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الرئيسية Guinness World Records 2018
Guinness World Records 2018Guinness World Records
The record-breaking records annual is back and packed with more incredible accomplishments, stunts, cutting-edge science and amazing sporting achievements than ever before. With more than 3,000 new and updated records and 1,000 eye-popping photos, it has thousands of new stats and facts and dazzling new features.There is so much to explore inside. Go on a whirlwind tour of the planet's most amazing places, from the largest swamps to the deepest points on Earth. Find out what happens when you give an octopus a Rubik's Cube, and why all you need to defend yourself from a crocodile is a rubber band! You'll also find all your favourite records and categories such as Big Stuff, Collections, Mass Participation and Fun with Food, plus the year's most significant sporting achievements. Our editors have also taken inspiration this year from the world of superheroes - both fictional and real-world - so look out for our feature chapter charting your favourite caped crusaders in comic books, TV shows and movies. We also meet the real-life record-breakers with genuine superpowers, such as the Canadian strongman vicar who can pull a jumbo jet and an actual cyborg who uses technology to augment his senses. You'll also learn all about the science of superheroes, such as who the fastest and strongest superheroes would be if they came to life, and who would win in a royal rumble between Superman, Batman, Hulk and Dr Strange!Also new this year is a celebration of the superlative with infographic poster pages that explore the most exciting absolutes, such as the longest, tallest, fastest and heaviest. Does the longest sofa outstretch the longest train? Is the tallest Easter egg bigger than the tallest snowman? Find out in this amazing new edition. You'll also find these special pages available as free poster downloads at guinnessworldrecords.com!From science to showbiz via stunts and sports, there are real-life heroes all around us in all shapes and sizes, achieving the extraordinary every day. There's only one book where you'll find so many amazing facts all in one place, and that's Guinness World Records 2018!
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FARTHEST FLIGHT BY HOVERBOARD Who better to introduce our specially themed superhero edition of Guinness World Records than a real-life Silver Surfer? On 30 Apr 2016, French former jet-ski champion Franky Zapata travelled 2,252.4 m (7,389 ft 9 in) on a hoverboard in Sausset-les-Pins, France. His flying machine, the Flyboard Air, is propelled by a jet engine with a capacity of around 1,000 hp (745.7 kW), enabling Franky to fly more than eight times farther than the previous record. For more record-breaking vehicles, visit our Transport chapter, beginning on p.200. WHAT'S NEW? Contents 45,000 claims researched • 3,000 new and updated records published 1,000 photographs sourced • 60 exclusive photoshoots attended This year's edition is divided into 12 sections, including a special feature chapter on superheroes, plus our free-to-download superlative posters. These chapters cover a wide range of topics, from buccaneering adventures on oceans and mountaintops to blockbuster movies and TV streaming hits. There's also a fascinating look at some of the finest specimens of the animal world – including majestic whales and adorable panda bears – plus cutting-edge science and technology, and recordbreaking highlights from the past year of sports. 100% Look out for "Round‑Ups" ch ea at the end of ll find chapter – you' don't fit that records here the regular on to any of s, plus themed page inute some last-m the additions to GWR archive. Whenever you see the 100% icon, you know you're looking at a record holder in its actual size – whether that's a humongous beetle or an extra-long ear hair! The book is organized into colourcoded chapters, and each chapter kicks off with a dramatic doublepage photograph illustrating one of the records from that section. Every edition of GWR features more than 1,000 photos – many unique to us and seen for the first time. Our dedicated picture team has travelled the world to capture the most visually striking record holders. Starting on p.88 is our 16-page section devoted to superheroes, from the original comic-book characters via TV shows and movies to videogamers and cosplayers. And just for fun, we ask which fictional heroes would be record-breakers in the real world! Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Editor's Letter. . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Superheroes Unite. . . . . . . . 8 Superlative Squad. . . . . . 10 Reebok Record-Breakers . . . . . . 12 GWR Day. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 EARTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Swamps, Bogs & Mangroves . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Hard Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Heavy Metal . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Tectonics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Pollution & Environment . . . . . . . . 26 Wildfires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Fungi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 The Deep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Round-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 TALLEST... . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 2 Still hungry for more? Our bite-sized fact bubbles offer a unique mix of quirky trivia and extraordinary stats that will satisfy even the most voracious of record addicts. ANIMALS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Beetles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Deer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Eagles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Pandas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Parrots. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Pigs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Reptiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Turtles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Whales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Pets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Round-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Timeline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Comic Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 On Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Videogames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Cosplay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Kapow!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Round-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 ADVENTURES . . . . . . . . 128 Circumnavigation . . . . . . 130 Mountaineering . . . . . . . . 132 The Poles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 Ocean Rowing. . . . . . . . . . 136 FAI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Round-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 FASTEST... . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 HEAVIEST... . . . . . . . . . . 104 HIGHEST... . . . . . . . . . . . 142 SUPERHUMANS. . . . . . . 64 Robert Wadlow . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Oldest People. . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Anatomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Body Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Transhumanism . . . . . . . . . . 74 Fitness Fanatics. . . . . . . . . . 76 Feats of Strength. . . . . . . . . 78 Fastest 100 m.... . . . . . . . . . . 80 Circus Performers. . . . . . . . 82 Round-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 RECORDMANIA. . . . . . . 106 Big Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 Collections. . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Big Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 Fun with Food. . . . . . . . . . 114 Mass Participation. . . . . . 116 Odd Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Rubik's Cubes . . . . . . . . . . 120 Great Balls of... . . . . . . . . . 122 Round-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 SOCIETY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Politics & Superpowers. 146 Money & Economics . . . . 148 Crime & Punishment. . . . 150 . . . 152 Flags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154 Fashion Extremes . . . . . . 156 Toilets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Round-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 LONGEST... . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 SUPERHEROES 88 YOUNGEST... . . . . . . . . . 126 HIGHEST-EARNING... . 162 Our infographic columns provide a fun and snappy way of delivering you instantaneous information. Our fact-packed tables will provide you with even more information. From musical charttoppers to fitness fanatics and incredible strongmen and women, you will have all the raw data you need at your fingertips. Keep an eye out for even more pull-out facts in the oval boxes, getting you closer to the extraordinary record-breakers who populate the book and the truth behind their Officially Amazing feats! ARTS & MEDIA . . . . . . . 164 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 TV. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Blockbusters. . . . . . . . . . . 170 Movie Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 Star Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 Chart-Toppers. . . . . . . . . . 178 Round-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 TRANSPORT . . . . . . . . . 200 Trains & Railways . . . . . . 202 Urban Transport. . . . . . . 204 Customized Cars . . . . . . 206 Monster Trucks. . . . . . . . 208 Military Vehicles. . . . . . . . 210 Round-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 OLDEST... . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 SMALLEST... . . . . . . . . . 214 SCI-TECH & ENGINEERING. . . . . 184 Edge of Space. . . . . . . . . . 186 Comets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 3D Printing. . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 Photography & Imaging. 192 Fireworks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Round-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 SPORTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 FIFA World Cup Preview 218 Club Soccer. . . . . . . . . . . 220 International Soccer. . . . 221 American Football. . . . . 222 Baseball . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Basketball . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Ice Hockey. . . . . . . . . . . . 225 Rugby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Tennis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 Boxing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 Martial Arts . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Cricket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 Golf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Auto Sports. . . . . . . . . . . 232 MOST EXPENSIVE... . . 198 WHAT'S NEW? Put your general knowledge to the test with our quiz questions. See how many you can get, then turn quiz master for your friends and family. Cycling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Target Sports . . . . . . . . . 234 Weightlifting . . . . . . . . . . 235 Track & Field . . . . . . . . . . 236 Marathons . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Swimming . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Water Sports . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Winter Sports . . . . . . . . . . 242 Winter Olympics Preview . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243 Extreme Sports . . . . . . . 244 X Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 Round-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Acknowledgements . . . 