wet regions of the northwest and the arid areas elsewhere. Consequently, Spain is divided into “wet” and “dry” Spain. La Coruña, for example, receives more than 39 inches of rain per year. In contrast, cities such as Zaragoza and Valladolid receive less than 12 inches of rain per year.^a
68. Spain has some of the largest gold deposits in Europe. It is also one of the world biggest producers of granite and marble.^c
69. While Spain relies on imports for most of its oil and for 50% of its coal, the country has uranium deposits, and in 1999 nuclear power accounted for 29.5% of the country’s electricity. It also is investing in sustainable forms of energy such as solar and wind. Spain is one of the most advanced countries in Europe in developing wind farms.^a
70. The Rio Tinto River in Spain is so polluted by toxic pollution from 5,000 years of mining that it contains little to no life.^a
71. Spain had one of the fasted growing populations in Europe in the early 1980s. In 2000, Spain had the lowest average birth rate of any country in the world, at just 1.19 children per woman. It is predicted that around 300,000 immigrants need to enter Spain each year to balance the declining number of young people.^e
72. Spain is the least densely populated country in Europe, with just 202 inhabitants per square mile.^e
73. There are over 500,000 Gypsies currently living in Spain, with nearly half of them living in the south. Gypsies are thought to have originated in India in the 15th century.  Many Gypsies have moved to urban Spanish areas, though a large number still follow the Gypsy tradition of traveling constantly.^e
This gesture signals that a man's wife or girlfriend is having an affair
74. The Spanish often use gestures with, or to substitute for, words. Flicking the teeth with the thumbnail, wiggling fingers from the nose, and grabbing the left arm with the right while making a left-handed fist are all thought to be offensive. Tapping the left elbow with the right hand is a sign that someone is a penny pincher. Pulling down the lower eyelid while someone is talking means that the listener doubts what the speaker is saying. Holding up both the little and index fingers with the knuckles facing outward in front of man signals that his wife or girlfriend is being unfaithful.^f
75. There are fewer marriages in Spain than in any other EU country except Sweden. Additionally, the age at which people first marry has increased (which is typical of the rest of Europe).^e
76. Spain has a very low divorce rate, and few children are born outside of marriage. Just 5% of children are born to couples that are not married in Spain. In contrast, the number is 50% in Iceland, Norway, and Sweden.^e
77. In 1993, just 1.7% of student enrollment for technical institutes and colleges were women. In 2000, it was up to 40%.^e
78. For nearly 500 years Roman Catholicism was the official religion of Spain. It ceased to be the official religion of Spain in 1977. Around 85% of Spanish consider themselves Catholic and 40% go to church regularly. There are around 350,000 Protestants, 400,000 Muslims, and 15,000 Jews.^a

Traditionally, Spanish women keep their maiden name after marriage. For example, if Eva Peña marries Emilio Martinez, she becomes Señora Eva Peña de Martinez. The de (“day”) means, literally, that Eva is “of” her husband. Their children’s last names would be Martinez Peña. In the next generation, the mother’s maiden name would be dropped.^c




 

69 Fun Facts About Spain

Due to the immense popularity of my 69 fun facts series (69 Fun Facts about Germany has a staggering 150,000+ page views!) I’ve decided to continue the tradition, and bring some more 69 fun into the world. And what better country to choose than Spain? Not only is it one of the countries I’m most excited to visit this year, but let’s face it – if any country deserves 69 fun facts, it would be Spain.


