Top Ten Fastest Mammals

#1 - Cheetah (71mph / 114kmh)

A member of the cat family, the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) leads the way as the world's fastest mammal. Capable of speeds between 70-75 miles per hour, the cheetah can run at this speed for up to 1,500 feet (460m), and has been recorded accelerating from 0-60mph in just 3 seconds - faster than most sports cars.

#2 - Pronghorn Antelope (57mph / 95kmh)

The Pronghorn Antelope (Antilocapra americana), or Pronghorn Buck, is a hoofed mammal native to North America. It is built for maximum predator evasion, with speeds recorded varying from 40-57mph. Although slower than the cheetah, the Pronghorn is capable of maintaining its top speed over much longer distances due to its large heart and lungs.

#3 - Blue Wildebeest (50mph / 80kmh)

One of two species of wildebeest, the Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) is a grazing animal found in Southern and East Africa. With so many natural predators including lions, hyenas, cheetahs and crocodiles, the blue wildebeest move in large migratory herds and are capable of speeds up to 50mph when necessary.

#4 - Lion (50mph / 80kmh)

At one time the second most common mammal in the world after humans, the Lion (Panthera leo) is these days found mostly in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The second largest living cat after the tiger, the lion can achieve speeds of up to 50 miles per hour when hunting its prey which can range from warthogs to elephants.

#5 - Springbok (50mph / 80kmh)

The Springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) is a medium sized gazelle, earning its name from its tendecy to leap into the air while running to attract a female or evade a predator, a behaviour known as 'pronking'. Most commonly found in south and southwestern Africa it can reach running speeds of up to 50mph / 80kmh.

#6 - Brown Hare (48mph / 77kmh)

The smallest animal on our list of the top ten fastest mammals, the Brown Hare is native to much of Europe and Western Asia. Slightly larger than a rabbit, it is a strictly herbivorous mammal that feeds on many types of vegetation throughout the year. With a number of natural predators, the Brown Hare is a naturally shy animal and is capable of reaching 48mph to avoid capture.

#7 - Red Fox (48mph / 77kmh)

The Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes) is a relatively small carnivorous mammal capable of running speeds of 48mph / 77kmh, incidentally the same as one of their prey, the Brown Hare. With natural populations of red foxes in the United States, Europe, North Africa and Asia, the red fox has the widest range of any terrestrial carnivore.

#8 - Grant's Gazelle (47mph / 76kmh)

The Grant's Gazelle (Gazella granti) herivorous mammal found on open gras plains in East Africa. With the world's fastest land animal, the cheetah, being one of its natural predators, it needs to be quite speedy across the ground and can build up to a fastest speed of over 45mph.

#9 - Thomson's Gazelle (47mph / 76kmh)

Similar in appearance to the Grant's Gazelle, the Thomson's Gazelle (Gazella thomsoni) is probably the best known of the gazelle genus. Native to Africa's savannahs and grasslands, most notably the Serengeti, the Thomson's Gazelle will migrate in herds of hundreds or thousands. It can evade predators through its ability to maintain speeds of up to 47mph while turning quickly and 'pronking' to confuse chasers.

#10 - Horse (45mph / 72kmh)

The Horse (Equus caballus) is a common and highly domesticated animal. They have been used for centuries to carry humans and goods as well as pull objects such as ploughs and carts. Through breeding horses have also been made to specialise in certain tasks, such as racing, and it is here that horses have been recorded reaching speeds of 45mph.

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10 Most Famous Falling Towers

10 Most Famous Falling Towers

01. Church Suurhusen, Germany

Suurhusen late medieval building in the region of East Friesland in the north-west of Germany. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it was the most inclined tower in the world, although in 2010 new Capital Gate tower in Abu Dhabi broke this record. Suurhusen spire remains the most leaning tower in the world, the slope of which was ahead of world-famous Leaning Tower of Pisa by 1.22 degrees.

02.  Big Ben, London, UK

Clock Tower, the British Parliament (better known as Big Ben) is inclined to the north-west by 0.26 degrees or 43.5sm, according to documents that were recently released. The level of the slope increased to 0.9 millimeters per year since 2003, affects the slope of permanent underground work and the London underground.

