oo n M
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ays to ride t
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The Parker Solar Probe is the fastest spacecraft ever built – eventually it should reach speeds of 430,000 miles an hour, nearly 24 times faster than a space shuttle
pe
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ed of a
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The Moon has its own quakes, called
moonquakes
People have discovered diamonds on Earth that came from a planet that no longer exists in our solar system
Temperatures on Venus can reach nearly 480°C – that’s hot enough to melt lead
The farthest star we’ve ever observed was about 9 billion light years away
More facts that sizzle Go to page 172 88 • SPACE
A meteor is an object that enters Earth’s atmosphere and produces light. A meteor that appears brighter than Venus is called a fireball
Light travels from the Sun to Earth in 8 minutes and 20 seconds
think g s r e 00k arch Rese an 44,0 ace th sp more cks from day. of ro arth each ly hit E e are on Som size of a the ck of spe t dus
A day on Jupiter is only about 10 hours
We can go b i g g e r
SPACE • 89
The space rock that hit Earth and brought about the extinction of most of the dinosaurs was an asteroid about 12km wide – that’s the same as 1,131 buses lined up end to end
Scientists think dinosaurs may have danced to attract mates like birds do today
90 • DINOSAURS
ecarus
Tampa, Florida, U.S.A., is home to , a 7.6m-tall Tyrannosaurus rex sculpture made of recycled material. Even its skin is recycled – it’s made of orange construction fencing
Sc
Egg-cellent!
ien tis sco t ver s dinos ed aur fo ssils o n ent every contin a ctic r a t n en A v e —
hav e di
Some dinosaur laid blue s eggs
DINOSAURS • 91
Most bird eggs start out white, but as they develop some turn shades of brown, green, blue and even black
The colour of a chicken’s earlobe often determines what colour its eggs will be
92 • EGGS
Go to page 160
More colour, please
The winner of the
7
WORLD
hard-boiled
EGG EATING CHAMPIONSHIPS 44444444+44444444 downed 141 eggs in 8 minutes
Yum yum!
EGGS • 93
Every yea r contestan ts in Oatman, A rizo U.S.A., try na, to fry an egg on the pav e using only ment the heat from the S un
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In the Netherlands, breakfast sometimes includes bread sprinkled with chocolate pieces called hagelslag, or ‘hailstorm’
Take a coffee break
Astronauts on board Apollo 11, the first spacecraft to land on the Moon, took Kellogg’s Corn Flakes into space, but they brought them back to Earth uneaten
Coffee beans are actually seeds of the coffee cherry, a type of fruit
BREAKFAST • 95
Legend says that a goatherd from Ethiopia discovered coffee after
Quill writing pens were made from just five of a goose or swan’s wing feathers
Goats’ pupils are shaped like rectangles
Famous Roman author Pliny the Elder cleaned his teeth with a porcupine quill
four
noticing how energized his goats were after eating the plant
has
sides
A rectangle
Fluoride is a mineral that comes from rocks. It’s found in toothpaste and helps protect your teeth
The largest known dinosaur with feathers was a 7m-long tyrannosaur that weighed as much as 10 male gorillas
Gorilla nose prints are like human fingerprints – no two are the same 9 6 • F A C T F R E N Z Y
A group of giraffes is called a tower
There are four different species of giraffe
Ancient cave artists used paint with glitter – in the form of a shimmery, crushed-up mineral called mica – in their art
s
The human nose can detect one trillion dif fe rent sce nt
Bactrian camels are able to smell the scent of certain water bacteria, allowing the camels to locate water from up to 80km away
Every seven years, the Eiffel Tower receives about 54,000kg worth of fresh paint
You could find more than a billion bacteria in just a teaspoon of dirt
Dig deeper
FACT FRENZY • 97
gr a ss es c
rie Tall prai
98 9 • ROOTS
an h ave 4m -long he dirt root systems that extend into t
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ROOTS • 99
s
FACTopia!
Follow the Trail of 400 Facts Author: Kate Hale Illustrator: Andy Smith Ages: 8+ years Price: £12.99 Format: Hardback Extent: 208 pages Trim size: 230 x 170 mm Pub date: 6th May 2021 ISBN: 978-1-9129207-0-9 Author Kate Hale is a writer, editor and professional fun fact finder. A former executive editor for National Geographic Kids’ Books, she’s edited or written about everything from dog communication to wacky roadside attractions, biographies of inspiring scientists to profiles of the cutest animals on Earth. Kate also co-created and hosted the award-winning kids radio program The Weird But True Show! on SiriusXM, which covers weird but totally true facts about the human body, animals, space and everything in between. When she’s not hunting for new facts, Kate enjoys gardening, playing video games and planning road trips to national parks. She currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia, USA, with her husband and rescue dog. She lives near Washington, DC. Illustrator Andy Smith is an award-winning illustrator, and studied illustration at the University of Brighton and the Royal College of Art, London. His work combines illustration and typography to create images that have humour, energy and optimism executed with a handmade, hand-printed, tactile feel. When not working, Andy can be found in the studio, screen printing books and posters. He lives by the sea in Hastings, East Sussex, UK. His favourite colour is blue.
ISBN 978-1-912920-70-9
9 781912 920709
Enter a world of perfectly amazing facts – which connect together in surprising and hilarious ways! •
• • •
Every one of the 400 facts in the book is connected, which takes the reader on a journey, leaping from topic to topic in fun and surprising ways Covers a vast range of topics, including space, bones, dinosaurs, spiders, crocodiles, robots, kings and queens, pharaohs and more Features more than 300 fabulously witty colour illustrations and photographs This is the first of an 8-book series – with FACTopia 2! being launched in autumn 2021
Did you know that a squid has a brain the shape of a doughnut? Or that some butterflies drink turtle tears? Welcome to FACTopia, a marvellous place where every fact is delightful and astounding! Each fact in the book is connected to the next in an enthralling web of information. These connections are wacky and wonderful – you will move from facts about dinosaurs to facts about eggs to facts about breakfasts to facts about goats. This ingenious and playful book is a fact-filled adventure trail and launches a major new series.
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