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Grand Central Terminal is radioactive. | |
| Located in midtown Manhattan, New York’s most-beloved transportation hub was built out of granite, which contains higher levels of uranium than most other stones. That means the architectural landmark is technically radioactive — and it’s not the only famous building in the U.S. with that distinction. | |
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| This wasp can turn cockroaches into 'zombies.' | |
| By Nicole Villeneuve | |
| With such a whimsical-sounding name as “jewel wasp,” you wouldn’t expect this creature to be so sinister. Found in tropical parts of Africa and Asia, the female wasp first stings the cockroach in the thorax, temporarily disabling its front legs, then delivers a second sting directly into its brain. The venom doesn’t simply paralyze the roach. Instead, it changes activity in parts of its nervous system, leaving the cockroach alive but surprisingly docile, with little motivation to escape. The wasp then leads the roach by the antennae into a nest, where she lays an egg on the cockroach. The unfortunate roach remains alive as the wasp larva develops, eventually becoming its food. | |
| Insects |
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| Puffins can carry more than 60 fish in their beaks at once. | |
| By Bennett Kleinman | |
| Competitive eater Joey Chestnut once crammed a record 76 hot dogs into his mouth, but he did so over the course of 10 minutes, which is arguably a far less impressive feat than that of the puffin. These seabirds are voracious eaters in their own right, fitting more than 60 fish inside their bills at once, with the current record of 62 held by one puffin observed in Britain. The ability to carry so many fish around is due to the specialized design of a puffin’s bill. Their bills can open quite wide, allowing them to scoop up loads of fish with greater ease. Plus, their mouths are also lined with backward-angled spines, which combine with their coarse tongues to keep any ensnared fish firmly in place. | |
| Birds |
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The oldest verified age anyone has reached is 122. | |
| When Jeanne Calment was born in France on February 21, 1875, the Eiffel Tower had yet to be built and the telephone wouldn’t be invented for another year. When she died on August 4, 1997, she’d lived the longest life in recorded and verifiable human history. So what was the secret to her longevity? | |
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