It’s the back-to-school season once again! Want to impress your peers, teachers, and even family with your knowledge of the world? Here are some interesting and, well… rather unusual facts from National Geographic:
“It takes 713 gallons (2,700 L) of water to make one cotton T-shirt.”
It’s hard to imagine how much water that is, but let’s say one typical cup used for drinking holds about 250 mL of water. Then, with 2,700 L of water, you would have 10,800 cups of water. Doctors often recommend drinking approximately eight cups of water one day, so if you have 10,800 cups, you would have enough water to drink for 1,350 days! That’s more than three years of drinking water you have there!
You now may think about why this is such a big deal – the whole water crisis issue that’s being emphasized in the world. Watch the following video from GOOD Magazine to find out!
“Every square inch (6.5 sq. cm) of your skin hosts about 6 million bacteria.”
Not to fear! Skin bacteria are not always harmful or even infectious – many even contribute positively to your health. The “good” bacteria often help to keep away the “bad” bacteria.
“Some starfish (sea stars) break off their own arms when frightened.”
“Some monkeys in Thailand teach their young to floss.”
Left: A long-tailed macaque teaching her young how to floss with human hair.
“The largest known ant supercolony stretches nearly 4,000 miles (6,440 km) through Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy.”
“The Earth spins so fast that someone standing at the Equator is traveling at about 1,000 miles an hour (1,600 km/hr).”
“A flamingo can eat only when its head is upside down.”
“Every second breath we take comes from the ocean.”
“Mosquitoes, and the diseases they spread, kill more humans than any other animal.”
“Around the world, lightning strikes the ground about 100 times each second, or 8 million times a day.”
“Elephants have a keen sense of smell, detecting water sources up to 19.2 km (12 mi) away.”
“The world’s oceans contain enough gold to give two pounds to every person on the planet.”
“If you could fold an average sheet of paper in half 50 times, it would reach all the way to the sun.”
“Mushrooms are more closely related to humans than to plants.”
“People’s tongue prints are as unique as their fingerprints.”
“The human body contains 60,000 miles (97,000 km) of blood vessels.”
“One million Earths could fit inside the sun.”
“Everyone on Earth could stand shoulder-to-shoulder and fit in an area the size of Los Angeles.”