1. About 69% of the freshwater on Earth is stored in glaciers and ice sheets.
According to Water in Crisis: A Guide to the World's Fresh Water Resources published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the seas hold just over 96% of the world's total water supply. But the majority of that is seawater.
Since 68.7% of the world's freshwater is covered in ice caps, glaciers, and ever-present snow, you must travel to the poles to find it.
2. The most severe droughts in 2,100 years occurred recently in Europe.
Since 2015, Europe has been hit by prolonged dry periods and sweltering temperatures, which have resulted in severe droughts. In an effort to identify the cause, research conducted under the direction of the University of Cambridge (and published on the website of the National Centers for Environmental Information) examined isotopes in the rings of ancient European oak trees in Central Europe that formed over thousands of years.
They found that the dry periods are a "result of human-caused climate change and associated shifts in the jet stream," according to EurekaAlert!
3. Hawaii is the best place in the world to watch rainbows.
Hawaii is the perfect place to visit if you enjoy watching rainbows and want to see as many as you can.
The American Meteorological Society reported in a study from 2021 that the region's "mountains produce sharp gradients in clouds and rainfall, which are key to abundant rainbow sightings." In terms of both quantity and quality of rainbows, Hawaii tops the list thanks to air pollution, pollen, and a lot of cresting waves.
4. Greenland contains petrified vegetation buried under 1.4 km of ice.
The Greenland Ice Sheet, which Britannica describes as the "largest and possibly the only relic of the Pleistocene glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere," covers over 80% of Greenland.
Has it, however, always been so icy? The huge sheet must have melted and then reformed at least once in the last million years, as evidenced by the discovery of "well-preserved fossil plants and biomolecules" at the bottom of a 1.4 km core sample that was obtained in 1966 near Camp Century.
5. Mount Everest has grown since it was last measured.
Although Mount Everest may not have physically grown since it reached adulthood a long time ago, the most recent measurement made by surveyors from China and Nepal shows that the mountain peak is taller than we previously believed.
According to NPR, previous observations have ranged from 29,002 feet above sea level in 1856 to 20,029 feet in 1955. But after a protracted procedure of using GPS equipment to measure the mountain, researchers have recently determined that Mount Everest is a massive 29,031.69 feet tall due to plate tectonics.
6. There are other countries besides North Korea and Cuba where Coca-Cola is not sold.
It's reassuring to know that you can always drink a Coca-Cola wherever you go. Well, virtually everywhere. Although this bubbly beverage is widely available, the BBC reports that it hasn't (officially) reached North Korea or Cuba. This is because the United States has long-standing trade embargoes on certain nations.
Another nation was added to the list in 2022. The Coca-Cola Company declared it will cease operations in Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. Just five months after the start of the conflict, the corporation completed its withdrawal from the biggest nation on earth.
7. You could die from eating the hottest chili pepper on earth.
The "weapons-grade" Dragon's Breath chili pepper is incredibly hot and dangerous. If you ate one, it might result in a form of anaphylactic shock that would burn and constrict your airways.
According to Mike Smith, the hobby grower and scientists from Nottingham University who created the Dragon's Breath, "I've tried it on the tip of my tongue and it just burned and burned."
So why create such a useless pepper? It turns out that the chili was originally created as a skin-numbing analgesic for use in medical treatments.
8. Dogs, not birds, are the namesakes of the Canary Islands.
The Canary Islands were named after a different species, despite the fact that it might seem safe to presume they were named after canary birds. Although the archipelago located off the coast of northwest Africa, it is actually a part of Spain.
Islas Canarias, the Spanish name for the region, is derived from the Latin Canariae Insulae, which means "island of dogs."
9. Microsoft's corporate headquarters in Washington state house the quietest room in the entire globe.
As the saying goes, silence is golden. And while it might not be as valuable as gems and gold to the majority of people, it was undoubtedly the main objective of those who constructed the world's quietest room.
According to CNN, the lab room at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, headquarters has a background noise level of -20.35 dBA, which is 20 decibels below the human hearing threshold and shattering previous records for the world's quietest places.
"As soon as one enters the room, one immediately feels a strange and unique sensation which is hard to describe," Hundraj Gopal, a speech and hearing scientist and the primary architect of the anechoic chamber at Microsoft, told CNN. "Most people find silence deafening, have ear fullness, or experience some ringing. The ambient noise is quite low, therefore very weak sounds become discernible. You can hear the movement as you turn your head. Your breathing sounds somewhat loud and is audible.
10. By 2040, the ozone layer on Earth will have largely recovered.
The ozone layer on Earth has seen severe damage as a result of pollution. The tenuous gas layer shelters our planet and shields us from the sun's deadly ultraviolet rays, therefore this is bad news for everyone. Fortunately, according to a 2022 report from the World Meteorological Organization, experts on climate change predict that the ozone layer will return to its 1980s level by the time we reach 2040.
The Montreal Protocol of 1987, which outlawed the use of one of the primary culprits for the damage, chlorofluorocarbons (CFOs), had a significant role in the recovery. CFOs have previously been widely used in aerosol cans, refrigerators, and dry-cleaning chemicals.
11. The country with the highest risk of earthquakes is Japan.
Earthquakes can be small vibrations that are hardly felt or powerful earth tremors that cause extensive damage. But for individuals who reside in some of the world's most earthquake-prone nations, such China, Indonesia, Iran, and Turkey, it is an unavoidable aspect of daily life.
Japan, however, reports the most earthquakes worldwide, according to the USGS.
12. The percentage of people who are living today is roughly 7% of all people who have ever lived.
Another interesting world fact to remember is this: The Population Reference Bureau estimates that more than 108 billion members of our species have been born since Homo sapiens first appeared on the planet 50,000 years ago. And a sizable portion of that number is still living today.
According to the agency, the proportion of people alive today to all humans who have ever lived is an astounding 7%.
13. The name Muhammad is reportedly the most common in the entire world.
Move aside. Muhammad is thought to be the most common name in the world, followed by John, James, Mary, and Jane. The majority of men and boys worldwide share this name, according to the BBC.
The Muslim custom of naming each firstborn son after the Islamic prophet is the reason for its popularity.
14.Purple is only present in the national flags of two nations.
In the middle of Nicaragua's flag is a rainbow with a purple band, whereas Dominica's flag has a depiction of a sisserou parrot, a bird with purple feathers. Due of these characteristics, only two flags in the entire globe employ the color purple.
15. The world's youngest nation is South Sudan.
Some nations have been around for hundreds of years, while others have a much longer history. However, South Sudan, a country in North Africa, only declared its independence from Sudan in 2011, making it the youngest nation in the world at the moment.