03. The two towers of Bologna, Italy

The two towers Asinelli and Garisenda in Bologna steadily declining despite all the efforts of city officials, high tower is a smaller but more Asinelli rejected the Garisenda, its vertical deviation is 3.22 m is

04. The tower of the church Frankenhausen, Germany

Tower on a hillside on the outskirts of the city, is constantly exposed to strong winds, engineers noticed that the speed with which the tower falls now is 6 cm per year. In this case, it may reach a tipping point over the next decade or so. Local and state officials agreed to spend $ 1.5 million to try to stabilize the tower.

05. Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy

Built on soft clay tower started falling a few years after construction began. Upon completion of construction in 1350, the tower leaned about four and a half feet. By 1990, the tower leaned more on the 4 m authorities have spent almost two million pounds of lead ingots on which were to be placed on one of its sides to prevent it from her fall.

06. Tower Nevyansk, Russia

Tower Nevyansk also decreases. The tower is located in the center Nevyansk and is one of the most famous in the Middle Urals. Construction was financed by Peter the Great and was built in the first half of the 18th century, known in Russia builder Akinfiy Demidov. The height of the tower is 57.5 meters. According to recent measurements, the deflection of the top of the tower with a right angle to the present 2.20 m. The exact date of construction of the tower is unknown, various historical sources mention dates between 1721 and 1745.

07. Tiger Hill Pagoda

Tiger Hill Pagoda tower or Huqiu is located in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province. The tower was built in the later period of the Five Dynasties (907-960 AD). The tower rises to a height of 47 meters. This seven-storey building, built of blue brick octagons. More than a thousand years, gradually leaning tower because of the impact forces of nature. The slope of the towers 2.32 meters. The whole structure weighs about 7 million kg.

 08. The Burana Tower, Italy

The Burana Tower, or St. Martin's Church is located on the Venetian island of Burano. The building was built in the 15th century, not falling leash because it relies on the adjacent building

09. The church Oude Kerk, the Netherlands

Oude Kerk (Old Church), nicknamed the church Oude Jan ("Old John"), is the Gothic Protestant church in the old city center of Delft, The Netherlands. Height of 75 meters, it otklanena to 1.98 cm from the vertical.

10. The Tower of Bedum, Netherlands

The Tower of Bedum in the northern Dutch town of Bedum, also declined more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. height of 55.86m, Pisa's tower leans about 4 meters, while the tower leans 2.61m Bedum in (8.6 feet) at a height of 35.7m.

Top 10 Accidental Inventions

Top 10 Accidental Inventions

 

Louis Pasteur once said, "chance favors the prepared mind." That's the genius behind all these accidental inventions - the scientists were prepared. They did their science on the brink and were able to see the magic in a mistake, set-back, or coincidence.

Disagree with our ranking? Then cast your vote at the end and tell us who you think should be number one.

No. 10 - Saccharin

Saccharin, the sweetener in the pink packet, was discovered because chemist Constantin Fahlberg 

didn't wash his hands after a day at the office. Prepare to get icked. The year was 1879 and Fahlberg was 

trying to come up with new and interesting uses for coal tar. After a productive day at the office, he went home 

and something strange happened. He noticed the rolls he was eating tasted particularly sweet. 

He asked his wife if she had done anything interesting to the rolls, but she hadn't. They tasted normal to her. 

Fahlberg realized the taste must have been coming from his hands -- which he hadn't washed. 

The next day he went back to the lab and started tasting his work until he found the sweet spot.

No. 9 - Smart Dust 

Most people would be pretty upset if their homework blew up in their faces and crumbled into a bunch of tiny pieces. 

Not so student Jamie Link. When Link was doing her doctoral work in chemistry at the University of California, 

San Diego, one of the silicon chips she was working on burst. She discovered afterward, however, that the tiny pieces 

still functioned as sensors. The resulting "smart dust" won her the top prize at the Collegiate Inventors Competition in 2003. 

These teensy sensors can also be used to monitor the purity of drinking or seawater, to detect hazardous chemical 

or biological agents in the air, or even to locate and destroy tumor cells in the body.

