Our surroundings. Our home. Our everything.
The world is the place where we grew up in and where we built our lives. But do you really know it?
I’m sure that you already learned a lot of scientific information about it in school or university but I think now it’s time to hear some random facts about the world, of which you’ve might not even heard of yet.
Fact 1: The earth used to be purple
You’ve all probably heard of photosynthesis. It is a process through which plants convert the energy from the sun into chemical energy. Due to this process, plants are usually green. This green color comes from a pigment called “chlorophyll”. Because of photosynthesis and chlorophyll, life on earth seems green but there is a study that claims that there was a stage of a “Purple Earth”. It suggests that the early forms of life may have been able to produce the mentioned energy by using retinal, instead of chlorophyll, which absorbs sunlight in a range that is inaccessible to chlorophyll. These retinal pigments give out red and blue light, meaning that a life based on retinal would look purple.
Fact 2: The longest official place name is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapiki-maungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitnatahu
Yes, you just read that right. This is the name for a hill, located on the North Island of New Zealand. It translates into English as “the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as ‘landeater’, played his flute to his loved one.”
Tamatea was a famous chief and warrior. One day, while traveling through the back of Porangahau, he encountered another tribe and had to fight them to get past. During the fight his brother was killed. Tamatea was so grieved over the loss of his brother that he stayed at the battle site for some days. Each morning he would sit on the hill and play a lament on what is called the koauau or Maori flute.
Fact 3: The entire world’s population could fit into Los Angeles
On average, 10 million people could fit into one square kilometer, if they were standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Los Angeles has an area of about 1 200 km. Therefore 12 billion people could fit into Los Angeles. Since our world’s population lays around 8 billion people, all of us could stand shoulder-to-shoulder in LA.
Fact 4: France is the most visited country
For over a decade now, France has been the country with the highest number of visitors in a year. In 2018, over 89 million people visited the country. For reference, Greece had over 33 million visitors in 2018.
Fact 5: People who are currently alive only represent 7% of the total number of people who have ever lived
Since the first homo sapiens were born, more than 117 billion people have lived on this earth. This means that our current population with around 8 billion people is only 7% of every human to ever be born.
Fact 6: All giant pandas in zoos are borrowed from China
China has direct ownership over every living giant panda around the world. This process originally started all the way back in 685 but the idea was raised again during the 1950s. The Chinese government gifted other countries these pandas to create allies but since 1984, they loan them out instead of gifting them.
Fact 7: Pineapples take two to three years to grow
Even though it might seem like pineapples grow just as fast as apples, it is sadly not reality. The skin is made out of 200 flowers which then develop into one fruit, explaining the long duration until I can be harvested and eaten.
Fact 8: There are only two countries that use purple in their national flags
The only national flags on which you can see the color purple on (out of the 196 countries in the world) are the flags of Nicaragua and Dominica.
Fact 9: Acacia trees communicate with each other
We’ve all seen a picture of a giraffe chewing leaves off of the typical African tree. What you probably don’t know though is that these trees communicate with each other when they’re being attacked by giraffes. Once the animals start chewing the acacia leaves, the injured tree emits a distress signal using a specific gas. Neighboring acacia trees can then pick up on this to start preparing themselves against the giraffes. They begin pumping tannins into their leaves which, when consumed in large quantities, could injure or even kill the giraffe.
Fact 10: All ants on the Earth weigh about as much as all the humans
There’s about 20 quadrillion ants on the earth, each weighing one to five milligrams which doesn’t sound like a lot but if you multiply it by 20 quadrillion, the ants become pretty heavy. This weight could equal the weight of all the humans which sounds kind of scary but don’t worry, it will still be a while until ants take over the world.
Fact 11: The name “sandwich” comes from an aristocrat named “the 4th Earl of Sandwich”
John Montagu, also known as Lord Sandwich, was a gambler and loved playing cards. Since he didn’t want to get up from his poker table to eat dinner, he wanted to have something that he could eat without a fork and a knife and without getting his cards greasy. That’s when he asked for his meat to be tucked between two slices of bread – the origin of the sandwich.
Fact 12: In Ethiopia, the year is 2015
The Ethiopian calendar system differs from our Gregorian calendar. The idea behind the Ethiopian system is that Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden for seven years until they got expelled for their sins. After they repented, the Bible says that God promised to save them after 5.500 years. So following this calculation, Jesus was born in 7 BC and they started counting the days from that year on.
Fact 13: Australia has a smaller population (25.9 million people) than the Tokyo metropolitan area (37.3 million people)
It sounds unbelievable because Australia is more than 3.500 times bigger than Tokyo, but it is true.
Fact 14: The days on earth are getting longer
The earth’s rotation has been slowing down for over millions of years, associated with the tides driven by the moon. Every century, this process adds a few milliseconds to the length of each day, meaning that billions of years ago, a day on earth was only 19 hours long.
Fact 15: The most common name in the world is Mohammed (and its variant spellings)
If you include all the different spelling variations of the name Mohammed, it is estimated that in 2014, more than 150 million people were registered with this first name.
Now that you managed to read through all the information, you are 15 facts smarter about our world than you were before. Congrats!
Sources:
https://www.livescience.com/19102-amazing-facts-earth.html (Stephanie Pappas, Robert Roy Britt, Ailsa Harvey, October 18th, 2022)
https://bestlifeonline.com/world-facts/ (Desiree O, October 18th, 2022)
https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/language/unbelievable-facts-make-you-seem-cultured/ (Danny, October 18th, 2022)
https://www.boldtuesday.com/blogs/travel/facts-about-the-world-that-will-blow-your-mind (Bold Tuesday, October 18th, 2022)
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2469/10-interesting-things-about-earth/ (global climate change, October 18th, 2022)
https://www.brecorder.com/news/446544 (Shazma Khan, October 18th, 2022)
https://www.newzealand.com/ca/feature/the-longest-place-name-in-new-zealand/ (russellstreet, October 18th, 2022)
https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/travel-guide/top-10-most-visited-european-countries/ (schengen visa, October 18th, 2022)
https://www.statista.com/statistics/214686/number-of-international-visitors-to-the-us/ (S.Lock, October 18th, 2022)
https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth/ (Toshiko Kaneda, Carl Haub, October 18th, 2022)
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/04/quantifying-human-existence/ (Nick Routley, October 18th, 2022)
https://edtimes.in/this-is-how-china-owns-all-the-giant-pandas-in-the-world/#:~:text=And%20out%20of%20the%20350,been%20born%20in%20another%20country (Chirali Sharma, October 18th, 2022)
https://indoorhomegarden.com/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-pineapple-to-grow/ (James Felps, October 18th, 2022)
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/country-flags-with-purple.html (John Misachi, October 18th, 2022)
https://onetreeplanted.org/blogs/stories/how-do-trees-communicate#:~:text=Sending%20Danger%20Signals&text=When%20a%20giraffe%20starts%20chewing,sicken%20or%20even%20kill%20giraffes (Meaghan Weeden, October 18th, 2022)
https://learntalk.org/en/blog/why-is-a-sandwich-called-a-sandwich (Learntalk, October 18th, 2022)
https://theculturetrip.com/africa/ethiopia/articles/why-is-the-ethiopian-calendar-7-years-behind/ (Serkalem Tafesse, October 18th, 2022)
https://www.sciencealert.com/earth-s-days-are-suddenly-increasing-in-length-mystifying-scientists (Matt King, Christopher Watson, October 18th, 2022)