The highest known insurance valuation for a painting is $100million (£53.55 million) assessed for the move of The Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519, Italy) from the Louvre in Paris, France, to Washington, DC, USA and then New York City, New York, USA for a special exhibition 14 December 1962 to 12 Mar 1963. However, insurance was not concluded because the cost of the highest security precautions was less than that of the premiums. It was painted c. 1503–07 and measures 77x53cm Continue reading →

The HERCULES Petawatt Laser at the University of Michigan, USA, can produce a focused laser beam with an intensityof 2×1022 W/cm2 (20 billion trillion watts per square centimeter). The laser is fired in a pulse lasting just 30 million billionths of a second and its intensity is equivalent to focusing all the sunlight that hits the Earth onto a single grain of sand.

The official Fédération Equestre Internationale record for high jump is 2.47 m (8 ft 1.25 in) by Huaso ex-Faithful, ridden by Capt. Alberto Larraguibel Morales (Chile) at Viña del Mar, Santiago, Chile on 5 February 1949. The committee stated that in order for it to be beaten, 2.49 m must be cleared. http://www.horsesport.org/fei/pdfs/reference/03_02/jumping-20th-Part2.PDF

The highest score ever achieved in the letter-sorting mini game in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo, 2002) is 36, achieved by Pierre Barthod (France) and verified by Twin Galaxies via video on 1 March 2005. Featured in Guinness World Records Gamers Edition 2011

The highest living land predator is the snow leopard (Uncia uncia) whose range extends across twelve countries in the mountainous regions of Central and southern Asia. Amongst the highest altitudes at which this rarely-seen cat has been photographed is by cameras hidden at 5,800 m (19,000 ft). Moving footage of a snow leopard hunting a markhor (a species of ibex-related wild goat) were famously captured by a camera crew in remote mountains on the Afghan/Pakistan border, for the acclaimed Planet Earth series (BBC, 2006). [Note Continue reading →

Researchers at ETH Zurich´s Department of Power Electronics announced in November 2008 that they had created a drive system which can spin at a rate of one million revolutions per minute. The drive system has a titanium shell which prevents it from flying apart at these rotational speeds.

Mike Forsythe (USA) and his working dog Cara dived from an aircraft and deployed a parachute at the record altitude of 30,100 ft (9,174 m). Cara was strapped to Forsythe ­ a trainer for U.S. Special Operations Units in a K9 Storm aerial insertion vest, a harness specially designed for dogs of war deployed on aerial missions. The K9 Storm Aerial Insertion Vest has a built-in load bearing harness system rated to 2500 lb (1,134 kg). It is the primary piece of equipment used by Continue reading →

The highest margin of victory in National Basketball Association (NBA) playoff history is 58 points in a game won by the Denver Nuggets (USA), 121-63, over the New Orleans Hornets (USA) on 27 April 2009, matching the Minneapolis Lakers (USA) victory over the St. Louis Hawks (USA), 133-75, in 1956

Olympus Mons is the highest mountain in the solar system. Its peak is 25 km (15 miles) above its base – nearly three times the height of Mt. Everest. Olympus Mons is desginated a shield volcano because of its shape. Despite its great height, it has a very gentle slope. Olympus Mons is over twenty times wider than it is high. It is the same kind of volcano as the active volcanoes currently ‘creating’ the Hawaiian Islands. The line around Olympus Mons is a ‘basal Continue reading →

The highest point scoring average in a WNBA career was achieved by Cynthia Cooper (USA) with 21.0. Cooper has scored 2,601 points in 124 games for the Houston Comets (USA) from 1997-2000 and then 1 more season in 2003.