Rainforests are home to about 50% of all known plant and animal species, even though they cover only 6% of the Earth’s surface.
Every carbon atom in your body has cycled through the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and rocks many times over billions of years.
Rainforests are home to about 50% of all known plant and animal species, even though they cover only 6% of the Earth’s surface.
Bristlecone pines in California are some of the oldest living trees on Earth. Methuselah, one of the oldest, is estimated to be over 4,800 years old!
The Great Barrier Reef, spanning over 2,300 kilometers off the coast of Australia, is the largest living structure on the planet, visible even from space.
Due to tectonic activity, Mount Everest grows about 4 millimeters each year, slowly rising toward the sky.
Deep in the Amazon, a fungi species called Ophiocordyceps infects ants’ brains, causing them to climb to high places before dying, allowing the fungus to spread its spores.
Africa’s Lake Chad and the Aral Sea in Asia were once vast freshwater lakes but have been shrinking due to climate and human usage. The “disappearing lakes” phenomenon is a warning about our planet’s fragile water resources.
The hottest place on Earth is the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia, where temperatures in certain areas reach up to 145°F (63°C), with boiling acid pools and sulfur springs.
Atmospheric rivers—streams of vapor hundreds of miles wide—carry vast amounts of water, sometimes more than the Amazon River, causing heavy rain when they reach land.
Almost all the gold ever found on Earth came from meteorites that bombarded the planet over 4 billion years ago. Gold is truly an “alien” element!