1. the name Spain diverged from the word Ispania, which means the land of rabbits.
2. Spain has over 8000 km of beaches.
3. There is no tooth fairy in Spain but rather a tooth mouse called Ratoncito Perez.
4. They have highest number of bars out of all the countries in the EU.
5. Barcelona’s city hall provided 1 million euro to fund the movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
6. Christopher Columbus (the famous explorer) is Spanish, but they have no idea where he was buried.
7. Spain has the lowest population density in western Europe (excluding Scandinavia)
8. Spaniards are famous for their contributes to art, with famous Spanish artists including Dali, Picasso, gaudi, el Greco, and Goya
9. Spain was not part of the first or second world war.
10. 40% of Spanish people between 17-24 smoke.
11. Spain is the country closest to Africa.
12. Spain produces 44% of the world’s olive oil.
13. Spaniards own more cars than cell phones.
14. Over 98% of the population used to be roman catholic… presently it is around 76%
15. The Spaniards aren’t known for very many inventions…but they did invent the mop.
16. …and the beret!
17. …and Chupa Chups! The famous lollipops that line cash registers across the world were initially created by the Catalonian Enric Bernat in 1958.
18. Juan Mica claims that his family were the first to invent the drink, called Nuez de Kola Coca’, which he then took to the US and sold the recipe.
Famous (and sexy) Spaniards:
19. The tennis player Rafael Nadal first picked up a racket at the age of 3.
20. There’s a Facebook group called “I worship Rafael nadal’s biceps”
21. Nadal originally showed promise as a soccer player but gave it up at 12 to focus on tennis
22. In 2003, a newly discovered asteroid belt was named 128036 Rafaelnadal, in his honor.
23. Javier Bardem was the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar.
24. Penelope Cruz was the first Spanish actor to win an Oscar for best supporting actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
25. Cruz and Bardem got married in 2010 and have a son named Leo.
26. Many of the paintings by the Catalan artist augsti pugi appeared in Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
27. Enrique Iglesias is half Filipino, half Spanish.
28. Enrique’s favorite movie is Raiders of the Lost Ark.
29. Antonio Banderas was a soccer player until he broke his foot at the age of 14 and instead became a famous movie star (not a bad alternative)
30. Also, in Spanish, Banderas means “flags”.
31. Nadal is messy at home, and when he was a teenager in Majorca, his mother used to complain about his room.
32. Nadal is naturally right-handed, except when it comes to playing tennis, which he does left-handed.
33. Nadal was featured in Shakira’s music video “Gypsy”
34. Nadal’s favorite movies are Titanic and The Gladiator.
(Yes, there are a lot of Nadal facts – but really, who can complain?)
The language of romance:
35. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world.
36. There are 329 million native Spanish speakers in the world.
37. Spanish is spoken in 44 countries (with at least 3 million native speakers in each).
38. After Latin, the language that has the largest influence in Spanish is Arabic.
39. Spanish is expected to be the first language of 50% of the population of the United States within 50 years.
40. Spanish is the most popular foreign language to learn in America and Europe.
41. Approximately 100 million people speak Spanish as a second language.
42. There are two types of Spanish – European Spanish and Latin American Spanish.
43. There are more native Spanish speakers than English.
44. The Spanish language began on the Iberian Peninsula, consisting of Spain, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar.
45. Every hour of every day over three thousand pedestrians stroll through Fontanella-Portal del Àngel.
46. Spain is the only country in Europe that produces bananas.
47. Spain is the only country that has the sports bull fighting counted as a sport.
48. Nearly 75% of the world’s saffron flower is grown in Spain
49. Tomatoes, potatoes, avocadoes, tobacco, and cacao, were all brought to Europe (then spread around the world) by the Spaniards from their American colonies
50. Spain was one of the first European countries to ban smoking in workplaces and bars (2006)
Love and Sex:
51. On May 15th all the single women in Madrid visit the chapel called Ermita de San Isidro to prick their fingers with pins and put it in a vessel, in order to find a husband.
52. Same sex marriage has been legal in Spain since 2005.
53. 90% of prostitutes in Spain are illegal immigrants.
54. Teenagers in Spain normally start dating in groups when they’re 14.
55. The divorce rate in Spain is 17% (relatively low compared to over 50% in the USA).
56. In Barcelona, on St George’s Day (23 April) it was custom to exchange a book and a rose with the person they loved.
The best sport in the world…
57. Club president Joan Laporta, a self-proclaimed nationalist, requires all foreign Barça players to learn Catalan.
58. Fans of FC Barcelona are known as culés, the Catalan word for ‘ass’
59. The two most successful Spanish football teams, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid are also fierce competitors. The rivalry stems from Franco’s dictatorship; Barcelona represented an opposition to Franco while Real Madrid was a symbol of nationalism and was favored by the regime and Franco.
60. FC Barcelona is the biggest privately owned stadium in the world (seating 100,000 people)
61. The 1992 summer Olympics were held in Barcelona.
62. Soccer is the most important sport. It’s also pretty much like a religion.
63. Real Madrid is the most popular club in the world with over 228 million supporters
64. Real Madrid is also the richest club in the world.
Miscellaneous fun:
65. The name Madrid comes from the arabic “magerit” which means ‘place of many streams’.
66. Madrid enjoys more cloudless days than almost any other city in Europe.
67. The population of Madrid is just over 6 million…which is more than the population of some countries, such as Norway, Ireland, Scotland, denmark.
68. In Ibiza, tourists spend about 1430 million euros each year.
69. One in every five citizens registered in Ibiza lives in an isolated house in the country.

