40 Scientific Common Senses You'll Love

There is a lot of wisdom in everything in world, although we are used to a lot, but we know very little, so we often get a slap in face from some kind of “cold knowledge”.

Today, we've selected some weird, interesting, or meaningful lore related to geography, history, animals, and people in hopes of expanding your knowledge, broadening your horizons, and boosting your thirst for knowledge!

1

Geography

1. On Venus, a day is longer than a year.

We usually use idiom "days are like years" to describe how slowly time passes. On Venus, this idiom is especially vivid.

Venus rotates very slowly, and time required for one revolution is equivalent to 243 days (5832 hours) of Earth. In contrast, Venus orbits Sun relatively quickly, with an orbital speed of 35.02 km/s and an orbital period equivalent to 224.7 days (5392.8 hours) on Earth. Therefore, a day on Venus is longer than a year.

2. The Pacific Ocean to east is actually much larger than thought, accounting for one third of the Earth's area.

Looking at picture above, it may not make any sense, but when entire land area of ​​the earth is placed in Pacific Ocean, there is a surplus of more than 30 million square kilometers, which shows its size.

3. The world's most distant land from ocean is located near Alashankou, known as "impregnable pole of Eurasia."

This place is also almost 2500 kilometers from nearest ocean.

The farthest point from land is Point Nemo in Pacific Ocean, surrounded by 9 million square miles of sea water. The nearest land is more than 2600 kilometers away from it.

4. In terms of entire history of Earth, more than 115 billion people have lived on Earth, including current population of more than 7 billion. You are also one of them.

Each dot in figure above corresponds to 10 million people. About 140 million people are born every year and about 57 million people die. An estimated 108 billion people have lived and died on Earth.

5. Which state is easternmost, westernmost, southernmost, and northernmost state in United States?

Needless to say, southernmost point is the state of Hawaii.

Northernmost and westernmost are also easy to answer, both are in Alaska.

What many people don't expect is that Alaska is still easternmost state!

Why?

Under Alaska is a long chain of islands called Aleutian Islands, and 180 degree meridian runs through Aleutian Islands. Some small islands went into Eastern Hemisphere, so they became easternmost territory of United States.

The picture on left shows Aleutian Islands, and picture on right shows both sides of 180-degree meridian

6. There are territorial disputes between many countries of world, but at junction of borders of Egypt and Sudan on African continent there is an unclaimed inland territory called Bir Tawil.

Egypt and Sudan not only turned a blind eye to this land of more than 2,000 square kilometers, but simply avoided it, and both refused to enter it.

Of course, this is no accident.

Ultimately these were "mines laid by British". Previously, Egypt and Sudan were British colonies in Africa. Of course, British could not centralize administration of such a large area of ​​the Earth. The boundaries have been drawn.

The UK later revised border between two countries in 1902, designating Bir Tawile (dashed line on left side of picture above), which in 1899 originally belonged to Sudan, Egypt, and Hara, which originally belonged to Egypt. than (dotted line on right side of map above) was assigned to Sudan.

This adjustment made a big difference later on. It turns out that Kharabi is much more valuable than Bir Tawil. Its area is about ten times larger than Bir Tawil. It is dotted with oases with grass and trees, and is close to Red Sea. Compared to current population of about 10,000 people, oil was discovered later.

Sultana, of course, is satisfied with such an adjustment, but not Egypt.

Both countries fear that if they claim Bir Tawil as their territory, they will damage their position in Halabi sovereignty dispute because other side will say that they have recognized a territorial boundary that is not good for them. Neither of two families wanted to collect sesame seeds and lose watermelon.

7. My country is coldest country at same latitude in world.

Paris in France is located at approximately 48 degrees north latitude. This is what Paris looks like in winter when snow is a bit "soft";

Farther north London, England is located at about 51 degrees north latitude and looks like this in winter;

Keep moving north, Helsinki, Finland is located at 60 degrees north latitude and looks like this in winter;

As for Harbin, China, located at 46 degrees north latitude, winter is so thick with ice and snow, it looks decidedly colder than three above.

