Curious Facts
Page 15
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The most commonly used letter in Russian is O.
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The Siriona Indians of Bolivia only have words for counting up to three. For greater quantities they just use words for "much" or "many".
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Brazil nuts are 1000 times more radio active than other foods. Their high concentration of radium is due to the extensive roots sytems of the Bertholletia excelsa tree on which they grow. 1
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According to urban scaling, as cities double in size, wealth per capital increases by 15%, as does crime, innovation and other socioeconomic indicators. "As a result larger cities are disproportionally the centers of innovation, wealth and crime, all to approximately the same degree." 2
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The Earth gains appoximately 40,000 tonnes in mass each year due to dust falling from space.
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The Earth loses approximately 95,000 tonnes of hydrogen and 1,600 tonnes of helium every year. The Earth makes a net loss of appoximately 55,000 tonnes each year, when the gains from dust and global warming are added to the losses from gasses and energy. 3
1.
Turner, R.C., Radley, J.M. Mayneord, V.W. The Naturally Occurring Alpha Ray Activity of Foods. Health Physics 1: 268 - 275; 1958.
2.
Luís M. A. Bettencourt et al. Urban Scaling and Its Deviations: Revealing the Structure of Wealth, Innovation and Crime across Cities. PLoS ONE 5(11): e13541. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013541. 2010.
3.
BBC Magazine: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16787636
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