100 Very Cool Facts About The Human Body

100 Very Cool Facts About The Human Body

The human body is an incredibly complex and intricate system, one that still baffles doctors and researchers on a regular basis despite thousands of years of medical knowledge. As a result, it shouldn’t be any surprise that even body parts and functions we deal with every day have bizarre or unexpected facts and explanations behind them. From sneezes to fingernail growth, here are 100 weird, wacky, and interesting facts about the human body.

The Brain
The human brain is the most complex and least understood part of the human anatomy. There may be a lot we don’t know, but here are a few interesting facts that we’ve got covered.

1. Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel as fast as 170 miles per hour. Ever wonder how you can react so fast to things around you or why that stubbed toe hurts right away? It’s due to the super-speedy movement of nerve impulses from your brain to the rest of your body and vice versa, bringing reactions at the speed of a high powered luxury sports car.
2. The brain operates on the same amount of power as 10-watt light bulb. The cartoon image of a light bulb over your head when a great thought occurs isn’t too far off the mark. Your brain generates as much energy as a small light bulb even when you’re sleeping.
3. The human brain cell can hold 5 times as much information as the Encyclopedia Britannica. Or any other encyclopedia for that matter. Scientists have yet to settle on a definitive amount, but the storage capacity of the brain in electronic terms is thought to be between 3 or even 1,000 terabytes. The National Archives of Britain, containing over 900 years of history, only takes up 70 terabytes, making your brain’s memory power pretty darn impressive.
4. Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen that enters your bloodstream. The brain only makes up about 2% of our body mass, yet consumes more oxygen than any other organ in the body, making it extremely susceptible to damage related to oxygen deprivation. So breathe deep to keep your brain happy and swimming in oxygenated cells.
5. The brain is much more active at night than during the day. Logically, you would think that all the moving around, complicated calculations and tasks and general interaction we do on a daily basis during our working hours would take a lot more brain power than, say, lying in bed. Turns out, the opposite is true. When you turn off your brain turns on. Scientists don’t yet know why this is but you can thank the hard work of your brain while you sleep for all those pleasant dreams.
6. Scientists say the higher your I.Q. the more you dream. While this may be true, don’t take it as a sign you’re mentally lacking if you can’t recall your dreams. Most of us don’t remember many of our dreams and the average length of most dreams is only 2-3 seconds–barely long enough to register.
7. Neurons continue to grow throughout human life. For years scientists and doctors thought that brain and neural tissue couldn’t grow or regenerate. While it doesn’t act in the same manner as tissues in many other parts of the body, neurons can and do grow throughout your life, adding a whole new dimension to the study of the brain and the illnesses that affect it.
8. Information travels at different speeds within different types of neurons. Not all neurons are the same. There are a few different types within the body and transmission along these different kinds can be as slow as 0.5 meters/sec or as fast as 120 meters/sec.
9. The brain itself cannot feel pain. While the brain might be the pain center when you cut your finger or burn yourself, the brain itself does not have pain receptors and cannot feel pain. That doesn’t mean your head can’t hurt. The brain is surrounded by loads of tissues, nerves and blood vessels that are plenty receptive to pain and can give you a pounding headache.
10. 80% of the brain is water. Your brain isn’t the firm, gray mass you’ve seen on TV. Living brain tissue is a squishy, pink and jelly-like organ thanks to the loads of blood and high water content of the tissue. So the next time you’re feeling dehydrated get a drink to keep your brain hydrated.

Hair and Nails
While they’re not a living part of your body, most people spend a good amount of time caring for their hair and nails. The next time you’re heading in for a haircut or manicure, think of these facts.

11. Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body. If you’ve ever had a covering of stubble on your face as you’re clocking out at 5 o’clock you’re probably pretty familiar with this. In fact, if the average man never shaved his beard it would grow to over 30 feet during his lifetime, longer than a killer whale.
12. Every day the average person loses 60-100 strands of hair. Unless you’re already bald, chances are good that you’re shedding pretty heavily on a daily basis. Your hair loss will vary in accordance with the season, pregnancy, illness, diet and age.
13. Women’s hair is about half the diameter of men’s hair. While it might sound strange, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that men’s hair should be coarser than that of women. Hair diameter also varies on average between races, making hair plugs on some men look especially obvious.
14. One human hair can support 3.5 ounces. That’s about the weight of two full size candy bars, and with hundreds of thousands of hairs on the human head, makes the tale of Rapunzel much more plausible.
15. The fastest growing nail is on the middle finger. And the nail on the middle finger of your dominant hand will grow the fastest of all. Why is not entirely known, but nail growth is related to the length of the finger, with the longest fingers growing nails the fastest and shortest the slowest.
16. There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee. Humans are not quite the naked apes that we’re made out to be. We have lots of hair, but on most of us it’s not obvious as a majority of the hairs are too fine or light to be seen.
17. Blondes have more hair. They’re said to have more fun, and they definitely have more hair. Hair color determines how dense the hair on your head is. The average human has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person’s lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles while people with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles. Those with brown hair fit the average with 100,000 follicles and redheads have the least dense hair, with about 86,000 follicles.
18. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails. If you notice that you’re trimming your fingernails much more frequently than your toenails you’re not just imagining it. The nails that get the most exposure and are used most frequently grow the fastest. On average, nails on both the toes and fingers grow about one-tenth of an inch each month.
19. The lifespan of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average. While you quite a few hairs each day, your hairs actually have a pretty long life providing they aren’t subject to any trauma. Your hairs will likely get to see several different haircuts, styles, and even possibly decades before they fall out on their own.
20. You must lose over 50% of your scalp hairs before it is apparent to anyone. You lose hundreds of hairs a day but you’ll have to lose a lot more before you or anyone else will notice. Half of the hairs on your pretty little head will have to disappear before your impending baldness will become obvious to all those around you.
21. Human hair is virtually indestructible. Aside from it’s flammability, human hair decays at such a slow rate that it is practically non-disintegrative. If you’ve ever wondered how your how clogs up your pipes so quick consider this: hair cannot be destroyed by cold, change of climate, water, or other natural forces and it is resistant to many kinds of acids and corrosive chemicals.

Internal Organs
Though we may not give them much thought unless they’re bothering us, our internal organs are what allow us to go on eating, breathing and walking around. Here are some things to consider the next time you hear your stomach growl.

22. The largest internal organ is the small intestine. Despite being called the smaller of the two intestines, your small intestine is actually four times as long as the average adult is tall. If it weren’t looped back and forth upon itself it wouldn’t fit inside the abdominal cavity.
23. The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet. No wonder you can feel your heartbeat so easily. Pumping blood through your body quickly and efficiently takes quite a bit of pressure resulting in the strong contractions of the heart and the thick walls of the ventricles which push blood to the body.
24. The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razorblades. While you certainly shouldn’t test the fortitude of your stomach by eating a razorblade or any other metal object for that matter, the acids that digest the food you eat aren’t to be taken lightly. Hydrochloric acid, the type found in your stomach, is not only good at dissolving the pizza you had for dinner but can also eat through many types of metal.
25. The human body is estimated to have 60,000 miles of blood vessels. To put that in perspective, the distance around the earth is about 25,000 miles, making the distance your blood vessels could travel if laid end to end more than two times around the earth.
26. You get a new stomach lining every three to four days. The mucus-like cells lining the walls of the stomach would soon dissolve due to the strong digestive acids in your stomach if they weren’t constantly replaced. Those with ulcers know how painful it can be when stomach acid takes its toll on the lining of your stomach.
27. The surface area of a human lung is equal to a tennis court. In order to more efficiently oxygenate the blood, the lungs are filled with thousands of branching bronchi and tiny, grape-like alveoli. These are filled with microscopic capillaries which oxygen and carbon dioxide. The large amount of surface area makes it easier for this exchange to take place, and makes sure you stay properly oxygenated at all times.
28. Women’s hearts beat faster than men’s.The main reason for this is simply that on average women tend to be smaller than men and have less mass to pump blood to. But women’s and men’s hearts can actually act quite differently, especially when experiencing trauma like a heart attack, and many treatments that work for men must be adjusted or changed entirely to work for women.
29. Scientists have counted over 500 different liver functions. You may not think much about your liver except after a long night of drinking, but the liver is one of the body’s hardest working, largest and busiest organs. Some of the functions your liver performs are: production of bile, decomposition of red blood cells, plasma protein synthesis, and detoxification.
30. The aorta is nearly the diameter of a garden hose. The average adult heart is about the size of two fists, making the size of the aorta quite impressive. The artery needs to be so large as it is the main supplier of rich, oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.
31. Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart. For most people, if they were asked to draw a picture of what the lungs look like they would draw both looking roughly the same size. While the lungs are fairly similar in size, the human heart, though located fairly centrally, is tilted slightly to the left making it take up more room on that side of the body and crowding out that poor left lung.
32. You could remove a large part of your internal organs and survive. The human body may appear fragile but it’s possible to survive even with the removal of the stomach, the spleen, 75 percent of the liver, 80 percent of the intestines, one kidney, one lung, and virtually every organ from the pelvic and groin area. You might not feel too great, but the missing organs wouldn’t kill you.
33. The adrenal glands change size throughout life. The adrenal glands, lying right above the kidneys, are responsible for releasing stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. In the seventh month of a fetus’ development, the glands are roughly the same size as the kidneys. At birth, the glands have shrunk slightly and will continue to do so throughout life. In fact, by the time a person reaches old age, the glands are so small they can hardly be seen.