No. 8 - Coke

There are many stories of accidentally invented food: the potato chip was born when cook George Crum 

(yes, really his name!) tried to silence a persnickety customer who kept sending french fries back to the kitchen 

for being soggy; Popsicles were invented when Frank Epperson left a drink outside in the cold overnight; and ice cream 

cones were invented at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. But no food-vention has had as much success as Coke. 

Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton was trying to make a cure for headaches. He mixed together a bunch of ingredients -

and don't ask, because we don't know; The recipe is still a closely guarded secret. It only took eight years of being sold

 in a drug store  before the drink was popular enough to be sold in bottles. 

No. 7- Teflon

After all the damage they've done to the ozone layer, chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, are persona non grata. 

Back in the 1930s, however, they were (pardon the pun) the hot new thing in the science of refrigeration. 

Young DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett was working to make a new a new kind of CFC. 

He had a theory that if he could get a compound called TFE to react with hydrochloric acid, 

he could produce the refrigerant he wanted. So, to start his experiment Plunkett got a whole bunch of TFE gas,

 cooled it and pressured it in canisters so it could be stored until he was ready to use it. 

When the time came to open the container and put the TFE and hydrochloric acid together so they could react,

 nothing came out of the canister. The gas had disappeared. Only it hadn't. Frustrated and angry, 

Plunkett took off the top of the canister and shook it. Out came some fine white flakes. 

Luckily for everyone who's ever made an omelet, he was intrigued by the flakes 

and handed them off to other scientists at DuPont.

No. 6 - Vulcanized Rubber

Charles Goodyear had been waiting years for a happy accident when it finally occurred. 

Goodyear spent a decade finding ways to make rubber easier to work with while being resistant to heat and cold. 

Nothing was having the effect he wanted. One day he spilled a mixture of rubber, sulfur and lead onto a hot stove. 

The heat charred the mixture, but didn't ruin it. When Goodyear picked up the accident, 

he noticed that the mixture had hardened but was still quite usable. At last! 

The breakthrough he had been waiting for! His vulcanized rubber is used in everything from tires, 

to shoes, to hockey pucks. 

No. 5 - Plastic

In 1907 shellac was used as insulation in electronics. It was costing the industry a pretty penny to import shellac,

 which was made from Southeast Asian beetles, and at home chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland thought he might turn a profit 

if he could produce a shellac alternative. Instead his experiments yielded a moldable material that could take high temperatures 

without distorting. Baekeland thought his "Bakelite" might be used for phonograph records, but it was soon clear that 

the product had thousands of uses. Today plastic, which was derived from Bakelite, is used for everything from telephones

 to iconic movie punch lines. 

No. 4 - Radioactivity

Two words that you don't ever want to hear said in the same sentence are "Whoops!" and "radioactive." 

But in the case of physicist Henri Becquerel's surprise discovery, it was an accident that brought radioactivity to light. 

Back in 1896 Becquerel was fascinated by two things: natural fluorescence and the newfangled X-ray. 

He ran a series of experiments to see if naturally fluorescent minerals produced X-rays 

after they had been left out in the sun. 

One problem - he was doing these experiments in the winter, and there was one week with a long stretch of overcast skies. 

He left his equipment wrapped up together in a drawer and waited for a sunny day. 

When he got back to work, Becquerel realized that the uranium rock he had left in the drawer had imprinted itself 

on a photographic plate without being exposed to sunlight first. 

There was something very special about that rock. Working with Marie and Pierre Curie, 

he discovered that that something was radioactivity. 

No. 3 - Mauve

Talk about strange connections - 18-year-old chemist William Perkin wanted to cure malaria;

 instead his scientific endeavors changed the face of fashion forever and, oh yeah, helped fight cancer. 

Confused? Don't be. 

Here's how it happened. In 1856 Perkin was trying to come up with an artificial quinine. 

Instead of a malaria treatment, his experiments produced a thick murky mess. 

But the more he looked at it, the more Perkin saw a beautiful color in his mess. 

Turns out he had made the first-ever synthetic dye. 

His dye was far better than any dyes that came from nature; the color was brighter,

 more vibrant, and didn't fade or wash out. 

His discovery also turned chemistry into a money-generating science - making it attractive

 for a whole generation of curious-minded people. But the story is not over yet. 

