Octopuses Have Three Hearts
Two of them pump blood through the gills; a third sends it round the rest of the body. The two gill hearts actually stop beating when an octopus swims, which is part of why these escape artists usually prefer to crawl.
Bananas Are Berries, Strawberries Aren’t
Botanically, a berry is a fruit produced from a single ovary with seeds embedded in the flesh. Bananas qualify. Strawberries — whose tiny “seeds” are actually individual fruits clinging to the outside — don’t.
Honey Never Spoils
Edible honey has been recovered from 3,000-year-old Egyptian tombs. Its exceptionally low moisture, high sugar, and naturally acidic pH create an environment so hostile that bacteria and most fungi simply cannot grow.
The Eiffel Tower Grows in Summer
On hot days the iron lattice expands by as much as six inches. The same thermal expansion makes the tower lean slightly away from the sun, since the side facing it warms faster than the side in shade.
A Day on Venus Is Longer Than Its Year
Venus rotates so slowly that one full turn on its axis takes 243 Earth days, while a single orbit around the Sun takes only 225. Stranger still: it spins backwards — the Sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
Sharks Are Older Than Trees
Sharks first appeared roughly 450 million years ago. Trees — with their distinctive woody trunks and deep root systems — only evolved about 350 million years ago. The predators had a 100-million-year head start.
Earth’s Day Was Once Just 6 Hours Long
Shortly after the Moon formed about 4.5 billion years ago, Earth spun much faster, and a day lasted only about 6 hours. Tidal interactions with the Moon have slowed Earth’s rotation ever since.
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