Bodily Functions
We may not always like to talk about them, but everyone has to deal with bodily functions on a daily basis. These are a few facts about the involuntary and sometimes unpleasant actions of our bodies.

34. Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph. There’s a good reason why you can’t keep your eyes open when you sneeze–that sneeze is rocketing out of your body at close to 100 mph. This is, of course, a good reason to cover your mouth when you sneeze.
35. Coughs clock in at about 60 mph. Viruses and colds get spread around the office and the classroom quickly during cold and flu season. With 60 mph coughs spraying germs far and wide, it’s no wonder.
36. Women blink twice as many times as men do. That’s a lot of blinking every day. The average person, man or woman, blinks about 13 times a minute.
37. A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball. No wonder you have to run to bathroom when you feel the call of the wild. The average bladder holds about 400-800 cc of fluid but most people will feel the urge to go long before that at 250 to 300 cc.
38. Approximately 75% of human waste is made of water. While we might typically think that urine is the liquid part of human waste products, the truth is that what we consider solid waste is actually mostly water as well. You should be thankful that most waste is fairly water-filled, as drier harder stools are what cause constipation and are much harder and sometimes painful to pass.
39. Feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a day. With that kind of sweat-producing power it’s no wonder that your gym shoes have a stench that can peel paint. Additionally, men usually have much more active sweat glands than women.
40. During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming pools. Saliva plays an important part in beginning the digestive process and keeping the mouth lubricated, and your mouth produces quite a bit of it on a daily basis.
41. The average person expels flatulence 14 times each day. Even if you’d like to think you’re too dignified to pass gas, the reality is that almost everyone will at least a few times a day. Digestion causes the body to release gases which can be painful if trapped in the abdomen and not released.
42. Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. While many people find earwax to be disgusting, it’s actually a very important part of your ear’s defense system. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.

Sex and Reproduction
As taboo as it may be in some places, sex is an important part of human life as a facet of relationships and the means to reproduce. Here are a few things you might not have known.

43. On any given day, sexual intercourse takes place 120 million times on earth. Humans are a quickly proliferating species, and with about 4% of the world’s population having sex on any given day, it’s no wonder that birth rates continue to increase in many places all over the world.
44. The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm. While you can’t see skin cells or muscle cells, the ovum is typically large enough to be seen with the naked eye with a diameter of about a millimeter. The sperm cell, on the other hand, is tiny, consisting of little more than nucleus.
45. The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first trimester are frogs, worms and potted plants. Pregnancy hormones can cause mood swings, cravings and many other unexpected changes. Oddly enough, hormones can often affect the types of dreams women have and their vividness. The most common are these three types, but many women also dream of water, giving birth or even have violent or sexually charged dreams.
46. Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born. While few babies are born with teeth in place, the teeth that will eventually push through the gums of young children are formed long before the child even leaves the womb. At 9 to 12 weeks the fetus starts to form the teeth buds that will turn into baby teeth.
47. Babies are always born with blue eyes. The color of your eyes depends on the genes you get from your parents, but at birth most babies appear to have blue eyes. The reason behind this is the pigment melanin. The melanin in a newborn’s eyes often needs time after birth to be fully deposited or to be darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light, later revealing the baby’s true eye color.
48. Babies are, pound for pound, stronger than an ox. While a baby certainly couldn’t pull a covered wagon at its present size, if the child were the size of an oxen it just might very well be able to. Babies have especially strong and powerful legs for such tiny creatures, so watch out for those kicks.
49. One out of every 2,000 newborn infants has a tooth when they are born. Nursing mothers may cringe at this fact. Sometimes the tooth is a regular baby tooth that has already erupted and sometimes it is an extra tooth that will fall out before the other set of choppers comes in.
50. A fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months. When only a small fraction of the way through its development, a fetus will have already developed one of the most unique human traits: fingerprints. At only 6-13 weeks of development, the whorls of what will be fingerprints have already developed. Oddly enough, those fingerprints will not change throughout the person’s life and will be one of the last things to disappear after death.
51. Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell. All life has to begin somewhere, and even the largest humans spent a short part of their lives as a single celled organism when sperm and egg cells first combine. Shortly afterward, the cells begin rapidly dividing and begin forming the components of a tiny embryo.
52. Most men have erections every hour to hour and a half during sleep. Most people’s bodies and minds are much more active when they’re sleeping than they think. The combination of blood circulation and testosterone production can cause erections during sleep and they’re often a normal and necessary part of REM sleep.

