18/08/2022
5Research shows that all blue-eyed people may be related.
Close-up on man's blue eye
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At least, they may share the same distant ancestor. After studying the DNA of blue-eyed individuals from Scandinavia, Turkey, Jordan, and India, Danish researchers found that they all had identical gene sequences for eye color. They believe this trait comes from a single individual, called the "founder," whose genes mutated between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. Before that, everyone had varying shades of brown eyes.
6Charles Darwin's personal pet tortoise didn't die until recently.
Tortoise
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Okay, technically she wasn't his pet, but after his tour of the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin brought back a five-year-old tortoise he named Harriet. She outlived her adopter by 124 years, ultimately making it to a whopping 176 years old. Harriet lived out her final years as part of the family of Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin in Australia, until she passed away in 2006.
7The average person will spend six months of their life waiting for red lights to turn green.
Traffic light glowing red
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Driving can be a fun and liberating activity—until you get stuck at a red light, that is. The National Association of City Transportation Officials says that the average time spent waiting at a red light is 75 seconds, accounting for approximately 20% of all driving time. That's a whole lot of time doing nothing and just another reason to switch to public transportation.
8A bolt of lightning contains enough energy to toast 100,000 slices of bread.
Lightning storm over city
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If you consider that each bolt of lightning contains more than 5 billion Joules of energy, then the average 1,000-watt, two-slice toaster could be powered for 84,000 minutes with just one strike. That's just enough time to toast about 100,000 slices of bread, bagels, English muffins—whatever you prefer.