252 Round-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 SUPERLATIVE POSTERS Designed specially for GWR 2018, our exciting new superlative spreads bring records to life in all their infographic glory. These two-page poster features appear throughout the book between each chapter, and each one is based on a single superlative – such as Tallest, Longest, Highest and Heaviest. The records that you'll find on these pages are presented in increasing (or decreasing) order, allowing you to compare holders side by side. What's faster: Usain Bolt or a cheetah? Does the tallest Christmas tree outstretch the tallest snowman? And what would cost you more: the most expensive guitar or the most expensive sandwich? To download your free posters, visit guinnessworldrecords. com/2018. 3 INTRODUCTION Editor's Letter Between them, North Americans were responsible for making more than a quarter of all applications to Guinness World Records in the past 12 months. Welcome to this superpowered, superlative edition of the record-breaking record book. We believe that anyone can unleash their inner superhero, and this edition is proof of that. It's packed with thousands of incredible tales of everyday heroes overcoming the odds to become the best in the world. As ever, you'll find thousands of new and updated world records – plus some favourite classics from the archives – but this year we've put an exciting new spin on things. We've taken our inspiration for this edition from the fantastical world of the superhero, both fictional and real life. I've always thought of our record holders as living, breathing superheroes. With their heightened powers – be it strength, stamina, intelligence, persistence, determination or a combination of all five – they're certainly the closest thing you'll find to Superman, Wonder Woman and Iron Man in the real world. If we had to assemble a team of superheroes, we've certainly got plenty of people to choose from! In fact, you'll find my suggestion for this very thing on pp.10–11: the Superlative Squad – a team of real-life record holders that epitomizes the range and diversity of recordbreaking. As this line-up shows, you don't have to wear your underpants on the outside of your trousers LARGEST HUMAN LETTER Over the years, NBC's Today show has witnessed a wealth of record-breaking (see table). On 29 Mar 2017, The University of Tennessee (USA) assembled 4,223 students in the shape of the letter "T" in Neyland Stadium, Knoxville, Tennessee. It took place during Rokerthon 3, a series of record attempts hosted by Today's weatherman Al Roker. Two days later, Rokerthon 3 claimed another GWR record with the longest conga on ice (top right), by 593 students from the State University of New York at Oswego in New York, USA. The most balloons burst with the mouth in 30 seconds is 19, by Ashrita Furman (USA) on the set of Today in New York City, USA, on 7 Sep 2016. And Raymond Butler (USA) performed the longest backflip into a pair of trousers (259 cm; 8 ft 6 in) two days beforehand, also on Today's set. Butler achieved the record on his second attempt. 4 MOST MEDICATION DONATED IN 24 HOURS (MULTIPLE VENUES) On 30 Jan 2017, Uniting to Combat NTDs (UK) oversaw the donation of 207,169,292 doses of medication at various venues in India, South Africa, Portugal, Mexico, France and Belgium. On 18 Apr 2017, a GWR certificate acknowledging this incredible achievement was presented to Thoko Elphick-Pooley, Director of the Uniting to Combat NTDs Support Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. She is shown above next to Bill Gates, in a line-up of individuals who play pivotal roles in the fight against NTDs (neglected tropical diseases). AS SEEN ON THE TODAY SHOW… Title Most skips with a leg behind the head in one minute Largest street dance Record Holder (all USA) Date 35 Bria Roberts 8 Sep 2016 253 PMT Dance Studio dancers 9 Sep 2016 Largest human image of a cloud 490 The University of people Oklahoma 27 Mar 2017 Largest human image of a lightning bolt 280 The University of people Oklahoma 27 Mar 2017 Largest game of freeze tag 634 Northern Michigan people University 28 Mar 2017 Most people crab walking 494 Loyola University people Maryland 30 Mar 2017 Universal Orlando Resort™ Visit www.GWRDreamVacation.com to enter! This three-night trip for four includes: • Roundtrip airfare to Orlando, Florida • Ground transportation between the airport and hotel in Orlando • Admission to Universal Studios Florida™ and Universal's Islands of Adventure™ theme parks, plus Universal's Volcano Bay™ water theme park (now open!) • Accommodation on-site at Loews Sapphire Falls Resort • Tickets to Blue Man Group at Universal Orlando Resort™ • The opportunity to break an official Guinness World Records® title MOST PEOPLE USING VIRTUAL REALITY DISPLAYS SIMULTANEOUSLY On 3 Mar 2017, Israeli technology company Mobileye brought together 1,867 people to don virtual reality displays during the 2017 YPO EDGE event in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The participants viewed a video that placed them inside a virtual car, highlighting Mobileye's cutting-edge technology in advanced collision-avoidance systems. The attempt took place during the keynote presentation by Ziv Aviram, CEO of Mobileye. to be a record-breaker. (On saying that, it worked for Morgan Reardon and Natalie Edwards, holders of the record for most underpants pulled on in one minute (team of two), with 18 pairs!) We believe that everyone has the potential to be the very best at something, and that's what Guinness World Records is here for: to give MOST AMERICAN FOOTBALL FIELD GOALS MADE IN ONE MINUTE On 3 Feb 2017, Adam Vinatieri (USA) kicked 28 field goals in 60 sec for NFL Extra Points Credit Card (issued by Barclaycard) at the NFL Experience in Houston, Texas, USA. Upon completion of the attempt, Barclaycard made a donation to the Pat Tillman Foundation for military veterans. Vinatieri is placekicker for the Indianapolis Colts. His GWR records include most consecutive field goals by an NFL kicker (44) and most field goals by an individual in a Super Bowl career (48). you the chance to be a hero in any field of endeavour. I hope the heroes you meet in this year's book will inspire you to become the best you can be, whatever it is you want to achieve. In the past 12 months, we've had more than 45,000 applications for world records, from all around the planet. The majority of claimants, however, won't find their names in the book – our rigorous adjudication procedures mean that only a very small percentage of applicants, about 5%, actually make it all the way through to recordbreaking success. If you've made a claim that's been unsuccessful, don't be too disheartened – just give it another go and try your very best to prove how amazing you are. If you have received that official Guinness World Records certificate, congratulations - you're part of a very small elite of record-breakers. You're Officially Amazing! MEET THE EXPERTS Not all records are sourced from the general public, however. We're supported by an invaluable team of experts and advisors who are constantly on the lookout for the latest recordbreaking happenings. This international panel allows us to cover the vast spectrum of topics that you'll find in the book. We call this "extracting NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Purchasing will not improve your chance of winning. Open to legal residents of the 48 contiguous U.S. and D.C., aged 21 or older. Void in Alaska, Hawaii, outside the U.S. and where prohibited. Sweepstake begins at 12:00:01 AM ET on 8/29/17 and ends 11:59:59 PM ET on 1/15/18. For official rules and how to enter, visit www.GWRDreamVacation.com. Sponsor: Guinness World Records North America, Inc., 45 W 45th St, New York NY 10036. Neff pushed his 11-month-old daughter Holland in a pram during the marathon. Th at tracted at tent e duo ion all over the world from as live-streamed th they eir record at tempt via Periscope. SCOTIABANK TORONTO WATERFRONT MARATHON Inaugurated in 2000, this annual event is held in Toronto, Canada. On 16 Oct 2016, it was the stage for Calum Neff (CAN) to run the fastest marathon while pushing a pram: 2 hr 31 min 22 sec. The previous year, Neff ran the fastest half marathon pushing a pram: 1 hr 11 min 27 sec at the Katy Half Marathon in Katy, Texas, USA, on 6 Feb 2016. The fastest half marathon in motocross gear (female) took 2 hr 14 min 34 sec and was achieved by Bridget Burns (CAN, right) during the Toronto marathon on 16 Oct 2016. On the same day, Daniel Janetos and Jasper Moester (both CAN) set new records for the fastest marathon dressed as a chef and fastest half marathon dressed as a chef, although both have now been broken. For more speedy runs in fancy dress set at the same event, see below. FASTEST HALF MARATHONS DRESSED… Time Holder Date In a suit (female) 1 hr 42 min 42 sec Jennifer Wilson (CAN) As a swimmer (male) 1 hr 47 min 51 sec Robert 16 Oct Winckler (CAN) 2016 16 Oct 2016 5 INTRODUCTION You could WIN A DREAM VACATION to INTRODUCTION Editor's Letter There were a total of 8,196 applications from North America this year: 7,488 from the USA and 708 from Canada. TALLEST STACK OF TORTILLAS On 10 Mar 2017, Ben Leventhal – with the support of multiplatform media company Mashable (both USA) – created a 58.03‑cm (22.85-in) pile of Freeb!rds World tortillas. The record attempt took place at Mashable House at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, USA, and was performed live during Mashable's Twitter show. Leventhal is a co-founder of Resy, a mobile app for making restaurant reservations, and the food blog network Eater. the -ests from the -ists" – that is, sourcing the fastest, tallest, oldest and longest from the archaeologists, gerontologists, meteorologists and zoologists. I'd like to say a personal thank you to all of our experts – we couldn't do it without you. For this edition, we welcome on board some new consultants for topics we've never covered before, or at least never in such detail. Ian Sumner, for example, is the librarian of the Flag Institute and has provided the A dozenrs new flag records oluntee while v on p.154. Warren the flagve away, ld e h Dockter, from er dro ut ri d the v unfurl witho . it the Department g in round d g lett e h t g e of International touchinrd was achiev o e Politics at The rec closed cours y on a the racewa Aberystwyth before ened to op University, supplied lic. t he pub 6 us with records about superpowers – political ones, that is! – on p.146, and comic-book experts Rob Cave and TQ Jefferson supplied superlatives regarding the other kind of superpowers – those possessed by fictional superheroes, which you'll find throughout the feature chapter starting on p.88. Also joining the team this year is Star Wars historian James Burns – you'll find his records not too far, far away on p.174 – and James Proud, who has unearthed some incredible records associated with transhumanism and cyborgs (p.74). Thanks are also due to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) for providing us with air sports records (p.138), and to box-office analyst Bruce Nash at The Numbers for all the statistical records from the movie industry. Other new topics this year include wildfires (p.28), Rubik's Cubes (p.120), emojis (p.152) and fireworks (p.194) – proof, if it were needed, that Guinness World Records covers a wider range of SKECHERS PERFORMANCE LOS ANGELES MARATHON The LA Marathon was set up in 1986, prompted by the success of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, which were held in the city. On 19 Mar 2017, Kevin Odle (USA) ran the fastest marathon dressed as a tennis player (male) in 3 hr 44 min 52 sec. Jerry Knox (USA) took just over five minutes longer to complete the fastest marathon wearing lederhosen: 3 hr 50 min. On the day, Craig Handy and Lawrence Pitkin (both USA) set new records for the fastest marathons as a swimmer and as a fast-food item respectively, although both these records have since been broken. All four are shown above, while below we list three more records set at the marathon. FASTEST MARATHON Dressed… In pyjamas (male) Time Holder 3 hr 44 min 55 sec Fred Perez (USA) As a threedimensional bird 5 hr 31 min 5 sec Jean-Baptiste Bourdu (FRA) As a boxer 3 hr 4 