Senses
The primary means by which we interact with the world around us is through our senses. Here are some interesting facts about these five sensory abilities.

53. After eating too much, your hearing is less sharp. If you’re heading to a concert or a musical after a big meal you may be doing yourself a disservice. Try eating a smaller meal if you need to keep your hearing pitch perfect.
54. About one third of the human race has 20-20 vision. Glasses and contact wearers are hardly alone in a world where two thirds of the population have less than perfect vision. The amount of people with perfect vision decreases further as they age.
55. If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it. In order for foods, or anything else, to have a taste, chemicals from the substance must be dissolved by saliva. If you don’t believe it, try drying off your tongue before tasting something.
56. Women are born better smellers than men and remain better smellers over life. Studies have shown that women are more able to correctly pinpoint just what a smell is. Women were better able to identify citrus, vanilla, cinnamon and coffee smells. While women are overall better smellers, there is an unfortunate 2% of the population with no sense of smell at all.
57. Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents. While a bloodhound’s nose may be a million times more sensitive than a human’s, that doesn’t mean that the human sense of smell is useless. Humans can identify a wide variety of scents and many are strongly tied to memories.
58. Even small noises cause the pupils of the eyes to dilate. It is believed that this is why surgeons, watchmakers and others who perform delicate manual operations are so bothered by uninvited noise. The sound causes their pupils to change focus and blur their vision, making it harder to do their job well.
59. Everyone has a unique smell, except for identical twins. Newborns are able to recognize the smell of their mothers and many of us can pinpoint the smell of our significant others and those we are close to. Part of that smell is determined by genetics, but it’s also largely do to environment, diet and personal hygiene products that create a unique chemistry for each person.

Aging and Death
From the very young to the very old, aging is a necessary and unavoidable part of life. Learn about the process with these interesting, if somewhat strange facts.

60. The ashes of a cremated person average about 9 pounds. A big part of what gives the human body weight is the water trapped in our cells. Once cremated, that water and a majority of our tissues are destroyed, leaving little behind.
61. Nails and hair do not continue to grow after we die. They do appear longer when we die, however, as the skin dehydrates and pulls back from the nail beds and scalp.
62. By the age of 60, most people will have lost about half their taste buds. Perhaps you shouldn’t trust your grandma’s cooking as much as you do. Older individuals tend to lose their ability to taste, and many find that they need much more intense flavoring in order to be able to fully appreciate a dish.
63. Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears never stop growing. When babies look up at you with those big eyes, they’re the same size that they’ll be carrying around in their bodies for the rest of their lives. Their ears and nose, however, will grow throughout their lives and research has shown that growth peaks in seven year cycles.
64. By 60 years of age, 60-percent of men and 40-percent of women will snore. If you’ve ever been kept awake by a snoring loved one you know the sound can be deafening. Normal snores average around 60 decibels, the noise level of normal speech, intense snores can reach more than 80 decibels, the approximate level caused by a jackhammer breaking up concrete.
65. A baby’s head is one-quarter of it’s total length, but by age 25 will only be one-eighth of its total length. As it turns out, our adorably oversized baby heads won’t change size as drastically as the rest of our body. The legs and torso will lengthen, but the head won’t get much longer.

