Laughing came before language. How do we know? Some researchers tickled baby apes, which, beyond being adorable, showed that they share the same structure as ours and likely arose in our common ancestors millions of years ago. Language came about much later.
100 Mind-Blowing Structure Facts
Las Vegas’s new, 900-square-foot entertainment venue, Sphere, is the largest spherical structure in the world, said CNN. The structure was designed by architecture firm Populous and innovation firm ICRAVE.
The world’s quietest room is located at Microsoft’s headquarters in Washington state. In Building 87 of Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington lies the quietest room in the world. With a record-breaking background noise of -20.35 dBA, this room is 20 decibels below the minimum of human hearing. It is so silent that if you stay in it for long enough, you’ll start to hear your heartbeat, a deafening ringing in your ears, and the grinding of your bones. To achieve absolute silence, the room was constructed with an onion-like structure made of six layers of concrete and steel.
The world’s largest pyramid cannot be found in Egypt. The Great Pyramid of Cholula is found in Cholula, Puebla, Mexico and holds the record for the largest pyramid in the world. This structure is four times as big as the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Flamingos eat with their heads turned upside down. Flamingos are unable to eat normally due to the structure of its mouth. Their bills are made to filter food from the mud and water. They feed by coming through the mud with their feet and catching their prey in their beaks.
‘Metrophobia’ is the fear of poetry. If you don’t remember your literature classes as a good time, you may have had this phobia. The prefix metro- comes from the meter, which refers to the standard structure of a poem.
Camels have straight spines. One look at a camel would have you thinking, “What are you talking about? These funny facts are lies!” However, camel spines are no different than ours in structure. The hump on their back is not their spine – but an energy reserve entirely made of fat.
¼ of all your bones are in your feet. There are 26 bones and 33 joints in each foot. That makes 52 bones in both feet out of the 206 bones in our whole body – which makes foot bones more than 25% of the body’s total bone structure.
There were 10,297 balloons in Up. The balloons in Up aren’t computer-simulated, each one you see on the screen was inflated and tied to the structure.
Babies are born without kneecaps. Turns out, babies are as soft and delicate as they look. Babies may have more bones than the average fully-grown human, but they definitely won’t be doing any stunts anytime soon. Babies are born with a cartilaginous structure in their knees that will eventually develop into kneecaps by the time they are four years old.
You can’t see the Great Wall of China from space. You may have seen fact sites claiming that the Great Wall is the only man-made structure visible from space, but this is not the case. According to the Apollo astronauts, the Great Wall cannot be seen from space. However, city lights at night, roads, and the Pyramids of Giza are said to be visible.
Coral reefs are Earth’s largest living structure. Coral reefs are not only beautiful natural wonders but also the largest living structure on Earth. These underwater ecosystems are made up of colonies of tiny animals called coral polyps, which build calcium carbonate skeletons that accumulate over time and form the complex structures we know as coral reefs. Coral reefs are incredibly diverse and play a vital role in the ocean ecosystem, providing habitat and protection for many species, and acting as a natural barrier that helps to protect coastlines from storms and erosion. Unfortunately, coral reefs are under threat from a range of environmental factors, including ocean acidification, rising temperatures and global warming. ESA research has shown how our ocean waters have become more acidic over the last three decades and how this is having a detrimental effect on marine life. By using satellite technology to measure ocean colour, temperature and salinity, scientists can track changes in ocean chemistry and detect areas where acidification is occurring. Rising temperatures can also have a direct impact on coral reefs, causing coral bleaching, which occurs when corals expel the algae that live in their tissues and provide them with food. Coral bleaching can lead to the death of the coral, which can have knock-on effects on the wider ecosystem.
Earth has a squishy interior. Earth’s interior is not solid but rather has a semi-solid or ‘squishy’ consistency owing to high temperatures and pressures. This squishy consistency allows the mantle to flow and move over geological timescales, which is responsible for phenomena such as plate tectonics, volcanic activity and Earthquakes. One consequence of this squishy interior is a process known as post-glacial rebound. During the last ice age, large portions of Earth’s surface were covered by glaciers, causing the underlying mantle to deform and sink. As the glaciers melted and receded, the mantle slowly rebounded back to its original position over thousands of years, causing the land above it to rise. This process is still occurring today in places such as Canada, Scandinavia, and Greenland, where the land is still rebounding from the weight of the glaciers that once covered the region. Recent research has found that West Antarctica is rising faster than anywhere else in the world, thanks to data from ESA’s GOCE gravity mission. The study of post-glacial rebound provides important insights into the structure and behaviour of Earth’s interior, and how it responds to changes in the surface environment over long timescales.
World’s first skyscraper. The story of skyscrapers often begins in New York and Chicago from around 1884 with increasingly tall buildings. However, what is technically the world’s first skyscraper was built in Shropshire in 1796–7. Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings may not look like a skyscraper, but its Main Mill was the first building in the world to have an iron frame supporting the weight of the structure, the formula for every skyscraper ever built so that it has been dubbed the ‘Grandparent of Skyscrapers’.
Parent Agency: The NSA operates under the authority of the Department of Defence and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). This structure ensures coordination with other intelligence and defence entities.
Towering Structure: London’s The Shard is the tallest object on the European continent, standing at 1,107 feet (350 meters).
Structure: The Parliament is divided into two houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords, both of which have unique roles and memberships.
Iconic Structure: Big Ben, housed in the Elizabeth Clock Tower, is a notable landmark of the Houses of Parliament.