min 57 sec Christian Aarstad Odgaard (NOR) LARGEST BANNER FLOWN BY A VEHICLE On 19 Nov 2016, Ford Motor Company (USA) flew a 383.18‑m2 (4,124.51‑sq-ft) US flag at the Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida, USA. The banner was around three-quarters the size of a basketball court, or one-and-a-half times the size of a tennis court. The giant Stars and Stripes was trailed behind a Ford F450 Crew Cab. LARGEST LEGO® MOSAIC OF A LEGO MINIFIGURE On 17 Sep 2016, Brick Fest Live! (USA) presented a 37.62‑m2 (404.93-sq-ft) mosaic of a Darth Vader LEGO Minifigure in Richmond, Virginia, USA. It included 59,176 bricks and was completed during the course of a day's record attempts for GWR Live! Various families entered the record area to put individual parts of the mosaic together. These were then placed together to form the final artwork. topics than most annuals! And if you're reading this on the toilet, pop over to p.158 to find an exploration of all things lavatorial – a surprising and important topic, given the fact that more people on the planet have access to mobile phones than clean water… In addition to the many new topics – and a fresh new look from our designers at 55 Design – we've introduced a range of features unique to this edition. The first is a series of poster pages, each based on a single superlative, such as Tallest, Longest, Heaviest and Oldest. These infographic-style pages – found between each CARLI LLOYD Above, US soccer legend Carli Lloyd (b. 16 Jul 1982) shows off the certificates for her three GWR titles. From left to right: · fastest goal scored in the FIFA Women's World Cup final: 3 min, for the USA vs Japan in the 2015 Women's World Cup final at BC Place, Vancouver, Canada, on 5 Jul 2015. · most goals scored in the FIFA Women's World Cup final by an individual: 3, at the same event. · oldest goalscorer in the FIFA Women's World Cup final: aged 32 years 354 days, at the same event. LONGEST PINEWOOD DERBY TRACK The Boy Scouts of America Mid-America Council (USA) put together a 554.53-m (1,819-ft 3.84-in) pinewood derby track at Eugene T Mahoney State Park in Ashland, Nebraska, USA, on 15 Oct 2016. The winning car was provided by Glenn Jewkes of Jewkes Engineering. It weighed 137 g (4.83 oz) and completed the run in 1 min 16.7 sec. of the chapters – can be downloaded and printed off at home. At the end of each chapter, you'll see RoundUp pages. These features allow us to include records that would otherwise not fit into the regular themed pages, and give us the chance to include some late additions to the records archive. The Round-Up at the end of the book (p.254) also includes the very latest records approved after the official closing date for submissions. This year's Sports chapter – which starts on p.216 – features exclusively world records set in the past year. And the Animals chapter (pp.38–61), curated by consultant Dr Karl Shuker, focuses on a handful of superlative creatures rather than covering the entire animal kingdom; the idea is to explore each animal in greater depth. Finally, we say happy birthday to Robert Pershing Wadlow, the INTRODUCTION tallest man who ever lived. February 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth, and our feature on p.66 celebrates his remarkable – and tragically short – life. Wadlow is probably the most famous record-breaker of them all – a true superhuman who continues to amaze everyone who discovers his extraordinary story. If you think you've got what it takes to become a record holder, let us know about it by visiting guinnessworldrecords.com and making an application. You'll find out more about the process on p.12, and LONGEST 50-50 AND MOST FAKIE KICKFLIPS Jagger Eaton (USA) performed a 204-ft (62.1‑m) 50-50 rail grind on a skateboard on 17 Oct 2016. The record took place on the set of Nickelodeon's Jagger Eaton's Mega Life in Los Angeles, California, USA. The rail used had a number of kinks and curves – Jagger had the choice to use a straight rail, but wanted to make the record look as extreme as possible. The most fakie kickflips on a skateboard in one minute is 24, by Chris Cole (USA) at the same location and on the same date. He broke the record at the first attempt. on p.14 you can read about Guinness World Records Day – our annual international celebration of the superlative. Why not choose that day to try your hand at a world record? Perhaps you could be one of the 5% to have your achievement recognized by our Records Managers. And if you want to attempt your record with your underpants on the outside, that's fine by us too… Craig Glenday Editor-in-Chief MOST SUBSCRIBERS FOR A STUNT/TRICK-SHOT CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE Videos of people doing amazing stunts and trick shots – aka "sports entertainment" – rack up millions of views on YouTube. No other channel in this genre is more popular than "Dude Perfect" (USA), with 18,125,930 subscribers as of 5 May 2017. Dude Perfect consists of Cody Jones, Tyler Toney, Garrett Hilbert, and Coby and Cory Cotton (all USA). Here's a selection of their GWR records, all achieved at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, USA. DUDE PERFECT AND AMERICAN FOOTBALL Record title Most consecutive punt return catches caught and held Most one-handed American football catches in one minute Farthest behind-the-back catch of an American football Farthest blindfold catch of an American football (in motion) Farthest American football throw into a target Most American football snaps in one minute (pair) Farthest American football field goal kick into a target Greatest height from which an American football is caught Feat Holder (all USA) 5 Cody Jones Date 23 Jan 2017 42 Stephen Baca and Tyler Toney 41.3 yd Garrett Hilbert 23 Jan 2017 22.3 yd Cory Cotton 23 Jan 2017 23 Jan 2017 50 yd Tyler Toney 23 Jan 2017 61 Coby and Cory Cotton 30 yd Garrett Hilbert (above) 171.6 m Tyler Toney (563 ft) 23 Jan 2017 24 Jan 2017 24 Jan 2017 7 INTRODUCTION E T I N U S E O R E H R E P U S tional ero, from the fic on is the superh ans who iti um ed rh 's pe ar su ye is the real-life to ld The theme of th or w ature ok bo ia the comics. Our spec l fe of world record crimefighters of e m here c na pi e to th e in th y things oducing do extraordinar on p.88, but intr d by ts ire ar sp st in es e ro ar he nal real world who e th chapter on fictio om … fr nd s lla er , Tom Ho of record hold reen Spider-Man sc are a selection gbi w ne e us, meet th superheroes. Pl MICHAEL KALLENBERG Have you got what it takes to be a superhero? 8 , 2.361 m; 7 ft an Xi Shun (CHN in all shapes Former tallest m perheroes come su at th f oo pr is 8.95 in) t was draf ted in the Chinese gian , 06 20 . 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We believe that everyone has a superpower that could one day be recognized by Guinness World Records. We like to think of ourselves as a real-world recruiter of STAN LEE superhumans – a e (USA) is S.H.I.E.L.D. or League Stan "The Man" Le g father in ak re of Extraordinary the record-b oks. He's bo ic m co Gentlemen! – and we n of moder credible hope that this year's been creating in 1941 and has book will inspire you characters since to find your inner countless ire sp gone on to in superhero and join ts to other comic ar tis our world-beating oes of their er rh pe su e uc prod team. t his heroic fan, ar tist Nathan A life-long comics the inspired to create® s Sawaya (USA) wa brick GO LE d of life-size largest display acters af ting 11 DC char superheroes, cr d The an an, Superman – including Batm 17. 20 b , UK , on 28 Fe Flash – in London ou own. 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London (brief) appearan and made his first ), 16). 12 20 20 , , SA SA (U /U r SP (E erica: Civil Wa Am n ai pt Ca in as Spider-Man 9 SUPERHEROES D A U Q S E V I T A L R E P U S eroes from team of superh le ing together a br to just one possib d 's ha re s He rd ld Reco d for choice. le oi . sp an be If Guinness Wor um e'd rh w s, ife supe record-breaker er y one a real-l our long list of individuals – ev g in az Am lly line-up of Officia THE SAMURAI For a cutting-edge hero to rival Wolverine, we'll take Isao Machii (JPN). In 2011, the sword-wielding record-breaker delivered the most sword cuts to straw mats in three minutes (252) in Milan, Italy. Four years later, he applied the most martial arts sword cuts to one mat (8) in Tokyo, Japan. 10 KILO-GIRL Look away now, She-Hulk… Ukraine's Nina Geria has got strength to spare! On 28 Mar 2012, she took just 12.33 sec to carry out the fastest 20 m duck walk carrying 120 kg, on the set of Lo Show dei Record in Rome, Italy. What does 120 kg feel like? More than 17 times heavier than a bowling ball! ELASTIC MAN Who better to mimic Mr Fantastic's extreme plasticity than Garry Turner (UK), the man with the stretchiest skin? Garry can pull the skin of his stomach out to 15.8 cm (6.22 in) owing to Ehlers-Danlos syndrome – a disorder of the connective tissues affecting the skin, ligaments and internal organs. It results in a loosening of the skin and "hypermobility" of the joints. SUPER HOOPER Whirling up a storm is extreme hula hooper Marawa Ibrahim (AUS). Her records include longest duration on high-heeled roller skates while spinning three hoops (2 min 29 sec) and farthest distance on high-heeled roller skates spinning eight hula hoops (43.2 m; 141 ft 8 in). IDER THE HUMAN SP the nickname He's earned his habit "Spider-Man" for pers – cra ys sk up ing of go bert Ro in Ala y. wa the hard ord rec R GW e th (FR A) holds ildings climbed for the most bu person (12 1). externally by a ing towers, mb cli d rte sta He sk yscrapers d an s nt me nu mo leted his mp co d an 94 in 19 e 306-m-tall th on mb cli latest wer in To n ya Ca ft) (1,003Apr 20 15. Dubai, UAE, on 12 "Superlative" /soo-PER-la-tiv/:e 1 adj. A high (or thee very highest) degr e of an attribute; th e best. 2 n. someon or something of unmatched excellence. WONDER WHEELS THE FLAME When it comes to hotheads, the Human Torch has got stiff competition in the shape of Josef Tödtling (AUT). On 23 Nov 2013, Josef endured the longest duration full-body burn without oxygen – lasting 5 min 41 sec – at Salzburg Fire Department in Salzburg, Austria. APPLE CRUSH Looking for the super-strength of Captain Marvel? Step forward Linsey Lindberg (USA)! Among her many power records are most apples crushed with the bicep in one minute (female) – 10 – and most telephone directories torn in one minute (female) – 5. CAPTAIN FREEZE When you're in danger, you need someone with a cool head – and no one's head gets cooler than Jin Songhao's (CHN). This living Iceman endured the longest time spent in direct, full-body contact with ice (1 hr 53 min 10 sec) in Xiamen, Fujian, China, on 4 Sep 2014. NEVER MISS We'd surely want the Hawkeye-like skills of Nancy Siefker (USA). This awesome archer achieved the farthest arrow shot into a target using the feet (20 ft; 6.09 m) on the set of Guinness World Records Unleashed in Los Angeles, California, USA, on 20 Jun 2013. Professor X may be telepathic, but when it comes to twowheeled talents, Aaron Fotheringham (USA) is simply X-traordinary! He landed the first wheelchair backflip in 2008, the highest ramp jump in a wheelchair (60 cm; 1 ft 11.6 in) in 2010 and the longest duration balancing a side wheelie in a manual wheelchair (18.22 sec) in 2012. 