Cycling – women’s 3 km unpaced standing start
The fastest cycling 3 km unpaced standing start (female) was 3 min 22.269 sec by Sarah Hammer (USA) in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on 11 May 2010.
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Cycling – women’s 1 hour unpaced standing start
The official UCI one-hour distance record from a standing start is 46.065 km by Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel (Netherlands) on 1 October 2003 in the Olympic velodrome in Mexico City, Mexico. The UCI’s “best performance” distance over one hour is 48.159 km by Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli (France) on 26 October 1996, also at the Olympic velodrome in Mexico City, Mexico. Did you know? Since 2000, the Union-Cyclist Internationale (UCI) have only accepted records set on a “standard, non-aero” bicycle. Results achieved using bicycles no longer approved by Continue reading →
Darkest manmade substance
The darkest man-made substance is a low density carbon nanotube array created by researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Zu-Po Yang, James A. Bur, Prof. Shawn-Yu Lin) and Rice University (Dr. Lijie Ci, Prof. P.M. Ajayan) (both USA). The substance demonstrated reflectance of 0.045% when tested at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on 24 August 2007
Fastest half marathon (female)
The fastest half marathon (female) was 1 hr 05 min 50 sec, by Mary Jepkosgei Keitany (Kenya) in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, on 18 February 2011.
Cycling, 200 m. unpaced flying start – men
9.572 sec Kevin Sireau (France) Moscow, Russia 30 May 2009
Cycling – women’s team 3 km standing start
The fastest cycling women’s team 3 km standing start was 3 min 19.569 sec by Sarah Hammer, Lauren Tamayo, and Dotsie Bausch for team USA at Aguascalientes, Mexico, on 12 May 2010.
Deadliest mountain to climb
Annapurna l, in the 55 km (34 mile) long Annapurna massif, has been climbed by 130 people, 53 of whom died along the way, giving the peak a 41% mortality rate – making it statistically the world’s most dangerous mountain. The latest fatality came in 2008 when Iñaki Ochoa de Olza (Spain) had a seizure and pulmonary oedema near the summit.
Deadliest lake
The lake responsible for the most deaths without drowning is Lake Nyos in Cameroon, west Africa, where toxic gases have claimed nearly 2,000 lives in recent decades. On one night in August 1986, between 1,600 and 1,800 people and countless animals were killed by a large natural release of carbon dioxide gas. Scientists disagree on the source of the Lake Nyos’ deadly gas. Some believe that the decomposition of organic material near the bottom of the lake causes the gas to build up, and seasonal Continue reading →
Deadliest heat wave
In 2010, the climate in the northern hemisphere summer was dominated by a series of freak heat waves that proved the most devastating in Russia, where up to 56,000 people died as a result of overheating, droughts, forest fires and smog. Among the victims were thousands of people who drowned during the summer as those with heatstroke – and drunk swimmers – took to pools and rivers to cool down. Russia experienced its highest ever temperatures on 11 July 2010, when the mercury reached 44.0°C Continue reading →
Deepest bat colony
The world’s deepest bat colony, comprising approximately 1,000 little brown bats (Myotis lucifrugus), spends each winter in a New York zinc mine, USA, at a record depth for any bat species of 1,160 m (3,805 ft), almost six times deeper than this species’ normal roosting depth.