In fact, although Harbin is at a lower latitude than Paris, London, and Helsinki, it is indeed much colder than those three cities - average January temperature is almost 15 degrees cooler!

There is also a more obvious comparison. Extremely cold Mohe in China is located at about 52 degrees north latitude, and winter temperatures are close to minus 30 degrees. However, lowest temperature is in Liverpool, England, at same latitude, mostly above 0 degrees Celsius, and port does not freeze all year round. Hangzhou and Changsha of my country have same temperature.

This reflects geographical knowledge: my country is coldest country at same latitude in world. The average temperature of each point on global latitudinal circle is called latitudinal mean temperature. The average temperature in northeast of my country is about 14-18°C lower than average latitude temperature, in middle and lower reaches of Yellow River it is 10-14°C lower, in south of Yangtze River it is 10-14°C lower than average. 8°C lower, even in coastal regions of South China it is about 5°C lower.

Why such a big difference?

Most of cold air that invades our country comes from Arctic Ocean and is then intensified by cold of Siberia. .

8. Hulunbuir, a prefecture-level city with largest administrative area in Inner Mongolia, covers an area of ​​262,000 square kilometers!

How big is that? This roughly corresponds to area of ​​Shandong Province + Jiangsu Province, which is equivalent to area of ​​the United Kingdom!

9. The county with largest administrative area in China is Ruoqiang County in Xinjiang, covering an area of ​​202,000 square kilometers!

Basically equal to area of ​​Jiangsu Province + Zhejiang Province.

In addition to its large area, Ruoqiang County is also a famous important city on Silk Road.

The most historical place. A world-class cultural heritage site, Loulan Ancient City is located in Ruoqiang County. The most distinctive and unique Loulan culture in world can be called "the most cultural landscape in world";

The most environmentally friendly resources. Altun Mountain National Nature Reserve in Ruoqiang County is largest nature reserve in China and largest inland area in world.

The geographical landscape is best. Ruoqiang County is located in Tarim Basin, largest basin in China, where Tarim River, China's longest inland river, Lop Nur, Taklamakan Desert, Kumtag Desert and Kumukuri Desert, three deserts flow.

Most minerals. Ruoqiang County is China's largest potash storage and also China's largest nickel capital.

2

History

1. All symbols printed on 4K size playing cards have a large background.

K of hearts - Charlemagne, K of spades - King David, K of clubs - Alexander Great and K of diamonds - Caesar.

Among them, Charlemagne, a figure unknown to Chinese, but well known in West. central Italy in south, covering almost entire territory of former Western Roman Empire. Since collapse of Western Roman Empire, there has never been such a large country in Western Europe!

He made an outstanding contribution to administration, justice, economics, culture, education, etc., and also played a role in connecting past and future with development of medieval civilization. He is known as "Father of Europe".

In 843 AD, shortly after Charles' death, his three grandsons divided empire under "Treaty of Verdun".

The picture shows a section of empire of Charles, source: "Atlas of World History"

2. The White House in US is painted white because it was burned down.

After United States gained independence as a result of Revolutionary War, they got rid of British colonial rule and continued to grow in power, but UK did not want United States to become stronger and suppress United States in terms of trade. , politics and military affairs. As a result, "Second American-British War" broke out in June 1812, and in August 1814 British army captured Washington. received self-government at that time). After war (1817), walls had to be painted with white paint, hence name.

3. Many of European country names seen on map today were created after end of First World War.

In 1913, there were only a few countries in Europe.

After "First World War" in 1919, picture of world has undergone tremendous changes. Britain, France and United States organized Paris Peace Conference after war. In addition to discussing how to punish Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire and other defeated countries. The remaining questions focus on how to redistribute Europe.