11 INTRODUCTION Reebok Record-Breakers Twenty-four hours. Four cities. Three countries. One team of awesomely talented athletes. And a whole host of records. When Reebok goes big, they go above and beyond – especially when it comes to breaking world records. For their launch of the new Reebok CrossFit Nano 7 shoe, Reebok assembled a task force of talented athletes who achieved 44 Guinness World Records titles in 24 hr in cities across the globe. An ensemble of some of the world's strongest and fastest athletes gathered in four cities in Australia, the UK and the USA on 1 Feb 2017 for an intense day under the watchful eye of GWR adjudicators. Sydney, London, New York City and Los Angeles were the cities chosen to host masses of athletes sporting the Nano 7. The athletes – who came from varied fitness disciplines – achieved a total of 44 Guinness World Records titles, pushing their bodies to the limit in the name of excellence. Listed here is every successful attempt. MOST ONE-ARM, ONE-LEG PUSH-UPS IN ONE MINUTE (MALE) CrossFit coach Logan Aldridge (USA) achieved 26 one-arm, one-leg pushups in 60 sec in Brooklyn, New York City, USA. It was one of two records set by adaptive athlete Logan, whose left arm was amputated after a 2004 wakeboarding accident. MOST KETTLEBELL BACK SOMERSAULTS IN ONE MINUTE (MALE) Carrying a 6-kg (13-lb 3.6-oz) kettlebell in each hand, Eirik Lundstein (NOR) completed 16 back somersaults in 60 sec in London, UK. Eirik wasn't finished there: carrying a barbell and weights totalling 20.1 kg (44 lb 5 oz), he made the most barbell back somersaults in one minute (male) – four. AUSTRALIA – SYDNEY (9) Record No. Holder (all AUS) UK – LONDON (2) Most pistol squats in one minute (male) 49 Ben Garard Record 4 Most pistol squats in one minute (female) 42 Kara Webb Most barbell back somersaults in one minute (male) Eirik Lundstein (NOR) 12 Marcus Bondi Most kettlebell back somersaults in one minute (male) 16 Most chin-ups in one minute with 100-lb pack Eirik Lundstein (NOR) Most lunges in one minute (male) 70 Ricky Garard Most lunges in one minute (female) 64 Sammy Wood Most toe-to-bar touches in one minute (male) 46 Ricky Garard Most toe-to-bar touches in one minute (female) 41 Maddie Sturt Most consecutive tandem push‑ups (male/male) 28 Ben Garard & Ricky Garard Most consecutive tandem push‑ups (female/female) 21 Kara Webb & Sammy Wood No. Holder MOST WEIGHT LIFTED BY BARBELL THRUSTS IN ONE MINUTE Canadian strongman Paul Tremblay lifted 2,128.81 kg (4,693 lb 3.5 oz) in 60 sec in New York City, USA. It was one of three world records he set in one Herculean day, including the most weight lifted by barbell thrusts in three minutes – 3,398.68 kg (7,492 lb 12 oz). USA – NEW YORK CITY (15) AUSTRALIA Reebok's Australian team (clockwise from back left: Marcus Bondi, Ricky Garard, Rob Forte, Ben Garard, Kara Webb, Maddie Sturt and Sammy Wood; all AUS) kicked off proceedings against a backdrop of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Eight records were set in total, including Kara and Sammy teaming up to set the most consecutive tandem push-ups (female/female) – 21. 12 Record Measurement Holder (USA unless stated) Most knuckle push-ups in one minute (male) 91 Ron Cooper Most wall ball squats in one minute with 20‑lb medicine ball (male) 35 Paul Tremblay (CAN) Most handstand push-ups in one minute (female) 12 Rachel Martinez Most switch grip pull-ups in one minute (male) 26 Ron Cooper Most weight lifted by barbell thrusts in one minute (male) 2,128.81 kg (4,693 lb 3.5 oz) Paul Tremblay (CAN) Most weight lifted by barbell thrusts in three minutes (male) 3,398.68 kg (7,492 lb 12 oz) Paul Tremblay (CAN) Most one-arm, one-leg push‑ups in one minute (male) 26 Logan Aldridge Most weight lifted by clean and jerk in one minute (male) 1,155.64 kg (2,547 lb 12 oz) Scott Panchik Most weight lifted by clean and jerk in one minute (female) 809.66 kg (1,785 lb) Annie Thorisdottir (ISL) Most weight lifted by overhead squats in three minutes (male) 4,902.75 kg (10,808 lb 11 oz) Frederik Aegidius (DNK) Most weight lifted by barbell snatch in one minute (male) 1,338.11 kg (2,950 lb 0.4 oz) Scott Panchik Most weight lifted by barbell snatch in one minute (female) 1,038.74 kg (2,290 lb 0.4 oz) Annie Thorisdottir (ISL) Most weight lifted by barbell snatch in three minutes (male) 2,145.3 kg (4,729 lb 9.2 oz) Dan Bailey Most weight lifted by overhead squats in one minute (female) 1,877.87 kg (4,140 lb) Emily Bridgers Most weight lifted by single-arm barbell cleans in one minute (male) 918.53 kg (2,025 lb) Logan Aldridge INTRODUCTION MOST CONSECUTIVE TANDEM PUSH-UPS (MIXED) Actor, star of New Girl and CrossFit devotee Max Greenfield (USA, right) tried his hand at the world record for mixed consecutive tandem push-ups, along with Stacie Tovar. But they were unable to match the efforts of super-fit husband-and-wife team Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (CAN) and David Lipson (USA), who achieved 25 in Venice, California, USA. Q&A WITH ANNIE THORISDOTTIR Why did you choose to get involved with fitness? I've always been involved in sports. I started out in gymnastics, reaching national level in Iceland. I also practised ballet and, later, pole vaulting, with the goal of representing Iceland at the 2012 Olympics. Then I happened to sign up for a CrossFit competition in Iceland, which I won, and this qualified me for the CrossFit Games in LA. I haven't looked back since. USA – LOS ANGELES (18) Record Measurement Holder (USA unless stated) Fastest time to climb a peg board (male) 15.22 sec Tommy Hackenbruck Fastest time to climb a peg board (female) 15.97 sec Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (CAN) Most wall ball squats in one minute (female) 36 Rebecca Voigt Most wall ball squats in three minutes (male) 89 Conor Murphy Most wall ball squats in three minutes (female) 92 Rebecca Voigt Most burpee pull-ups in one minute (male) 17 Andy Doolty Most burpee pull-ups in one minute (female) 19 Michelle Kinney Most weight lifted by overhead squat in three minutes (female) 2,740.6 kg (6,042 lb) Stacie Tovar Most weight lifted by overhead squat in one minute (male) 1,833.42 kg (4,042 lb) Conor Murphy Most toe-to-bar touches in one minute (female) 41 Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (CAN) Most consecutive tandem push-ups (mixed) 25 Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (CAN) & David Lipson Most weight lifted by Atlas stone lifts in one minute (male) 1,122.64 kg (2,475 lb) Logan Gelbrich Most weight lifted by Atlas stone lifts in one minute (female) 539.77 kg (1,190 lb) Michelle Kinney Most weight lifted by Atlas stone lifts in three minutes (male) 2,694.34 kg (5,940 lb) Tommy Hackenbruck Most weight lifted by Atlas stone lifts in three minutes (female) 1,397.06 kg (3,080 lb) Michelle Kinney Most consecutive muscle-ups (female) 45 Camille Leblanc-Bazinet (CAN) Fastest 100 m hula hooping (female) 17.87 sec Marawa Ibrahim (AUS) Fastest mile hula hooping (female) 8 min 0.4 sec Marawa Ibrahim (AUS) LOS ANGELES Reebok ended its record-breaking day in California, USA, where athletes including Rebecca Voigt, Tommy Hackenbruck and Stacie Tovar (from left, all USA) came together to set 18 new records. DJ Dillon Francis and hula hooper "Marawa the Amazing" added some celebrity glamour with their own record attempts. Can you describe growing up in Iceland, and how that has influenced your journey? Iceland is a very harsh place to grow up if you judge it by the weather. But I am very proud of where I am from, and I try to make that shine through who I am. Growing up in a town with only 200 people is something that gives you a sense of freedom and independence. I was taught that I could do anything I set my mind to. Of all your fitness achievements, which one was your proudest moment, and why? My biggest moment in my athletic career was winning the CrossFit Games for the first time in 2011. I set a goal when I participated in my first competition in 2009 that I would one day stand on top of the podium. Many would say you have superhuman strength. In your opinion, what would be your superpower? A burning desire to pursue my goal, no matter what stands in my way. Can you explain a moment in fitness you defied the odds? In Mar 2013, I was slowly getting back into training after suffering a severe back injury in 2012 when I had another setback that kept me out of the 2013 CrossFit Games. Mentally this was devastating, but I was not ready to let go of my dream of getting back to the podium. In my return season of 2014, I secured a second-place finish at the CrossFit Games – proving to myself that I could do anything I set my mind to. What training and regiments are necessary to maintain your incredible strength and agility? I spend 5-6 hours at the gym every day, but my whole life evolves around being at my best physically. Proper nutrition and sleep are just as important as what you do in the gym, so this is more than a full-time job. How do you think your fitness journey has inspired or impacted on others? I love hearing young girls talking about being strong when they grow up. I am hoping that one of these days fit and healthy will be the new beautiful for women. Who is your hero, and why? I think I will have to be corny and say my parents! They've always taught me by example that I can do anything I want, if I'm willing to put in the work. What advice would you give to someone who wants to be extraordinary in their own activity? You have to make up your mind if this is something you really want, something you are passionate about and willing to work hard for. Have people around you who will lift you up when you need it. In order to set her record above, Stacie Tovar lifted the equivalent of five grizzly bears in three minutes! How did it feel to attempt a Guinness World Records title? Walking up to the bar, knowing that if I did my best I would be part of the legendary books that I read often as a child, gave me chills down my back. Being an official part of something as renowned as Guinness World Records makes me feel like a superhero! 13 INTRODUCTION GWR Day Guinness World Records Day is our global celebration of record-breaking. Just look what happened on 17 Nov 2016… Largest human image of a cloud MOST PEOPLE PERFORMING SQUATS Fitness guru Kayla Itsines (AUS) marked GWR Day by leading a supersized exercise class in Melbourne, Australia. A total of 2,201 people performed squats, smashing the previous best of 665. It was one of five mass-participation records set at Kayla's "boot camp", along with most people performing lunges (2,201), star jumps (2,192), sit-ups (2,005) and running on the spot (2,195). To publicize their cloudcomputing services, enterprise software firm Deltek (USA) invited participants at their Insight 2016 user conference at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, USA, to take part in a record attempt. In total, 468 people joined in, donning white and royal-blue ponchos and arranging themselves inside a cloud-shaped outline. At 11.38 x 19.40 m (37 ft 4 in x 63 ft 8 in), Deltek's cloud measured twice the length of a London bus. MOST FLOWERS PICKED WITH THE MOUTH IN A CONTORTION BACKBEND IN ONE MINUTE Liu Teng (CHN) picked 15 flowers from a vase positioned beneath her feet, using her teeth, before placing them by hand in a vase – and all in just 60 sec. The record was set at an event in Yongcheng in Henan, China. Teng has enjoyed a friendly rivalry with fellow contortionist "Zlata", aka Julia Günthel (DEU), who held the previous highest mark of 11 roses, achieved in Jiangyin, Jiangsu, China, on 5 Jan 2015. Largest display of origami elephants Largest human jigsaw puzzle piece When the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, USA, sent out requests for origami elephants to show in a record-breaking display, they received 78,564 samples from countries including Egypt, Iran and Kazakhstan. Each elephant then had to be individually mounted. The exhibition was put together as part of WCS's "96 Elephants" campaign, which highlights the fact that 96 elephants are killed each day for their ivory. To celebrate the unveiling of a new puzzle artwork decorating their 132-m (433‑ft) industrial chimney, Covestro Deutschland AG (DEU) made a giant jigsaw piece of their own. Donning pink hoodies, 548 employees formed the distinctive shape in Brunsbüttel, Germany. MOST MAGIC TRICKS PERFORMED ON A SINGLE SKYDIVE Martin Rees (UK) performed 11 mid-air magic tricks at GoSkydive at Old Sarum Airfield in Salisbury, Wiltshire, UK. A velocity of 120 mph (193 km/h) wasn't enough to put off the daredevil magician, who carried out tricks during both freefall and under parachute. The event was organized as part of GWR Day and also in aid of a children's charity. MOST RINGS PLACED ON A TARGET BY A PARROT IN ONE MINUTE In 2015, a