Disease and Injury
Most of us will get injured or sick at some point in our lives. Here are some facts on how the human body reacts to the stresses and dangers from the outside world.

66. Monday is the day of the week when the risk of heart attack is greatest. Yet another reason to loathe Mondays! A ten year study in Scotland found that 20% more people die of heart attacks on Mondays than any other day of the week. Researchers theorize that it’s a combination of too much fun over the weekend with the stress of going back to work that causes the increase.
67. Humans can make do longer without food than sleep. While you might feel better prepared to stay up all night partying than to give up eating, that feeling will be relatively short lived. Provided there is water, the average human could survive a month to two months without food depending on their body fat and other factors. Sleep deprived people, however, start experiencing radical personality and psychological changes after only a few sleepless days. The longest recorded time anyone has ever gone without sleep is 11 days, at the end of which the experimenter was awake, but stumbled over words, hallucinated and frequently forgot what he was doing.
68. A simple, moderately severe sunburn damages the blood vessels extensively. How extensively? Studies have shown that it can take four to fifteen months for them to return to their normal condition. Consider that the next time you’re feeling too lazy to apply sunscreen before heading outside.
69. Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress. That high stress job you have could be doing more than just wearing you down each day. It could also be increasing your chances of having a variety of serious medical conditions like depression, high blood pressure and heart disease.
70. A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it is been decapitated. While it might be gross to think about, the blood in the head may be enough to keep someone alive and conscious for a few seconds after the head has been separated from the body, though reports as to the accuracy of this are widely varying.

Muscles and Bones
Muscles and Bones provide the framework for our bodies and allow us to jump, run or just lie on the couch. Here are a few facts to ponder the next time you’re lying around.

71. It takes 17 muscles to smile and 43 to frown. Unless you’re trying to give your face a bit of a workout, smiling is a much easier option for most of us. Anyone who’s ever scowled, squinted or frowned for a long period of time knows how it tires out the face which doesn’t do a thing to improve your mood.
72. Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood the number is reduced to 206. The reason for this is that many of the bones of children are composed of smaller component bones that are not yet fused like those in the skull. This makes it easier for the baby to pass through the birth canal. The bones harden and fuse as the children grow.
73. We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening. The cartilage between our bones gets compressed by standing, sitting and other daily activities as the day goes on, making us just a little shorter at the end of the day than at the beginning.
74. The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue. While you may not be able to bench press much with your tongue, it is in fact the strongest muscle in your body in proportion to its size. If you think about it, every time you eat, swallow or talk you use your tongue, ensuring it gets quite a workout throughout the day.
75. The hardest bone in the human body is the jawbone. The next time someone suggests you take it on the chin, you might be well advised to take their advice as the jawbone is one of the most durable and hard to break bones in the body.
76. You use 200 muscles to take one step. Depending on how you divide up muscle groups, just to take a single step you use somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 muscles. That’s a lot of work for the muscles considering most of us take about 10,000 steps a day.
77. The tooth is the only part of the human body that can’t repair itself. If you’ve ever chipped a tooth you know just how sadly true this one is. The outer layer of the tooth is enamel which is not a living tissue. Since it’s not alive, it can’t repair itself, leaving your dentist to do the work instead.
78. It takes twice as long to lose new muscle if you stop working out than it did to gain it. Lazy people out there shouldn’t use this as motivation to not work out, however. It’s relatively easy to build new muscle tissue and get your muscles in shape, so if anything, this fact should be motivation to get off the couch and get moving.
79. Bone is stronger than some steel. This doesn’t mean your bones can’t break of course, as they are much less dense than steel. Bone has been found to have a tensile strength of 20,000 psi while steel is much higher at 70,000 psi. Steel is much heavier than bone, however, and pound for pound bone is the stronger material.
80. The feet account for one quarter of all the human body’s bones. You may not give your feet much thought but they are home to more bones than any other part of your body. How many? Of the two hundred or so bones in the body, the feet contain a whopping 52 of them.

Microscopic Level
Much of what takes place in our bodies happens at a level that we simply can’t see with the naked eye. These facts will show you that sometimes that might be for the best.

