Violakd

02/02/2023

Balloons trivia: 29 facts about the child toys

Balloon toys are very popular as they are commonly used on children’s’ parties.

02/02/2023

The city of Melbourne, Australia, wants to take care of its trees—so much so that in 2013, they assigned each one an email address so that the public could report any problems—like dangerous branches—that they noticed.

However, instead of sending messages about issues, people began writing love letters to the trees. "My dearest Ulmus," one note began, according to The Atlantic. "As I was leaving St. Mary's College today I was struck, not by a branch, but by your radiant beauty. You must get these messages all the time. You're such an attractive tree."

02/02/2023

When armadillos go swimming, they don't need a flotation device to keep them from sinking—they are the flotation device. To stay afloat, the creatures swallow air to make themselves buoyant, according to the Library of Congress. However, they also have another option, which involves expelling air so they can sink and walk across the bottom of a body of water. Stunningly, armadillos can hold their breath for six minutes or more.

31/01/2023

If you want to find the very smallest things around, you'd need to track down something that's the size of the Planck length. It's the smallest possible size of anything in the known universe at a mere 1.6 x10-35 meter across, which is the equivalent of around a millionth of a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of a centimeter (or a decimal point followed by 34 zeroes and a one).

31/01/2023

It's hard to imagine anyone being able to speak—or even understand—all of the 850-plus indigenous languages that are spoken in Papua New Guinea. And in reality, most people don't. Many of the languages in the country—such as Nihali—are only spoken and understood by a few thousand people in the world. Still, the sheer number of languages that exist in Papua New Guinea make it one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world.

29/01/2023

NASA has found some pretty incredible things in space, and that includes a floating reservoir of water that holds the equivalent of 140 trillion times all the water that's in Earth's oceans. What makes it even more amazing is the fact that the reservoir surrounds a giant black hole.

More than 12 billion light-years away from Earth, the reservoir is more proof "that water is pervasive throughout the universe," says Matt Bradford, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

27/01/2023

Memorial Day Trivia | 30 facts about the federal holiday

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the US. It is celebrated on the last Monday of May.

27/01/2023

Labor Day Trivia | 69 facts about the federal holiday

Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement. So let's find out some trivia and facts about this…

27/01/2023

Dating back to 859 A.D., the Al-Qarawiyyin Library in Fez, Morocco, had long been off limits to visitors who weren't the select few researchers and academics that had been granted access. However, in 2016, the world's oldest library, which houses a 9th century version of the Quran, finally opened its doors to anyone wishing to explore its ancient texts.

27/01/2023

The Tyrannosaurus rex is known as one of the largest, most ferocious species of dinosaur to ever have existed—which was more than 60 million years ago. However, an early T. rex relative, Suskityrannus hazelae, lived around 92 million years ago and stood at a modest height of three feet and only weighed between 45 and 90 pounds, according to Smithsonian magazine.

26/01/2023

Obviously, peanuts are a tasty snack—as long as you're not allergic to them, that is. But did you know they can also be used to make dynamite? When extracted, peanut oil can be turned into glycerol, which can then make nitroglycerine, an unstable explosive substance used in dynamite. In a safer state, glycerol is also used for soaps, creams, and various food products.