video of Otto the skateboarding bulldog became an internet sensation, earning more than 2.5 million views on YouTube. For GWR Day 2016, a macaw named Skipper Blue stepped into the spotlight. The talented parrot, prompted by her trainer "Wildlife" Wendy Horton (USA), managed to place 19 rings around a target in 60 sec in Los Angeles, California, USA. Most hula hoops spun while suspended from the wrists In a live Facebook record attempt, Marawa Ibrahim (AUS) spun 50 hula hoops at Hollywood Aerial Arts in Los Angeles, California, USA. For the record to count, she had to maintain three full revolutions in mid-air. Marawa smashed the previous record of 41, set by Kareena Oates (AUS) on the set of Guinness World Records in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, on 4 Jun 2005. Most ABBA songs identified by lyrics W c h gu ele y no in br t a n e at t t to s s e G W e m fin wo R pt d r D a ca ou ldr ay rec n t h ec ? H or ap o o r e d p l w y d s a d to y. o .c to u o m 14 Live on his show on Radio Suffolk in Ipswich, UK, DJ Luke Deal (UK) recognized 15 songs by the Swedish pop quartet in one minute. Nine other DJs at UK local radio stations took a chance on beating Deal's record, but when all was said and done the winner took it all. MOST TRAFFIC CONES BALANCED ON THE CHIN Despite a sleepless night owing to excitement, Keisuke Yokota (JPN) balanced 26 traffic cones on his chin in his garden in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. In order to hone his cone skill, Yokota practises for 2–3 hr every day. He says that the secret to his success is having a strong core, as the 26 cones weigh more than a bicycle. Yokota beat his previous record of 22 cones, set at Alios Park Fes in Iwaki, Japan, on 9 Oct 2016. The event was held in aid of the disaster-stricken region of Fukushima. INTRODUCTION GWR Day was first held in 2005 e at to commemor cords ld Re or W ss ne in Gu millionth selling its 100, ever y copy. Now w records November, nea global are set in celebration of excellence. MOST DOUBLE-DUTCH-STYLE SKIPS IN 30 SECONDS In "Double Dutch" skipping, two long ropes are turned in opposite directions for one or more players to jump over. Ayumi Sakamaki (JPN) and the other members of the Double Dutch team "Diana" performed an unprecedented 129 skips in half a minute in Toride, Ibaraki, Japan. In order to count the skips and make sure that each one met the official guidelines, the Guinness World Records adjudicators had to review the attempt in slow motion. Farthest basketball shot under one leg Thunder Law (USA) of the Harlem Globetrotters (see box right) sank a basket from a distance of 15.98 m (52 ft 5 in) at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, USA. Not content with one record, Law also managed the farthest basketball shot made while sitting – 17.91 m (58 ft 9 in). Continuing his record tussle with YouTube sports entertainers Dude Perfect, Globetrotter Big Easy Lofton (USA) reclaimed his record for the longest blindfolded basketball hook shot, notching up an incredible distance of MOST BASKETBALL THREE-POINTERS IN ONE MINUTE (SINGLE BALL) The AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, USA, hosted the Harlem Globetrotters (from left, Thunder Law, Cheese Chisholm, Big Easy Lofton, Ant Atkinson and Zeus McClurkin, all USA) for a day of record-breaking basketball fun. Ant and Cheese each hit 10 three-pointers in 60 sec using just one ball, which had to be retrieved after every shot. 17.74 m (58 ft 2 in). He also took back the longest basketball hook shot from the no-doubt disappointed Dudes, sinking from 22.1 m (72 ft 6 in). Fellow Globetrotter Zeus McClurkin (USA) joined the on-court fun with the most basketball slam dunks in one minute (individual) – 16. Longest duration to juggle four basketballs LARGEST LIGHT-BULB DISPLAY IN AN INDOOR VENUE Constructed by Universal Studios Singapore in Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore, this stunning wintery display is made up of 824,961 individual light bulbs. It forms the showpiece of the attraction's Universal Journey – a spectacular experience created for the Christmas season that gives visitors the opportunity to visit eight themed zones and encounter lookalikes of Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe. The display took two months to construct. Marko Vermeer (NLD) kept four basketballs in the air for 5 min 26 sec in Utrecht, Netherlands. In order for the record to stand, Vermeer could only use juggling patterns that switched the balls continuously between left and right hands. HIGHEST BUNGEE DUNK With the help of Experience Days, death-defying dunker Simon Berry (both UK) dipped a biscuit into a mug of tea from a height of 73.41 m (240 ft 10 in) at Bray Lake Watersports in Berkshire, UK. Berry had to be incredibly precise with his jump, as the guidelines for the record stated that the mug used could measure no more than 15 cm (6 in) in both height and diameter. 15 Earth Today is the longest day on Earth… The planet's rotation is slowing down by around 1.4 milliseconds every hundred years. In 140 million years, a day will be 25 hr long. oes Stratovolcan ped are cone-sha cally pi volcanoes, ty s. They de si p ee st ith w om alternate are built up fr rs) of lava, strata (laye h. Etna pumice and as ing for has been grow ars. c. 500,000 ye 16 Swamps, Bogs & Mangroves. . . . . . . . Hard Rock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Heavy Metal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tectonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pollution & Environment . . . . . . . . . . . Wildfires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fungi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Deep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Earth Round-Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 LONGEST RECORD OF VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS The first documented eruption of Mount Etna, on the Italian island of Sicily, dates back to c. 1500 bce, when it was written that the Sicani people were made homeless following a cataclysmic explosion. Etna – a stratovolcano with a summit height of 3,329 m (10,921 ft) – has erupted approximately 200 times since, most recently in Mar 2017. On 3 Dec 2015 local photographer Fernando Famiani captured the drama of an eruption from the safety of the nearby province of Messina. "The eruption lasted around 30 minutes," reported Famiani, "but days followed of copious lava spills." The explosion fired lava 1 km (3,300 ft) into the sky, and a few days later the resulting ash plume had reached a height of around 7 km (23,000 ft). 17 EARTH CONTENTS EARTH Swamps, Bogs & Mangroves Found everywhere on Earth, from equatorial latitudes to frozen climes, wetlands account for around 6% of the world's terrestrial surface. OLDEST BOG BODY Koelbjerg Man was discovered in 1941 in a peat bog near Odense in Denmark. Only the skull and a few bones were found. Radiocarbon dating suggests that he lived around 8000 bce, as part of the Maglemosian culture in northern Europe. At the time of his death, he was about 25 years old. His remains exhibit no signs of violence, and it is possible that he simply drowned. Butyrellite is a man-made butter-like, waxy substance that can be found buried in wooden containers within peat bogs. It is thought to be an ancient example of food preservation, one that makes use of the cool, acidic, low-oxygen environment in peat bogs. Found mainly in Ireland and the UK, these reserves are either dairy-based or composed of animal fats, with the appearance and texture of paraffin wax. The oldest known example was found at Ballard Bog in Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland, in 2013. Some 5,000 years old, it still had a dairy smell when unearthed. The butter was found in a wooden vessel 1 ft (30.4 cm) wide, almost 2 ft (60.9 cm) high and weighing more than 100 lb (45.3 kg). LARGEST… Bogs Higher than the surrounding land, a bog receives most of its water from rain. Marshes Usually permanently waterlogged. They flood at high tide, or during wet seasons. Swamps Found in flat, lowlying areas; shallow and can support tree growth. Often found along rivers. paddies. Unfortunately, the acidic, nutrient-poor soil was unsuitable for rice growth. The project was abandoned in 1998, having produced an insignificant amount of rice. Peatland The West Siberian Plain lies between the Ural Mountains to the west and the Yenisei River to the east. It covers an area of approximately 2.6–2.7 million km2 (1–1.04 million sq mi) – around four times larger than the US state of Texas – of which peatlands occupy 603,445 km2 (233,000 sq mi). The peat here can be 10 m (32 ft 9 in) deep and formed in cool, wet conditions where dead plants do not fully decompose. The Great Vasyugan Mire is in the central West Siberian Plain. Covering around 55,000 km2 (21,235 sq mi) – larger than Switzerland – it accounts for around 2% of all peat bogs. Frozen peat bog The western Siberian sub-Arctic region is a frozen peat bog covering some 1 million km2 (386,100 sq mi). Scientists discovered in 2005 that this region is beginning to thaw for the first time since its formation some 11,000 years ago. Peatland reclamation project The Mega Rice Project was a disastrous scheme introduced by the Indonesian government in 1996. The aim of the project was to transform vast amounts of land from peatland to paddies for large-scale rice farming to feed Indonesia's growing population. Nearly 1 million ha (2,471,050 acres) of peatland – around the same size as the island of Hawaii – was drained for The Danube River Delta, which is located in Romania and Ukraine, formed some 6,500 years ago by the action of sediments washing into the Black Sea. It consists of natural canals, lakes and ponds, and is growing by around 24 m (78 ft 8 in) per year into the Black Sea. The Danube Delta is also home to a reed bed that covers an area of 1,563 km2 (603 sq mi), and the delta as a whole hosts more than 300 species of birds and 45 species of freshwater fish. Barrels of butter ("butyrellite") – often dating back thousands of years – have been found in bogs in the UK and Ireland Human bodies Dead bodies are typically mummified by bog soil, which preserves the skin and soft tissues Weapons Unbroken intertidal mudflats The Wadden Sea stretches along some 500 km (310 mi) of the northern European coastline from the Netherlands to Denmark. Its shallowness gives it a rich diversity of habitats including tidal channels, sea-grass meadows, sandbars, mussel beds and salt marshes. It covers the area between the shore and the Frisian Islands archipelago, and is some 10,000 km2 (3,860 sq mi) in size. The Wadden Sea is a key area for migratory birds: 10–12 million pass through each year, with up to 6.1 million present at any one time. Medieval swords, shields and garottes have been found preserved in bogs – often next to a human victim Book Indoor swamp Occupying 0.1 ha (0.25 acres) and containing almost 160,000 US gal (605,665 litres) of water, the most extensive indoor swamp lies in the 53‑ha (130.9-acre) grounds of the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. It is home to 38 species of swamp-dwelling animal, including nine specimens of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis). One of these is a rare white or leucistic alligator, of which there are thought to be fewer than 15 in the world. OLDEST WORKABLE WOOD The coniferous tree Agathis australis, best known by its Maori name kauri, is one of New Zealand's largest trees. Prehistoric kauri can be found buried in peat, which has preserved both the wood and sometimes the bark and seed cones. These "swamp kauri" are usually c. 3,000 years old, but some excavated trees have been radiocarbon-dated to around 50,000 years old. The wood itself is often in excellent condition and, once dried, can be used to make furniture. The grain in ancient kauri pieces is termed "whitebait", as it is thought to be similar to the shimmering effect created when sunlight strikes a moving shoal of these fish. Shown here is a "whitebait" serving platter. 