81. About 32 million bacteria call every inch of your skin home. Germaphobes don’t need to worry however, as a majority of these are entirely harmless and some are even helpful in maintaining a healthy body.
82. Humans shed and regrow outer skin cells about every 27 days. Skin protects your delicate internal organs from the elements and as such, dries and flakes off completely about once a month so that it can maintain its strength. Chances are that last month’s skin is still hanging around your house in the form of the dust on your bookshelf or under the couch.
83. Three hundred million cells die in the human body every minute. While that sounds like a lot, it’s really just a small fraction of the cells that are in the human body. Estimates have placed the total number of cells in the body at 10-50 trillion so you can afford to lose a few hundred million without a hitch.
84. Humans shed about 600,000 particles of skin every hour. You may not think much about losing skin if yours isn’t dry or flaky or peeling from a sunburn, but your skin is constantly renewing itself and shedding dead cells.
85. Every day an adult body produces 300 billion new cells. Your body not only needs energy to keep your organs up and running but also to constantly repair and build new cells to form the building blocks of your body itself.
86. Every tongue print is unique. If you’re planning on committing a crime, don’t think you’ll get away with leaving a tongue print behind. Each tongue is different and yours could be unique enough to finger you as the culprit.
87. Your body has enough iron in it to make a nail 3 inches long. Anyone who has ever tasted blood knows that it has a slightly metallic taste. This is due to the high levels of iron in the blood. If you were to take all of this iron out of the body, you’d have enough to make a small nail and very severe anemia.
88. The most common blood type in the world is Type O. Blood banks find it valuable as it can be given to those with both type A and B blood. The rarest blood type, A-H or Bombay blood due to the location of its discovery, has been found in less than hundred people since it was discovered.
89. Human lips have a reddish color because of the great concentration of tiny capillaries just below the skin. The blood in these capillaries is normally highly oxygenated and therefore quite red. This explains why the lips appear pale when a person is anemic or has lost a great deal of blood. It also explains why the lips turn blue in very cold weather. Cold causes the capillaries to constrict, and the blood loses oxygen and changes to a darker color.

Miscellaneous
Here are a few things you might not have known about all different parts of your anatomy.

90. The colder the room you sleep in, the better the chances are that you’ll have a bad dream. It isn’t entirely clear to scientists why this is the case, but if you are opposed to having nightmares you might want to keep yourself a little toastier at night.
91. Tears and mucus contain an enzyme (lysozyme) that breaks down the cell wall of many bacteria. This is to your advantage, as the mucus that lines your nose and throat, as well as the tears that wet your eyes are helping to prevent bacteria from infecting those areas and making you sick.
92. Your body gives off enough heat in 30 minutes to bring half a gallon of water to a boil. If you’ve seen the Matrix you are aware of the energy potentially generated by the human body. Our bodies expend a large amount of calories keeping us at a steady 98.6 degrees, enough to boil water or even cook pasta.
93. Your ears secrete more earwax when you are afraid than when you aren’t. The chemicals and hormones released when you are afraid could be having unseen effects on your body in the form of earwax. Studies have suggested that fear causes the ears to produce more of the sticky substance, though the reasons are not yet clear.
94. It is not possible to tickle yourself. Even the most ticklish among us do not have the ability to tickle ourselves. The reason behind this is that your brain predicts the tickle from information it already has, like how your fingers are moving. Because it knows and can feel where the tickle is coming from, your brain doesn’t respond in the same way as it would if someone else was doing the tickling.
95. The width of your armspan stretched out is the length of your whole body. While not exact down to the last millimeter, your armspan is a pretty good estimator of your height.
96. Humans are the only animals to produce emotional tears. In the animal world, humans are the biggest crybabies, being the only animals who cry because they’ve had a bad day, lost a loved one, or just don’t feel good.
97. Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do. This doesn’t have a genetic basis, but is largely due to the fact that a majority of the machines and tools we use on a daily basis are designed for those who are right handed, making them somewhat dangerous for lefties to use and resulting in thousands of accidents and deaths each year.
98. Women burn fat more slowly than men, by a rate of about 50 calories a day. Most men have a much easier time burning fat than women. Women, because of their reproductive role, generally require a higher basic body fat proportion than men, and as a result their bodies don’t get rid of excess fat at the same rate as men.
99. Koalas and primates are the only animals with unique fingerprints. Humans, apes and koalas are unique in the animal kingdom due to the tiny prints on the fingers of their hands. Studies on primates have suggested that even cloned individuals have unique fingerprints.
100. The indentation in the middle of the area between the nose and the upper lip has a name. It is called the philtrum. Scientists have yet to figure out what purpose this indentation serves, though the ancient Greeks thought it to be one of the most erogenous places on the body