It’s a story that could have come out of a thriller novel, and it’s about the oldest known watch in the world, which was made in 1505 by Peter Henlein. The Pomander Watch (‘Bisamapfeluhr’), as it is known, was confirmed by committee of experts as having been the work of Peter Henlein in 1505.
How much time one could survive in space without a suit, whether there are truly 24 hours in a day, why dinosaurs cannot live in the present day (shock: ‘Jurassic Park’ is complete fiction), where most of the volcanos are, if there is a river beneath the Amazon, how long since it has rained on the driest place on earth, and what percent of the world’s species we have discovered (hint: not many), and much more more.
Here are 50 things you should know about the planet we live on.
The peacock’s iridescent colors are not actually pigment colors at all, but are reflections off the structure of the feathers, which have patterned nano-fiber components. Slight changes in the spacing of the nano-fibers produce different colors much in the same way as iridescent colors reflect off a film off brown/black oil or a butterfly’s wing. But they are none less beautiful for that.
I went to the theater recently and saw a typical raunchy comedy called ‘Neighbors.’ Much to my surprise, I saw something I cannot remember ever seeing in a mass-marketed movie: a 3D scanner and 3D printer being used by the main characters in a funny circumstance. (For said circumstance, please watch the movie because it cannot be discussed here.)
Contemplating the 30-meter-high ancient pyramid at Mayan archeological site Chichén Itzá in the blazing Yucatán sunlight, I was awestruck by the structure’s complexity. Not just because of the pure historical ramifications of the pyramid and temple , but also because of its timekeeping capabilities. Chichén Itzá’s most famous structure was actually built to be the world’s largest calendar And this at a time when calendars didn’t even exist!
The most common choice for classic dress watches has to be gold, but have you ever wondered where that gold originally came from? And by “originally” I’m not referring to a gold mine on earth but the original source of the gold even before it arrived on our planet. Spoiler alert: it involves an explosion, a very big explosion!