18 Bog butter Reed bed Bog The many types of wetland include: Q: What name was given to the moist, rich land including Mesopotamia that is seen as one of the birthplaces of civilization? A: The Fertile Crescent Oldest bog butter BOG FINDS The chemistry of bogs in northern Europe – particularly their high acidity and low oxygen content – means that objects buried in the soil are preserved. This gives historians access to intact ancient artefacts made of wood, leather and metal... and even human flesh. In 2006, a leather-bound, still-readable Book of Psalms was discovered in a bog in Ireland; it is thought to date back to 800–1,000 ce Canoe The Pesse canoe was found by road workers in Hoogeveen, Netherlands, in 1955; some 2.98 m (9 ft 9 in) long, it has been radiocarbondated to 8040–7510 bce Settlement An entire Bronze Age village was unearthed from a bog in Cambridgeshire, UK, in 2016; among the remnants were cooking pots with meals still inside EARTH LARGEST PROTECTED SWAMP The Sudd is a swamp in the lowlands of South Sudan. In the dry season, it is some 30,000 km2 (11,580 sq mi) in size, but during the wet season it can more than quadruple to approximately 130,000 km2 (50,190 sq mi). Around half of its water is lost each year to evaporation. Since 2006, some 57,000 km2 (22,000 sq mi) has been protected by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, aka the Ramsar Convention, a global treaty intended to help preserve such habitats. It is named after the city of Ramsar in Iran, where the convention was first signed in 1971. LARGEST PROTECTED WETLAND On 2 Feb 2013, the government of Bolivia declared that more than 69,000 km2 (26,640 sq mi) of the Llanos de Moxos would be protected as part of the Ramsar Convention. The Llanos de Moxos is a tropical wetland consisting of savannahs that alternate between seasons of drought and flood, and is located near the borders of Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. Each year, World Wetlands Day is marked on 2 Feb. LARGEST SWAMP Located principally in south-western Brazil, but with small areas within neighbouring Bolivia and Paraguay too, the Pantanal (Spanish for "marshland") covers 150,000 km2 (57,915 sq mi) – greater than the total surface area of England. During the rainy season (December–May), 80% of the Pantanal is flooded and it contains the greatest diversity of water plants in the world. LARGEST COASTAL MANGROVE FOREST The Sundarbans stretches for almost 6,000 sq mi (15,540 km2) across India and Bangladesh, and acts as a natural barrier against the tsunamis and cyclones that often blow in from the Bay of Bengal. With saltwater-tolerant roots, this forest's mangrove trees may exceed 70 ft (21 m) in height. They sit on islands of layered sand and grey clay, which have been deposited by rivers that flow for more than 1,000 mi (1,600 km) from the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. GREATEST MANGROVE COVER (COUNTRY) Mangroves are shrubs e or trees that livps. in coastal swams help ot Their dense ro right on up them remain nd. Shown unstable groumangroves (far right) are e on at high tid in Bunaken Island Indonesia. According to a report by US scientists Stuart Hamilton and Daniel Casey, Indonesia has the greatest mangrove growth. The duo calculated that as of 2014, Indonesia had 42,278 km2 (16,323 sq mi) of mangrove biome, 25.79% of the global total. Hamilton and Casey analysed data from three databases: Global Forest Change, Terrestrial Ecosystems of the World, and Mangrove Forests of the World. Seen below are mangroves in a remote part of Raja Ampat, Indonesia. 19 EARTH Hard Rock Granite makes up most of Earth's crust and is found on every continent. But to date, no trace of it has been found anywhere else in the Solar System. On 19 May 2000, geologists from the University of Queensland in Australia announced their discovery of rocks on Malaita in the Solomon Islands. These samples contained minerals that only form under very high pressures, including microdiamond and majorite – a form of the mineral garnet that is rich in silica. Examining the structure of the majorite crystals, the team concluded that they had experienced pressures of up to 23 gigapascals, around a quarter of a million times greater than atmospheric pressure at the surface, indicating that the rocks originated 400–670 km (248–416 mi) underground. Greatest eruption (by pumice ejected) MOST RECENT FLOOD BASALT ERUPTION When a huge volcanic eruption covers large areas of land or sea floor in basalt lava, the result is known as a "flood basalt". In 1783, Laki – a system of volcanic fissures in Iceland – began exploding, in one of only two episodes of flood basalt eruption in historic times. For eight months, it emitted some 15 km3 (3.5 cu mi) of lava, along with 122 million tonnes (134 million tons) of sulphur dioxide. The effects of this gas at least partially caused the devastatingly cold winters of 1783–84 and 1784–85 and the cool summer of 1784. ars In 19 96, the M or Global Survey off, ok spacecraft ton of the ai carr ying a gr e. In time, rit Zagami meteosmash into the craf t will returning Mars, thereby t to its the fragmen igin. place of or The amount of ejecta in the Taupo eruption, which took place in New Zealand in around ce 186, has been put at 30,000 million tonnes of pumice. It flattened an area of 16,000 km2 (6,200 sq mi). Most common rock type at the surface of the continental crust Approximately 75% of Earth's continental crust has sedimentary rocks at its surface. Usually present as a thin veneer over igneous and metamorphic rocks, these sedimentary rocks include sandstone, mudstone, chalk and breccias. They formed when small particles became buried over time and were subjected to great pressures. Erosional and tectonic forces can expose them on the surface again. The most common sedimentary rocks are mudrocks, which include mudstone, shale and siltstone and are made up of particles smaller than 0.0625 mm. They account for around 65% of all sedimentary rocks on Earth, and possibly up to 80%. Mudrocks consist mainly of clay minerals and most of them formed at the bottoms of oceans and lakes. Dead organic material, mixed with the original sediments, is responsible for the occurrence of fossil fuels in rocks such as shale. Youngest Moon rocks A type of volcanic basalt, Moon rocks begin to form in the dark lunar maria (seas). The most recent examples date back some 3.2 billion years – making them not dissimilar in age to the oldest dateable rocks on Earth. Lunar samples measuring 382 kg (842 b) from the Apollo missions have been returned to Earth. Q: What is the difference between lava and magma? A: Magma is molten rock below the Earth's surface. When it erupts above ground, it is called lava. Deepest-forming rocks LARGEST… Mount Rushmore eyes (width): 11 ft (3.35 m) Meteorite A block 9 ft (2.7 m) long by 8 ft (2.4 m) wide, estimated to weigh 130,000 lb (59 tonnes), is the largest known meteorite. It was found in 1920 at Hoba West, near Grootfontein in Namibia. The largest lunar meteorite is Kalahari 009, with a mass of 13.5 kg (29 lb 12 oz). It was found in Kalahari in Botswana in Sep 1999. Around 50 meteorites on Earth originated from the Moon. Stone run Mount Rushmore noses (length): 20 ft (6 m) During the last ice age, intense freezing followed by thawing gave rise to accumulations of boulders known as "stone runs". Princes Street, located north-east of Stanley in the Falkland Islands, is a stone run measuring 4 km (2.4 mi) long and 400 m (1,312 ft) wide. It consists of thousands of boulders of hard quartzite rock, mostly 0.3–2 m (11 in–6 ft 6 in) across. Anorthosite body An igneous rock, anorthosite consists mostly of the mineral plagioclase feldspar. On Earth, there are two types of anorthosite – Archaean and Proterozoic – which formed 3.8–2.4 billion years ago and 2.5–0.5 billion years ago, respectively. They are thought to have formed in underground magma chambers where partially melted mantle material separated into denser "mafic" minerals and lighter "felsic" ones. A body of anorthosite, estimated at 20,000 km² (7,722 sq mi), underlies an area north of Lake St John in Quebec, Canada. Craton This term describes large parts of continental crust that are stable and have remained relatively unmodified by plate tectonics since the end of the Precambrian period, 542 million years ago. They are normally located in the interior of continents and contain some of the oldest rocks on Earth. The North American craton is the largest, covering around 70% of the continent. It was formed some 2 billion years ago by the collision of several smaller microcontinents. LARGEST MARTIAN METEORITE The Zagami meteorite, which weighed approximately 40 lb (18 kg), making it around 6.5 times heavier than a house brick, landed on Earth on 3 Oct 1962. It fell into a field near the village of Zagami in Nigeria, about 10 ft (3 m) away from a farmer who was attempting to clear cows out of his corn field and who was buffeted by the blast. He subsequently discovered the extraterrestrial rock in a 2-ft-deep (0.6-m) crater. An estimated 32 meteorites from Mars have landed on Earth to date. 20 It took 14 years for 400 men to carve the likenesses of four US presidents into the granite at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota If it was a whole figure, the likeness of George Washington on Rushmore would stand: 465 ft (141.7 m) The Earth's crust is made of 64.7% igneous, 7.9% sedimentary and 27.4% metamorphic rocks Hardest substance on the Mohs scale In 2005, researchers at the Bayerisches Geoinstitut in Bayreuth, Germany, produced an aggregated diamond nanorod (ADNR) that is 11% less compressible than diamond EARTH TALLEST GRANITE MONOLITH At 1,095 m (3,593 ft), El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, California, USA, is the world's loftiest block of granite. It is composed of plutonic rocks that emerged approximately 102 million years ago, having taken some 2.7 million years to form. Both plutonic and volcanic rocks are types of igneous rock, which is produced as a result of the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. Plutonic rock is created underground; volcanic rock forms above ground. LARGEST GLACIAL ERRATIC BOULDER Glacial erratics are rocks that have been carried by glaciers before being deposited on the ground as the ice melted. The Okotoks Erratic is one such boulder, located near the town of Okotoks in the Canadian Prairies in Alberta, Canada. Composed of the metamorphic rock quartzite, it measures approximately 41 x 18 m (134 x 59 ft) and is some 9 m (29 ft) high, with a mass of around 16,500 tonnes (18,188 tons). THICKEST CRUST The Earth's crust is the cold, solid, outermost layer of its lithosphere, which sits above the hot convecting asthenosphere (semi-molten rock at the upper levels of the mantle). It is divided into plates and consists of two types: the dense ocean crust and the lighter continental crust. The Earth's crust is at its thickest in the Himalaya mountains in China, where it reaches 75 km (46 mi). LARGEST SANDSTONE MONOLITH ROCK FORMATION Uluru rises 348 m (1,141 ft) above the surrounding desert plain in Northern Territory, Australia. Also known as Ayers Rock, this exposed sandstone monolith is 2.5 km (1.5 mi) long and 1.6 km (1 mi) wide. In fact, a further 2.5 km of this Australian landmark lies underground. The characteristic red hue of Uluru is caused by the rusting of the iron content in the rock at its surface; were it not for this, it would be grey in colour. TALLEST VOLCANIC COLUMNS MOST COMMON VOLCANIC ROCK Basalt accounts for more than 90% of all volcanic rock at the Earth's surface. It is the largest component of the oceanic crust and also constitutes the main rock type seen in many of the Earth's mid-ocean land forms, including the Hawaiian islands and Iceland. Basalt is fine-grained in texture and dark in colour. Approximately 50% of this rock is composed of silica; it also contains significant amounts of iron and magnesium. Pictured above is the Giant's Causeway – on the coast of County Antrim in Northern Ireland – which is formed from basalt. Devils Tower in Wyoming, USA, began as an underground intrusion of igneous rock more than 50 million years ago. The surrounding softer sedimentary rock has eroded, leaving this towering monolith. Its volcanic columns, some 585 ft (178 m) tall, formed as the magma intrusion cooled and shrank. The Giant's Causeway (see left) is another example of this type of volcanic column. Native American call this montribes a number of olith by different names. To th "Tree Rock" e Kiowa, it is Rock", whileor "Aloft on a th know it as "Ge Lakota Bear's Lodgrizzly e". 