Did you know that there are people with blue skin? That a earthquake can permanently change the length of days? And that dead people act as road markers on Mount Everest? Read more about these incredible – but true – facts here!
1. People with blue skin
A blue-skinned family lived in Kentucky, USA for several generations. The explanation for this incredible phenomenon was a combination of inbreeding and a rare genetic disease called ‘methemoglobinemia’, where an increased amount of methemoglobin in the blood turns the skin blue. Today, there are very few people with the condition (like the man on the right)
2. Dead mountaineers are road markers
There are over 200 deceased mountaineers on Mount Everest that today serve as waymarks for other climbers. The climber on the left is believed to have been leaning against a snowdrift that has since melted, giving him the upright position. Pictured on the right is ‘Green Boots’, an Indian mountaineer who died in 1996. He is lying on a spot that all mountaineers must pass on their way to the top of the mountain. Inside the cave behind him is also the body of an English climber from 2006
3. The starry sky shows our creation and origin
A human eye is made up of 130 million photoreceptors (vision cells). Each of these cells is made up of 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (100 trillion) atoms – more than all the stars in the Milky Way. Each atom in each of the eye’s cells was formed in the core of a star billions of years ago, and today they can be used to view the starry sky – and thus the energies released in the process of creating the eye’s atoms. In other words, we are looking at our own creation and origin when we observe the starry sky
4. 100 km traffic jam
The world’s worst traffic jam lasted 12 days and was 100 km long. The traffic jam occurred in 2010 on the Chinese highway 110, which connects Beijing and Yinchuan. Drivers could only travel about 1 km per day. The cause of the traffic jam was a combination of roadworks and an unusually high number of heavy trucks on the highway
5. Earthquakes can change the length of the day
Very strong earthquakes can permanently change the length of the Earth’s 24 hours because they cause the Earth to rotate faster. The reason The reason for the increased rotation speed is that the earthquakes slightly change the Earth’s axes and pull the Earth’s mass closer to its core – similar to a figure skater pulling their arms to spin faster in their pirouette
6. The bleeding glacier
The ‘Blood Falls’ glacier in Antarctica (South Pole) releases red water that looks like it is bleeding. However, the water is just iron-rich salt water from a closed ecosystem that exists beneath the glacier. The ecosystem and its draining water contain various bacteria that have survived for millions of years in the cold without light and oxygen
7. A city without roads
The Dutch town of Giethoorn has no roads or streets; all buildings are connected via canals and footbridges!
