The highest skateboard ollie measured 45 in (114.3 cm) and was achieved by Aldrin Garcia (USA) at the Maloof High Ollie Challenge in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on 15 February 2011. Garcia was required to ollie over a rigid high bar without making contact with any part of his body or board. An ollie consists of raising all four wheels of the skateboard off flat ground simultaneously.
The smallest centipede in the world called Hoffman’s dwarf centipede ( Nannarrup hoffmani ) measures 10.3 mm (0.4 in) long and has 41 pairs of legs. Ten of the centipedes were collected in Central Park, New York, USA in 1998 by researchers Liz Johnson.and Kefyn Catley of the American Natural History Museum and sent to Richard Hoffman, curator of invertebrates at the Virginia Museum of Natural History. Hoffman sent the centipede to experts in Italy who officially recognised it in 2002 naming it in his honour.
Weighing only 16.65 g (0.58 oz) and measuring 5 x 3.4 x 1.2 cm (2 x 1.37 x 0.47 in) the Kestrel Autopilot is smallest and lightest full-featured autopilot currently on the market. Manufactured by Procerus Technologies (USA), it is designed for use in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with surveillance and reconnaissance applications. It can guide micro and mini UAVs and provides autonomous flight control with the Global Positioning System (GPS) waypoint navigation and autonomous take-off, flight and auto-landing capabilities. Kestrel has a TM sign
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In August 2004 the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), in Boulder, Colorado, USA, unveiled a prototype atomic clock the size of a grain of rice. With a volume of less than 10 mm³ (0.0006 in³), and drawing just 75 milliwatts of power, the chip-scale vapour atomic clock is accurate to one second in 3,000 years. http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/8/9/2/1
The smallest animal currently being trained to potentially detect land mines is the honeybee (Apis mellifera), which measures 12 mm (0.5 in) long. In August 2003, field tests led by researchers from the University of Montana, in cooperation with Sandia National Laboratories, S&K Electronics and Montana State University (all USA), noted a 98% success rate in tests observing the insects hovering in response to chemicals leaking into the air from buried explosives. The 98% refers to tests with chemical vapour concentrations as parts per billion.
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At just 2.4 kg (5.3 lb), the US Navy’s new Spike missile is significantly smaller than any other missile of its kind. It was originally intended to be used with a lightweight hand-held launcher, but its size meant it was perfectly suited to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Spike’s highly precise targeting system combines an imaging electro-optical sensor with laser guidance and is capable of locking on to a target as small as a motorcycle.
The world’s smallest electric motor measures one nanometre across and consists of a single molecule of butyl methyl sulphide on a copper surface. The molecule spins under the influence of electric charge introduced by the tip of a scanning tunnelling microscope. This work was achieved by scientists at the Department of Chemistry, Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA, and announced in September 2011.
The smallest dog in terms of length is Heaven Sent Brandy, a female chihuahua who measured 15.2 cm (6 in) from the nose to the tip of the tail on 31 January 2005. Brandy lives with her owner, Paulette Keller in Largo, Florida, USA. Brandy’s date of birth is 31 December 2003.
The smallest dependent territory in the world is Kingman Reef, an unincorporated US territory, with an area of 0.01 sq km.
As of 7 July 2006, the record for the smallest living horse is Thumbelina, a miniature sorrel brown mare who measures 44.5 cm (17.5 in) to the withers and is owned by Kay and Paul Goessling (Both USA) who live on the Goose Creek Farm Inc, St Louis, Missouri, USA.