21 EARTH Heavy Metal As of 1700, only seven of the 84 metal elements on the periodic table were identified. These "Metals of Antiquity" were gold, copper, silver, lead, tin, iron and mercury. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Every element on the periodic table has its own atomic number, atomic weight and chemical symbol. Lead, for example, has an atomic number of 82, which means there are 82 protons in every atom. Its atomic weight (or relative atomic mass) is 207.2, which is the ratio of the average mass of an atom of lead compared to 1/12 th of the mass of an atom of a carbon-12 isotope. Lead's chemical symbol is Pb. It derives from the Latin word plumbum, which means "liquid silver". Half-life is the measure of how long it takes an unstable element to decay. A half-life of one day means that it would take that time for half the atomic nuclei in a sample to decay into a more stable element. In 2003, French scientists discovered that bismuth-209, previously believed to be radioactively stable, in fact gradually decays with a half-life of around 20 billion billion years – more than a billion times the age of the universe. Q: Which element makes up most of the human body? A: Oxygen. It accounts for around 65% of all the elements in us. Longest half-life by alpha decay HEAVIEST... First artificially produced element Naturally occurring element Technetium (Tc) was discovered in 1937 by Carlo Perrier and Emilio Segrè (both ITA) at the University of Palermo in Sicily, Italy. They isolated the element from a sample of molybdenum (Mo), which had been exposed to high levels of radiation in a particle accelerator known as a cyclotron. Its most stable isotope, technetium-98, has a half-life of around 4.2 million years, meaning that any significant mineral deposits in the Earth's crust have long since radioactively decayed into ruthenium-98. In 1971, US scientist Darleane Hoffman published her discovery of small amounts of plutonium-244 in Precambrian phosphate deposits found in California, USA. Plutonium has an atomic number of 94. Largest cluster of francium atoms made in a laboratory In Dec 2002, scientists at the State University of New York, USA, managed to create francium (Fr) atoms using a heavy ion nuclear fusion reactor, collecting more than 300,000 together in a magneto-optical trap. Francium's most stable isotope has a half-life of just 22 min, making it the most unstable naturally occurring element. It has no practical uses. Largest civil stockpile of plutonium As of 2016, the UK held around 126 tonnes (277,782 lb) of plutonium (Pu), 23 tonnes (50,706 lb) of which is owned by other nations. A by-product of uranium used in nuclear reactors, the plutonium is stored at the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria. It exists in powdered form and is kept in steel and aluminium Ellis Hughes, in g in liv r containers. le tt se a the Oregon, moved rite to eteo Willamet te m 1903, with in his own land s son. It took the help of hi ys to shift them 90 da e just the vast ston ft)! 40 ,9 (3 m 00 1,2 Toxic arsenic trioxide was mixed with chalk and vinegar in Victorian times to make face cream! Alkali metal to occur in significant quantities Occupying group 1, or the left-most column of the periodic table, alkali metals are soft and highly reactive, with low density. Although caesium's atomic number of 55 is lower than that of francium (87), francium is only visible in microscopic amounts in the Earth's crust and is invisible to the naked eye. Lanthanide metal The lanthanide metals consist of the 15 elements with atomic numbers 57 to 71 and are sometimes known as the "rare earth elements", along with yttrium and scandium. Lutetium's atomic number of 71 makes it the heaviest of the group. The element cobalt (Co) was named after "kobalt", the German word for goblin Transition metal All elements in groups 3–12 of the periodic table (with the exception of lutetium and lawrencium) are known as transition metals. Less reactive than alkali metals, transition metals are good conductors of heat and electricity and include gold, copper and iron. With an atomic number of 112, copernicium (Cn) is the heaviest of these metals. First created in 1996, it is a man-made element that does not occur in nature. Element to produce a net release of energy via nuclear fusion Elements are created in the cores of stars by a process called stellar nucleosynthesis, in which the protons and neutrons of lighter elements are bonded together to form heavier ones. Iron (atomic number 26) is the heaviest element that can be created without requiring additional energy. Stars producing elements heavier than iron suffer a dramatic drop in energy output, leading to collapse and eventual supernova. MOST ABUNDANT METAL IN THE UNIVERSE Iron (Fe) accounts for approximately 0.11% of all matter in the universe. The sixth most common element overall, it makes up around 0.1% of the Sun and 0.006% of a human being. It also accounts for around 22% of meteorite material found on Earth – such as the famous WiIlamette Meteorite (left), a giant chunk of iron-nickel space debris weighing 14.15 tonnes (31,195 lb) that was discovered in the US state of Oregon. 22 On Venus, it "snows" lead and bismuth sulphides, so the mountains are capped with metal More than half of the world's output of lead is used to make car batteries Cigarettes often contain the heavy metals cadmium, lead, arsenic and nickel An average 70-kg (154-lb) human body comprises about 0.01% heavy metals (7 g, the weight of two dried peas) Tooth cavities are filled with "dental amalgam" – a liquid alloy of mercury and other metals. The technique dates to 658 ce. EARTH FIRST ALLOY Alloys are mixtures of metals with other metals and occasionally non-metallic substances. The first alloy created by humans was bronze, which is copper mixed with approximately 10% tin. The Bronze Age, which began in the ancient Near East around the 4th millennium bce, marked the period when this alloy became the material of choice for weapons and tools. The era saw the development of mining and smelting techniques, as well as the formation of trade networks between early civilizations. LIGHTEST METAL THAT IS LIQUID NEAR ROOM TEMPERATURE Discovered in 1875, the unusual metal gallium (Ga) possesses an atomic number of 31 and melts at just 29.760C (85.560F). Unlike liquid mercury, which is highly toxic, gallium is safe to handle and will melt in your hand. These properties have made it a key ingredient of a popular practical joke among some chemists, who serve tea with a gallium spoon that rapidly disappears upon stirring. Caesium is so reactive that it ignites on contact with air. It is stored in glass tubes inside inert gas, or in a vacuum, to keep it safe. SOFTEST METALLIC ELEMENT With a Mohs value of just 0.2, caesium (Cs) is soft enough to be cut with a butter knife. It melts at just 280C (820F) and explodes violently when dropped in water. Caesium was discovered in 1860 by the German scientists Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff, who isolated it from a sample of mineral water using the recently developed technique of flame spectroscopy. Silvery-gold in colour, caesium's most notable use is in super-accurate atomic clocks. DENSEST METAL Discovered in 1803 by Smithson Tennant and William Hyde Wollaston (both UK), osmium (Os) has a density of 22.59 g/cm3, about twice that of lead. The toxic nature of osmium's oxides mean that it is rarely used in its natural form. However, its hard-wearing qualities make it ideal for use in alloys for electrical contacts and fountain-pen nibs. The least dense metal at room temperature is lithium, at 0.5334 g/cm3. HIGHEST BOILING POINT OF ANY METAL As established by the International Tungsten Industrial Association (ITIA), Tungsten (W) has a boiling point of 5,7000C (10,2920F), with a 2000C (3920F) margin of error each side. This is equivalent to the surface temperature of the Sun. Tungsten also has the highest melting point of any metal, at 3,4220C (6,1910F), with a 150C (590F) margin of error. Its extraordinary heat resistance makes tungsten a useful metal for industrial applications such as drill‑bits and furnaces. HARDEST METALLIC ELEMENT HEAVIEST ALKALINE EARTH METAL The alkaline earth metals occupy group two of the periodic table. They all occur naturally and have a shiny, silvery-white appearance. The heaviest is radium (Ra), with an atomic number of 88. Discovered by Marie and Pierre Curie (both FRA) in 1898, it is the only radioactive member of the alkaline earth metals. Radium is used in industrial imaging and radioluminescent devices. Chromium (Cr) boasts a value of 8.5 on the Mohs scale, which measures the hardness of minerals by their scratch resistance to other materials. Lustrous and steely grey, chromium has both a high melting point and corrosion resistance. When added to iron in sufficient quantities, it forms the corrosion-proof alloy known as stainless steel. Chromium takes its name from the Greek word for "colour" – trace amounts of the element are what make rubies red. They are also responsible for the brilliant red hue of the samples of crocoite mineral (shown left), which were retrieved from a Tasmanian lead mine. 23 EARTH Tectonics Most of Earth's geological activity occurs at the points where tectonic plates come together or divide. 2 LARGEST AND SMALLEST TECTONIC PLATES The Earth's rocky outer shell is broken into large pieces called "plates", which constantly move. The Pacific plate (1) is more than 103,000,000 km2 (39,768,522 sq mi) in area. It is moving north-west in relation to North America around 7 cm (2.75 in) per year, as measured around the Hawaiian islands. The North Galápagos microplate (2) is in the Pacific Ocean, off the west coast of South America. Only around 1,559 km2 (602 sq mi) in size, it sits at the junction of the Nazca, Cocos and Pacific plates. LARGEST OPHIOLITE Ophiolites are formed by tectonic activity that lifts sections of Earth's oceanic crust above sea level and sometimes places them into the continental crust. The Semail ophiolite in Oman's Hajar Mountains measures around 550 x 150 km (341 x 93 mi) and covers an area of approximately 100,000 km2 (38,610 sq mi). It formed around 96–94 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous period, and is rich in copper and chromite. The inset picture provides a close-up of "pillow lavas" at this location – rounded shapes of lava that originally formed underwater. MOST RECENT SUPERCONTINENT In the distant past, tectonic plate movement combined Earth's continental crust into one landmass – a supercontinent. There have been perhaps seven in all; each one broke up due to the same tectonic processes that created them. This last happened some 300 million years ago, when the crust gathered in the southern hemisphere to create the supercontinent that we call Pangea. HIGHEST EARTHQUAKE DEATH TOLL IN MODERN TIMES At 21:53 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on 12 Jan 2010, a magnitude-7 quake struck with an epicentre around 25 km (15.5 mi) west of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. Haiti's government later put the death toll at 316,000, although lower estimates put the figure at 100,000. Some 1.3 million people were displaced by the earthquake and 97,294 houses destroyed. LONGEST RIFT SYSTEM Rift valleys form when Earth's plates pull apart. The East African Rift System is around 4,000 mi (6,400 km) long – almost as long as the Amazon River – with an