The smelliest species of frog is the suitably-named Venezuelan skunk frog (Aromobates nocturnus), whose vile-smelling skin secretion is released for defence purposes and actually contains the same stink-producing organosulphur compound that is present in the famously foul anal emissions released by skunks. Yet in spite of its awful stench, this extraordinary frog remained unknown to science until as recently as 1991 when it was finally described and named. Measuring 6.2 cm (2.44 in) long, it is the largest member of the poison-arrow frog family, Dendrobatidae.
The Venom Mini Dance Mat lets gamers play Dance Dance Revolution using their fingers instead of their feet. It measures 10 cm (4 in) wide by 11.5 cm (4.5 in) long and weighs just 20 g (0.7 oz), and is the world’s first hand-held dance mat.
The smallest unit of time is known as Planck’s time, 10**-43 seconds. It is the amount of time it takes the fastest thing, light, travelling at 3×10**8 metres per second, to cross the smallest distance, the Planck length, 10**-35 m. NB ** denotes superscript
In May 2010 a team from the UNSW Centre for Quantum Computer Technology (Australia) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA) announced their creation of an experimental transistor consisting of a quantum dot within a crystal of silicon. Measuring just 4 nm across, the transistor is made from 7 atoms of phosphorus and is around 10 times smaller than the smallest version used in commercial applications. Scientists used a scanning tunnelling microscope to manipulate the atoms one at a time to create a transistor that is
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Discounting Antarctic research stations, the farthest south that people permanently live on Earth is the small hamlet of Puerto Toro (55°04’59S) on the island of Navarino on the southern tip of Chile. In the last census taken in the area (2002), its population was recorded as just 36 people.
The unmanned spacecraft Helios 2 approached within 43.5 million km 27million miles of the Sun, carrying both US and West German instrumentation, on April 16, 1976 (? Highest velocity). Due for launch in 2015, NASA’s Solar Probe+ will attempt to study the Sun from as close as 6.2 million km (3.9 million miles), from within the Sun’s outer atmosphere or corona. Travelling at 200 km/sec (125 miles/sec), the spacecraft will have to survive temperatures of up to 1,420 C (2,600 F).
Sweden’s Jonas Jacobsson has won more medals than any other male athlete at the Paralympics. Having competed at every Games since Arnhem 1980 in the Netherlands, Jonas has amassed a record 27 shooting medals, including 16 golds. At Beijing 2008, he won three titles, in the Air Rifle Standing, the Free Rifle 3×40 and the Mixed Free Rifle Prone.
The most medals won by an individual at the Summer Paralympics is 46, by Trischa Zorn (USA) – 32 gold, nine silver and five bronze in swimming events between 1980 and 2004.
The most gold medals won by an individual at the Summer Paralympics is 32, by Trischa Zorn (USA) in swimming events between 1980 and 2004.
The longest submerged and unsupported patrol made public is 111 days (57,085 km 30,804 nautical miles) by HM Submarine Warspite (Cdr J. G. F. Cooke RN) in the South Atlantic from 25 November 1982 to 15 March 1983.