Israeli scientists have inscribed the entire Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible onto a space less than half the size of grain of sugar. The tiny Bible appears to be the world’s smallest.
The nanotechnology experts at the Technion institute in Haifa say the text measures less than 0.5 square millimeter (0.01 square inch) surface. They chose the Jewish Bible to highlight how vast quantities of information can be stored in minimum amounts of space.
World’s smallest bible… ya, the black dot (Image courtesy of
Eastday)
The previous smallest known copy of the Bible measured 2.8 x 3.4 x 1 centimeters (1.1 x 1.3 x 0.4 inches), weighing 11.75 grams (0.4 ounces) and containing 1,514 pages, according to Guinness World Records spokeswoman Amarilis Espinoza. [Metro]
A new species of giant spitting cobra, measuring nearly nine feet and possessing enough venom to kill at least 15 people, has been discovered in Kenya.
Naja Ashei
WildlifeDirect said the cobras were the world’s largest and had been identified as unique. The species has been named Naja Ashei (Ashe’s Spitting Cobra) after James Ashe, who founded Bio-Ken snake farm on Kenya’s tropical coast where the gigantic serpents are found.
The aggressive reptile was previously identified as a brown-colored variant of the black-necked spitting cobra, though researchers had long suspected that it merited its own species. Now blood and tissue analysis have confirmed this theory to be true.
The snake dwells in the dry lowlands of north and east Kenya, as well as in Uganda and Ethiopia.
[Nationalgeographic and Reuters]
A giant Israeli flag was displayed in Masada, southern Israel on Sunday (Nov 25). Measured at 660 metres x 100 metres, and weighed 5.2 tonnes… the flag is officially declared by Guinness Book of Records as the largest flag in the world.
World’s largest flag (Image courtesy of
Chinaview)
I am not sure if it is a good idea to lay your flag on the sandy desert though; I have always been taught that national flag shouldn’t be touching the ground. Perhaps it’s a different culture… or perhaps some people were too obsessed in creating a world record and neglecting the basic rules.
A Jeff Koons sculpture of a stainless steel heart hanging from a golden bow sold Wednesday (Nov 14) for $23.6 million, setting an auction record for a work by a living artist, a Sotheby’s spokeswoman said.
The bright magenta “Hanging Heart,” considered one of Koons’ most important works, set records for any living artist at auction, Sotheby’s spokeswoman Lauren Gioia said, breaking the previous record set by Damien Hirst’s “Lullaby Spring,” which sold for $19.5 million at Sotheby’s in London in June. [IHT]
Jeff Koons’ Hanging Heart (Image courtesy of
Xinhuanet)
It is a lovely piece of art, but $23.6 million? I just can’t understand how artworks are priced.
The world’s tallest dog Gibson meeting Boo Boo the world’s smallest dog in Sacramento, California for Guinness World Records Day 2007.
Gibson meets Boo Boo (Image courtesy of
BBC, via
Spluch)
A crooked German church steeple has knocked the leaning tower of Pisa from the Guinness book of Records as the world’s most leaning building.
The tower in the village of Suurhusen in northern Germany applied in June for the title and this week had it confirmed that it had beaten the famous landmark in Pisa.
Guinness Book of Records officials confirmed it is leaning at a 5.19 degree angle compared to the 3.97 degree of the tower of Pisa.
The leaning church steeple in Germany (Image courtesy of
Telegraph)
Personally I don’t think the 2 is comparable. It’s not just about the angle, but the height as well… the German church seems no where near the height of the leaning tower of Pisa.
A clam dredged from icy Arctic waters is being hailed as the world’s longest-lived animal. Climate researchers at Bangor University in the United Kingdom recently counted 405 annual growth rings in the shells of a quahog clam, which was found in the deep waters off the northern coast of Iceland.
Quahog clams are known for their longevity. A 220-year-old taken from American waters in 1982 holds the official Guinness Book of World Records oldest animal title. Unofficially, the record belongs to a 374-year-old Icelandic clam housed in a German museum. [Nationalgeographic]
405-year-old quahog clam (Image courtesy of Bangor University)
A Singapore Airlines’ Airbus A380 took off on a historic journey Thursday (Oct 25) – the first commercial flight by the world’s largest jetliner that boasts luxurious suites, double beds and the quietest interior ever.
Airbus 380 takes off from the runway
With 455 passengers, some of whom paid tens of thousands of dollars for a seat in aviation history; the superjumbo soared into the sky on a 7 and 1/2 hour flight to Sydney that launches a new era in air travel. Also on board flight SQ380 are a crew of about 30 including four pilots.
Passengers clapped as the plane disengaged from the dock on schedule at 8am (0000gmt) and taxied to the runway that was widened and lengthened to accommodate the huge plane.
More cheers broke out 16 minutes later as the double-decker aircraft, powered by four Rolls Royce Trent 900 engines, lifted smoothly into the nearly cloudless sky tinged pink by the light of the early morning sun.