One of the people inspired by Perkin's work was German bacteriologist Paul Ehrlich, 

who used Perkin's dyes to pioneer immunology and chemotherapy. 

No. 2 - Pacemaker

 

This list wouldn't be complete without at least one absent-minded professor. 

But it's not flubber clocking in at No. 2, it's a life saving medical device. 

That pacemaker sewn into a loved one's chest actually came about because American engineer 

Wilson Greatbatch reached into a box and pulled out the wrong thing.  It's true. 

Greatbatch was working on making a circuit to help record fast heart sounds. 

He reached into a box for a resistor in order to finish the circuit and pulled out a 1-megaohm resistor 

instead of a 10,000-ohm one. The circuit pulsed for 1.8 milliseconds and then stopped for one second. 

Then it repeated. The sound was as old as man: a perfect heartbeat. 

No. 1 - Penicillin

You read this far into the list looking for penicillin, didn't you? 

That's OK. As one of the most famous and fortunate accidents of the 20th century, penicillin belongs at No. 

1 on this list. If you've been living under a rock for the past 80 years or so, here's how the popular story goes:

 Alexander Fleming didn't clean up his workstation before going on vacation one day in 1928. 

When he came back, Fleming noticed that there was a strange fungus on some of his cultures. 

Even stranger was that bacteria didn't seem to thrive near those cultures. 

Penicillin became the first and is still one of the most widely used antibiotics. 

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Top 10 Incredibly Rare Flowers

Top 10 Incredibly Rare Flowers

When spring is in full swing, there is no denying how beautiful the world looks. The trees get new leaves and with them come an array of colorful flowers. Butterflies and hummingbirds are everywhere as the sombre winter mood lifts. It’s my personal favorite time of the year. In this list we will take a look at some amazing flowers which, sadly, you probably won’t see this coming spring. These are the rare, endangered and in some cases extinct in the wild flowers. The reason most of these carry the title of rare, is because humans do not have the ability to work in perfect harmony with nature. For example, Humans build a dam, the dam prevents a specific river from flowing freely, which prevents a specific frog or fish from breading, which results in a specific kind of bird not getting food, which results in a specific kind of flower not being pollinated, which can eventually lead to the extinction of that plant. In that one scenario of building a dam humans have basically killed off three species, and history is filled with hundreds of similar occurrences. Regardless of what drove them to become rarities, the following plants are far and few between, and having the opportunity to see one for yourself should be a celebrated occurrence.

10
Jade Vine
Strongylodon macrobotrys

The jade vine is a rare woody vine native to the tropical rainforests of the Philippines. It is a member of the pea and bean family and is closely related to kidney beans. The plant carries claw shaped flowers which grow from hanging trusses; they can reach up to three meters in length. The flower’s color can vary from blue green to mint green. The species has proven extremely difficult to propagate, and is considered an endangered species due to the destruction of its habitat and a decrease in natural pollinators.
9
Corpse Flower
Rafflesia arnoldii

This fascinating flower is found mainly in low lying tropical rainforests of Indonesia. This is one of the world’s rarest, most endangered and largest flowers and it can reach a total width of over a meter. The Rafflesia’s survival is totally dependent on a specific vine called the Tetrastigma vine. As the Rafflesia is a bodiless, stemless, leafless, rootless parasite, it requires the vine for nourishment and support. It is also a carrion plant, which means that it releases a pungent rotten flesh smell when in bloom to attract flies and carrion beetles to aid in pollination. Once in bloom, the flower will only last about a week before dying.

8
Gibraltar Campion
Silene tomentosa

This species of Campion is particularly rare and is only found on the high cliffs of Gibraltar. This plant was believed extinct by the entire scientific community outside Gibraltar in the 1980s but the Gibraltar botanical section knew there were a few specimens left. Sadly, by 1992 all traces of the plant had vanished and it was declared extinct. In 1994 a single specimen was discovered by a climber on the inaccessible cliffs and the species came back to life. It was propagated at the millennium seed bank and specimens are grown at The Almeda Gibraltar Botanic Gardens as well as the Royal Botanic Gardens in London.

