Sound travels about 4 times faster in water than in air.
408
The Earth's atmosphere weighs about 5.5 quadrillion tons.
108
Oak trees produce 2,200 acorns in a season, but each acorn only has a 1 in 10,000 chance of becoming an oak tree.
304
Only 12,000 years ago there was a species closely related to modern humans called Homo floresiensis that had been living on an Indonesian Island. They used fire and rather advanced tools, yet were only about 3 feet tall and weighed around 25kg.
15
Columbia University has developed an artificial tree that passively soaks up carbon dioxide from the air using "leaves" that are 1,000 times more efficient than true leaves that use photosynthesis.
15
The banana plant cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man.
155
The average temperature at 40,000 feet above sea level is -60 F.
56
Nearly 50% of the world's scientists are assigned to military projects.
71