Under leadership of three countries, Germany's borders were compressed, Austro-Hungarian Empire disintegrated into Austria, Hungary, etc., Poland was restored, and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, etc. became nation-states. in accordance with principle of national self-determination, and new countries were mainly part of Austria-Hungary. It was built on ruins of Empire and Tsarist Russia, which basically established rudimentary appearance of today's European countries.

4. America is name of a person.

Columbus was first European navigator to reach Americas, but he always thought he was going to India, which is why he called local natives Indians. Before Columbus died, he thought he was going to India.

Later, Italian navigator Amerigo made several voyages to coast of South America between 1499 and 1504 for field research. Returning to Europe, he drew a new map and fully confirmed that area he reached was not "India" that Columbus spoke of, but "New World".

Since 1507, in his honor, people have called "New World" "America", that is, America.

5. During period of early Spring and Autumn, battles were very "graceful".

At that time, there were some rules of war between countries, such as "no drums, no columns".

Another example is "no serious wounds, no chasing north", meaning that same person cannot be wounded again in a fight. If enemy is already wounded, he cannot hit him a second time. If you defeat others, you have to accept it as soon as it's good and you can't hold on to it.

In 597 B.C. "superpower" State of Jin and State of Chu fought at Battle of Bi. Instead, he took initiative to teach Jin army how to remove bar in front of chariot to escape mud pit. After Jin army fixed chariot and fled again, Chu army pursued it again. After a few steps, Jin army's chariot broke down again, and Chu army helped fix chariot again. , and then chase.. After chasing for a while, I stopped chasing.

There is also "do not take Ermao", that is, an old man with gray hair cannot be taken. After studying history of Spring and Autumn period, Gu Yanwu of Qing Dynasty also lamented, “In two hundred and forty-two years of Spring and Autumn period, there was no one who killed thousands of people during a chariot battle. ."

6. The term "clothes and beasts" originated from dress of Ming Dynasty officials and was originally a compliment.

The clothing of Ming Dynasty officials was regulated: uniform of civil servants was embroidered with birds, official uniform of military leaders was painted with animals. The scarlet robes of first rank for civil officials are embroidered with cranes, scarlet robes of second rank are embroidered with golden pheasants, scarlet robes of third rank are embroidered with peacocks, scarlet robes of fourth rank are embroidered with clouds and geese; Qingpao, embroidered order of stream; eighth grade green robe, embroidered oriole; a green robe of ninth grade, embroidered with a quail.

The first rank of generals is painted with unicorns, second rank of scarlet robes is painted with lions, third rank of scarlet robes is painted with tigers, eighth rank of green robes is painted with rhinoceroses, ninth rank of robes is painted with rhinos green robe is painted with sea horse.

That's why people called civil and military officials "zjerseys in clothes and crowns. Later, because some officials in middle and end of Ming Dynasty twisted law, oppressed people, and did evil, it naturally became a derogatory term.

7. Since Song Dynasty, Chinese have eaten three meals a day.

Before that, people usually ate only two meals. Since industry and trade were developed in Song Dynasty and there was no curfew, they added one supper.

8. The person who wrote most poetry in Chinese history was Qianlong Emperor.

In 2014, while cleaning up cultural relics, staff of Forbidden City discovered two boxes containing words "Draft of Qianlong Poetry", which contained a total of more than 28,000 poems by Qianlong, as well as more than 17,000 poems that had been preserved. before. Over 45,000 songs in total.

You know that there were over 2,000 poets in 289-year-old Tang Dynasty. The poems they wrote were collected in "Full Tang Poetry", and there were more than 48,000 poems in total, and poems written by Qianlong alone are almost close to all of "Full Tang Poetry".

However, among so many poems written by Qianlong, only a few of them can be passed on to world. One can only say that there is quantity but no quality.

9, He Shen, Ji Xiaolan, and Emperor Qianlong are not same age.

