10 true facts you need to know Nerdy stuff to impress your pals, possibly
Read about this issue's cool stuff including stunning stras about terns, and the Tasmanian devil, the new BATMAN soldiers, how much time we spend outside and why Saudi Arabia isn't a good place for a garden
1 Long distance traveller
Each year the small 100 gram Arctic Tern flies from breeding grounds in the Arctic to the other end of the planet in Antarctica, and back again – a journey of 70,000km
2 Out there
The Kepler space telescope has identified 54 new planets outside our solar system that could have the right conditions for life. Five of the planets are roughly the size of Earth
3 Not out there
Just 17 minutes a day is the average amount of time people in the UK spend outdoors, according to a survey
4 Just deserts
In the oil-rich country of Saudi Arabia only two per cent of land is cultivated
5 Wakey-wakey
A 2009 survey found that one in 10 students had taken some sort of brain boosting pill, such as Ritalin or Modafinil to help them complete a brilliant essay or nail an exam. On some US campuses, the figure has reached one in four
6 Number 1 in the charts
In 1857 French scientist, Leon Scott, recorded sound using a hog bristle to record on to paper that had been blackened with candle soot on a device called the phonoautograph
7. Superhero support
US Air Force scientists have developed a small computer that soldiers wear during missions. Called the Battlefield Air Targeting Man-Aided kNowledge (BATMAN) tells soldiers their supply position and recommends suitable tactics
8 Going out for a walk
Each year, one-and-a-half million wildebeest are joined by 400,000 zebra and 200,000 Thompson’s gazelles on a circular migration on the Serengeti plains in Tanzania.
9 Forget Rubic, meet Deventer
Dutch puzzle maker Oskar van Deventer has created a 17 x 17 x 17 tile using 3D printing technology to build a brain-baffling cube
10 The real Taz
The fearsome Tazmanian Devil has a jaw that the strongest bite force per unit mass of any living mammal. It bites as hard as a dog four times its size and can even bite through a metal trap.