7
Franklin Tree
Franklinia alatamaha

This tree is a part of the tea family but is the sole species in its genus and a very rare flowering plant. The tree is native to the Altamaha river valley in Georgia, but has been extinct in the wild since the early 19th century. In fact this beautiful tree is only known today because of the Bartram family, who were avid horticulturists and propagated the tree before its extinction in the wild. The plant, which has fragrant white blooms and leaves that turn into a bright red color in fall, is now a popular ornamental plant. All the examples of this tree today stem from one of the trees propagated by the Bartram’s.

6
Parrot’s Beak
Lotus berthelotii

This is a beautiful flower that has been classed as exceedingly rare since 1884. It is believed to be completely extinct in the wild, but a few individuals might have survived. This stunning plant is endemic to the Canary Islands and is believed to have originally been pollinated by sunbirds, which have long since become extinct in the Canary Islands. This could help to explain the scarcity of the plant. Experiments have been undertaken to find new pollinators for the flowers, in hopes that they can successfully be reintroduced to the Islands, but as of 2008, no fruit had been successfully produced. The Parrot’s beak is however cultivated in the horticulture trade, which can allow even you to own one!

5
Chocolate Cosmos
Cosmos atrosanguineus

This is a dark red to brown species of Cosmos, native to Mexico. Sadly it has been extinct in the wild for over a hundred years. The species survives today as a single non fertile clone, which was created in 1902 by vegetative propagation. The flowers which are produced by the plant are a rich deep red to brown color and grow to about 3-4 cm in diameter. The flowers have a lovely vanillin fragrance in the summer (also found in vanilla beans, some coffee beans and some cacao beans), which also makes it a wonderful ornamental plant.

4
Koki’o
Kokai cookei

This is an extremely rare tree, endemic to Hawaii. It was discovered in 1860, at which time only three specimens could be found. The tree proved difficult to propagate, and by 1950, after the last seedling died, it was deemed extinct. In 1970 a sole survivor was found, which was sadly destroyed in a fire in 1978. Luckily one of the branches of that last remaining tree was saved, and grafted into 23 trees that exist today, all of which are situated in various places in Hawaii. TheKokai is a small tree that grows to about 10-11 meters high. Their most striking feature has to be the hundreds of bright red flowers that mature trees produce annually. Sadly that is a rarity which few will be privileged to see.

3
Yellow and Purple Lady Slippers
Cypripedium calceolus

This is an extremely rare type of wild orchid found across Europe. Britain’s only example of this plant, which used to be more common and widespread, can be found on a golf course and has been under strict police protection since 1917. A single cutting can be sold for US$5000, which is shocking as the plant is very difficult to propagate. Its seeds bear no nourishment for the growing plant, so it lives in a symbiotic relationship with a specific type of fungus, which provides it with nourishment, until the adult leaves can produce enough nourishment for the plant, at which time the fungus will also live off it. There are many types of Lady slipper orchids, many of which are rare. This specific type, has dark purple to almost red brown tendrils with a bright yellow “slipper or moccasin.”

2
Ghost Orchid
Epipogium aphyllum

The Ghost orchid is a fascinating rare plant that was presumed extinct for almost 20 years, only recently did it rear its head again. The plant is so rare because it is basically impossible to propagate. It has no leaves, does not depend on photosynthesis and does not manufacture its own food. Like the Lady slipper, it needs a specific fungus in close contact with its root system, which feeds it. The Ghost orchid never grows leaves, and will therefore always depend on the fungus for its nourishment. The Ghost orchid can live underground for years, without showing any external signs and will only bloom when all conditions are optimum. This explains why some orchid enthusiasts search for years and years just to have a glimpse of this elusive flower.

1
Middlemist Red
Middlemist camellia

This is probably the rarest flowering plant in the world as there are only 2 known examples. One can be found in a garden in New Zealand and the other is situated in a greenhouse in Britain.The plant was originally brought to Britain from China by John Middlemist (after whom the plantwas named) in 1804. It has since been completely wiped out in China. The plant in Britainremained barren for years and only started bearing flowers recently. The flowers are, contrary to its name, bright pink in color and look almost rose like. It is believed to be highly possible that more examples of this species has survived in people’s gardens, unbeknown to them, as it was once sold directly to the public by John Middlemist.

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