In official history, He Shen was born in 1750, 26 years younger than Ji Xiaolan and 39 years younger than Emperor Qianlong.

On contrary, Liu Bang and Qin Shihuang appear to be two ages, but they are actually same age, 3 years apart. Qin Shi Huang was born in 259 BC and Liu Bang was born in 256 BC.

10. Today's China, as a "big gourmet country", is passed on and eaten bit by bit bit by bit.

In ancient times, Chinese food was rather monotonous, except for cereals and wild vegetables. For example, water lily in Songbook is an aquatic plant, and if you want to eat it in water, you must select it.

Before Qin Dynasty, there was no lotus root native to India in China;

Before Han Dynasty, there were no grapes, celery, coriander, beans, cucumbers, garlic, etc. in China. Later, Zhang Qian brought these fruits and vegetables from his mission to western regions, almost enough to play Plants vs. Zombies";

Before Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were no eggplants in China;

Before Sui and Tang dynasties, there was no lettuce and spinach in China, they were brought from Persia and Mediterranean;

There were no watermelons in China before Song Dynasty;

There were no carrots in China before Yuan Dynasty;

Before Ming Dynasty, there were no potatoes, corn, peppers, tomatoes, etc. in China, and they all come from America;

Before the Qing Dynasty, there were no onions, cabbages, etc. in China.

3

Animals

1. Octopus blood is blue.

The color of blood is determined by material elements contained in protein of blood cells. The blood of humans and vertebrates is red, since blood contains a lot of iron-containing hemoglobin.

Octopus blood contains a blue pigment protein that we commonly refer to as copper-containing hemocyanin. The function of this hemocyanin is to transport oxygen. When octopus moves, oxygen enters blood vessels of octopus and combines with this hemocyanin, thus forming blue blood.

2. The giraffe's tongue can lick its ears.

Giraffes have a long, soft, blue-black tongue. One curious zoologist once measured length of a giraffe's tongue at 50 centimeters, which is almost length of an adult human's arm.

The giraffe's tongue is so flexible that it can eat anything from prickly acacia buns to thin leaves. Some people suggest that as long as he wants to, his tongue can definitely lick his own ears.

3. Squirrels recognize each other by "kissing".

Squirrels always hide food they find in same place each time, but they never rely on memory to find a place to store food, but rely on smell. The same applies to same species. When first encountering same species, squirrels will rely on their sense of smell to confirm each other. When sniffing, they should be very close, which looks like they are kissing. Just know who it is.

4. An owl cannot move its eyes, it can only turn its head.

Even though owl's eyes are large and appear to be piercing, it is actually unable to move and can only turn on its neck.

However, their necks are very flexible and can turn 270 degrees!

What's more, owls can naturally blink their left and right eyes at different times, and rhythm and frequency can be controlled independently.

5. Magpies appear gentle and peaceful, but they are actually "very good at fighting".

Magpie belongs to corvid family. It looks harmless to humans and animals, but is actually very aggressive.

They are never afraid of anything. These are rare birds that can snatch food from mouths of predators. They are also very intelligent and often fight in groups. Even eagles can't beat them

6. Elephants can't jump.

According to researchers' report, both adult elephants and baby elephants do not have free time while running, which means that one foot is always in contact with ground while moving.

One aspect is bulky figure, and other aspect is that calf muscles in elephants are very fragile and ankles are not as flexible. If they cancel airtime, they can fall when jumping up.

7. Zebras usually sleep standing up.

Zebras usually live on prairies, where predators come and go at all times, and they are a very popular food for large predators. They have no resistance. They can only escape when faced with predators. Slow down, so zebra has developed a unique skill: sleep standing up!

Also, zebras are not as serious and wary as they seem, but very much alive - ghostly screams, coupled with occasional smiles they often display unintentionally, have given them their nickname: equine husky.

