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
A coal power station puts 100 times more radiation into the air than a nuclear power plant producing the same amount of energy.
7
It takes a photon 170,000 years to travel from the core of the Sun to the surface, but only 8 minutes to travel the rest of the way to Earth.
6
The gas that gives rotten eggs their distinctive foul smell may slow ageing and block damaging chemical reactions inside cells, according to scientists in China.
5
One barrel of petroleum holds 42 gallons.
20
0.3% of solar energy from the Sahara is enough to power the whole of Europe.
310
Nylon is made from coal and petroleum.
42
MIT has developed a camera that captures the speed of light at a trillion frames per second.
20