8. Goats have almost 360-degree vision.

Most animals, including humans, have round pupils, but animals such as goats, toads, and octopuses have horizontal pupils, which widens their horizontal line of sight and allows them to better detect presence of predators. Full 360 degree coverage.

9. Sloths are good swimmers.

Sloths can move at a speed of about 6 centimeters per second, and even in case of danger, the escape speed cannot exceed 0.2 meters per second.

It is unimaginable that a sloth, which is slower than a turtle, swims well, and its swimming speed in water is three times faster than on land!

10. The fingerprints of koalas are almost same as those of humans.

Fingerprints are rare in nature. Typically, only humans and primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas, which are closely related to humans, have them.

But there is a non-primate animal that not only has fingerprints, but its fingerprints are almost exactly same as those of a human and are difficult to distinguish even with a high resolution microscope. This animal is koala, commonly known as koala.

11. Spiders have small claws.

Spiders have hairy legs, but not only do they have a lot of hair on their legs. Spiders have cute claws on their paws under a magnifying glass!

4

People class

1. Bacteria that aid digestion can be found in appendix.

The appendix has always had a bad reputation. People usually think that appendix is ​​useless. The only way to emphasize its existence is by an accidental infection that causes appendicitis.

However, scientists have found that appendix is ​​good for bacteria that aid digestion. After a frenzied activity in intestines, these digestive bacteria can rest in appendix and sometimes use it as a breeding ground to replenish intestines with new bacteria.

2. How strong is a sneeze?

The total speed of airflow during a sneeze is about 150 km/h, which is 41.7 m/s, which allows you to instantly spray drops for several meters, which is almost close to maximum wind force of 42 m/s at outbreak of 14th Typhoon Haiyan. Second.

3. The length of human blood vessels can cover earth two and a half times.

There are more than 100 billion large and small blood vessels in human body. If all blood vessels are connected in a line, its length will be about 100,000 km, which is equivalent to two and a half revolutions of Earth. up to 7 tons of blood passing 100,000 kilometers of road a day.

4. How many pixels are there in human eye?

When we take pictures now, we feel that tens of millions of pixels are already very sharp, but in fact, human eye kills most cameras in seconds, because human eye's pixel is about 500 million!

5. Humans have about same amount of hair as chimpanzees.

It's just that function of a human hair is not obvious, it is very thin and difficult to observe. Scientists aren't entirely sure why humans gradually lost protective effect of hair, but they say change adapted to fact that early humans sweated and were less susceptible to parasites like lice.

6. No matter how old you are, you can have mites in your eyelashes.

They can feed on aging skin cells and fat produced in human hair follicles. Under normal conditions, these mites are harmless to human body, with exception of some allergic reactions. The mites that live in eyelashes are one-third of a millimeter long and are almost transparent, making them invisible to naked eye.

7. The iron element in human body can make a nail about 4 cm long.

8. The body of an adult probably includes

7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms (27 zeros after 7).

9. Tens of trillions of cells work in your body every day.

This is what it looks like when white blood cells attack a parasite:

10. Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch are five important sensory functions of human body. When human body eventually dies, hearing is last thing to be lost.

Sight is most luxurious sense of human body, because process of creating vision requires most energy. When human body dies, a large amount of blood enters brain to increase oxygenation of brain, so when remaining energy and oxygen (producing ATP) in eyes is not enough to maintain normal vision function, vision will first disappear.

The generation of tactile sensations is also transmitted through stimulation and then a change in membrane potential. This process does not require much energy, but since blood pressure on surface of body drops sharply (drains into brain) when human body dies, stimulation receptors lose their function .

The essence of two senses of smell and taste is same, and their conduction depends on an enzymatic cascade reaction. This series of reactions requires a constant temperature. When a person dies, body temperature drops sharply, and such reactions will not be completed completely, so there will be no sensation of taste and smell.

Hearing conduction is carried out through hair cells in cochlear fluid, which convert sound signal into an electrical signal and then transmit it to the brain so that it eventually disappears.