average width of some 30–40 mi (50–65 km). It runs from Jordan to Mozambique. The escarpments at the valley's edge have an average height of 600–900 m (1,968–2,952 ft). It has been forming for some 30 million years, as the Arabian Peninsula has separated from Africa. Three types of plate boundaries: Transform Tectonic plates slide sideways past each other Divergent The plates slide apart Widest continental shelf Continental shelves are an extension of coastal plains and are characterized by broadly sloping submerged plains. Around 7.4% of the world's ocean surface sits above continental shelves. The widest one extends 1,210 km (750 mi) off the coast of Siberia, Russia, into the Arctic Ocean. Largest continental collision zone Some 40–50 million years ago, the Indian subcontinent collided with the Eurasian continent. The impact, which is still Convergent The plates slide towards each other Q: We live at the top of Earth's crust. How far below the surface does it extend for? A: Around 70 km (44 mi) 1 ongoing along a zone roughly 2,400 km (1,490 mi) in length, created the Himalayan mountains. Nanga Parbat, a mountain in Pakistan, began forming when this continental collision occurred. It is the fastest-rising mountain, growing taller at a rate of 7 mm (0.27 in) per year. Fastest-moving strike-slip fault New Zealand's Alpine Fault runs along most of South Island and marks the point where the Pacific and Australian plates meet. These plates are moving relative to each other in a strike-slip 24 EARTH LONGEST SUBDUCTION "Subduction" describes the movement of one tectonic plate beneath another (see convergent plate boundary illustration, below left). The Andean Subduction Zone runs for some 7,000 km (4,350 mi) along the western coast of South America. Here, the denser ocean crust of the Nazca plate plunges below the lighter continental crust of South America and is recycled in the Earth's upper mantle. LONGEST EARTHQUAKE The Sumatra-Andaman Islands earthquake in the Indian Ocean, on 26 Dec 2004, was the longest-lasting ever recorded. Its duration was measured at 500–600 sec – around 10 minutes! The magnitude-9.1–9.3 earthquake triggered a massive tsunami (damage pictured) that devastated low-lying regions around the Indian Ocean and caused damage as far away as Somalia. Tectonic plates are around 100 km (62 mi) thick – about the same as the thickness of the Earth's atmosphere The Mid-Atlantic Ridge moves at 10–40 mm (0.39‑1.5 in) a year – or about the same rate that your fingernails grow The Nazca plate travels at 160 mm (6.29 in) a year, or about the same rate that your hair grows fault (the transform fault is one such – see left). On 8 Mar 2016, scientists from Victoria University of Wellington and GNS Science (both NZ) revealed that the plates are moving 4.7 cm (1.8 in) per year in relation to each other, and have covered 700 km (434 mi) in the past 25 million years. Fastest seafloor spreading centre The East Pacific Rise is a tectonic plate boundary that runs from Antarctica to the west coast of the USA. A portion of the East Pacific Rise called the Pacific-Nazca boundary is pushing the Pacific and Nazca continental plates apart at a rate of around 15 cm (5.9 in) per year. The slowest seafloor spreading centre is the Gakkel Mid-Ocean Ridge, the northern extension of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Separating the North American and Eurasian plates, it runs for 1,800 km (1,118 mi) from the north of Greenland to Siberia. The rate of spread ranges from 13.3 mm (0.52 in) per year near Greenland to 6.3 mm (0.24 in) per year at the other end, close to Siberia. Atmosphere Tectonic plate LONGEST SUBMARINE MOUNTAIN RANGE The Mid-Ocean Ridge is an underwater mountain range that extends 40,000 mi (65,000 km) from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, around Africa, Asia and Australia, and under the Pacific Ocean to the west coast of North America. At its apex, it stands 13,800 ft (4,200 m) above the base ocean depth – around half as tall as Everest, the highest mountain. Magma Newest ocean Suggestion of continental drift In 2005, a rift 56 km (34.7 mi) long opened in the Afar Depression in Ethiopia (aka the Danakil Depression, the lowest point in Africa). In Nov 2009, geologists heralded it as a new ocean. The Pacific is the oldest ocean. Some rocks on its floor are approximately 200 million years old. Looking at any map of Earth, it is clear that the coastlines of west Africa and east South America complement each other. The first person to have noticed this is believed to have been the Flemish mapmaker Abraham Ortelius (1527–98). He argued that the two continents were once joined together before being pulled apart "by earthquakes and flood". Continental drift only became accepted by mainstream academia in the second half of the 20th century. Oldest evidence for plate tectonics On 8 Jul 2002, a team of Chinese and US geologists announced their discovery of rocks indicating that plate tectonics were active on Earth some 2.5 billion years ago. This is around 500 million years earlier than previously thought. FIRST… Continent Geological evidence suggests that there was a single continental landmass on Earth from 3.6 billion to 2.8 billion years ago. Named Vaalbara, it was smaller than any of today's continents. Earthquake registered from orbit The European Space Agency's (ESA) Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) satellite was launched on 17 Mar 2009. It mapped the Earth's gravity field until 11 Nov 2013, when it re-entered the atmosphere and was destroyed. On 11 Mar 2011, as it passed through Earth's ultra-thin thermosphere, GOCE picked up weak sound waves caused by a devastating earthquake that struck Japan. 25 EARTH Pollution & Environment In 2016, scientists announced that the hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica was healing. If the current trend persists, it will have closed by 2050. On 12 Sep 2016, NASA revealed that the warmest months on record were Jul and Aug 2016. The analysis by scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, USA, showed that Aug 2016 was 0.98°C (1.76°F) hotter than the mean August temperature from 1951 to 1980. It was also 0.16°C (0.28°F) hotter than the previous warmest August, in 2014. Smallest recorded size of the Arctic ice cap HIGHEST ANTARCTIC CO2 LEVELS According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the South Pole Observatory's carbon dioxide station measured 400 ppm (parts per million) for the first time on 12 May 2016. Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels have taken time to reach the South Pole as most of the world's population (and its pollution) are in the northern hemisphere. Af ter its 2016e expansion, th kea okuā Papahānaumtional Marine Na s Monument ha ze, si quadrupled in t equal os making it alm the in area to o. Gulf of Mexic The extent of the ice floating on the surface of the Arctic Ocean changes with the seasons, shrinking to a minimum at the end of summer. Its smallest size was registered on 17 Sep 2012, with an area of 3.41 million km² (1.31 million sq mi). Largest dead zone Waters in some coastal areas have very low concentrations of oxygen (hypoxia), making life impossible for many species; such areas are called "dead zones". The largest is in the Baltic Sea, with an average area of 49,000 km² (18,919 sq mi) over the last 40 years. In 1971, the area peaked at 70,000 km² (27,027 sq mi), more than twice the area of Belgium. Largest extent of the Antarctic sea ice The Antarctic continent is surrounded by frozen sea; the extent of this ice sheet peaks at the end of the southern winter. On 20 Sep 2014, the Antarctic sea ice peaked at 20.201 million km² (7.8 million sq mi). The additional area of sea ice created by this erratic growth is dwarfed by the area of ice lost in the shrinking Arctic. Highest level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere In 2015, the average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached a level of 400 ppm for the first time. Such high concentrations had been reached before, for short periods, but never as an annual average. LARGEST TROPICAL MARINE RESERVE On 26 Aug 2016, US president Barack Obama (left) announced the expansion of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument around the Hawaiian archipelago. It is now 582,578 sq mi (1.5 million km2) in size. Until 28 Oct 2016, it was also the largest marine reserve overall. But on that date, 24 countries and the European Union agreed to declare 1.55 million km2 (600,000 sq mi) of the Ross Sea in Antarctica a protected marine area. As a "no-take" zone, nothing can be removed, including marine life and minerals, for 35 years. Q: How many times can paper be recycled? 100+ A: Six. Its fibres are not strong enough to take any more. Warmest month on record Highest level of acidity in ocean waters On 4 Jun 2004, in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska, USA, the water pH level was 6.9718 at a depth of 2 m (6 ft 6 in). This concentration of acids is about 10 times higher than average. Measuring the pressure of a gas in water is a way of quantifying how much of that gas is dissolved. The higher the quantity dissolved, the higher the pressure. The water samples taken on 4 Jun 2004 had a carbon dioxide pressure reading of 3,796.8 micro atmosphere (384.71 Pa). Some 10 times greater than average, this is the highest level of carbon dioxide in ocean waters. petrol stations in the Nigerian city of Onitsha (population: 1 million), the worst city for air pollution Longest global coral bleaching event Higher atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide result in more of this acidic gas being absorbed in oceanic waters. Ocean acidification may be one cause of coral bleaching. Earth's coral reefs are currently undergoing a global bleaching event first seen in mid-2014 in the western Pacific Ocean. As of Jan 2017, this event had lasted more than two-and-a-half years. On 29 Nov 2016, scientists revealed that two-thirds of a 700-km (435-mi) stretch of the Great Barrier Reef – located off Queensland, north-eastern Australia – had been killed off, the greatest coral die-off on the Great Barrier Reef. A rise in ocean temperature was the cause of the damage. Teams of divers led by Professor Andrew Baird, of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, inspected the reef in Oct and Nov 2016. India is home to 16 of the world's 30 most polluted cities; of these, the most contaminated is Delhi Air pollution promotes a higher risk of stroke, heart disease, lung cancer and respiratory problems First global survey of ocean plastic pollution On 10 Dec 2014, an international team of scientists, led by the Five Gyres Institute (USA), published the results of a massive survey of plastic pollution in the world's oceans. The team's estimate – based on surveys of beach debris around the world, sample-taking voyages and computer models – was that there were 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic in the oceans. More recently, the United Nations Environment Programme has studied the composition of this plastic plague. In Aug 2016 the UNEP found that the most common ocean pollutant – forming around 50% of all plastic matter in the oceans – is discarded carrier bags. 3 million deaths each year are attributable to air pollution 80% of the planet's urban population is exposed to levels of air pollution greater than the limit established by the World Health Organization (WHO) 26 EARTH HIGHEST SCORE ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE INDEX Finland is the country with the best environmental performance, according to research findings presented to the World Economic Forum on 23 Jan 2016 by scientists from the USA's Yale and Columbia universities. In all, 180 countries were studied, using more than 20 key indicators under nine categories: health impacts, air quality, water and sanitation, water resources, agriculture, forests, fisheries, biodiversity and habitat, and climate and energy. LOWEST GLOBAL TREE POPULATION On 2 Sep 2015, a report by an international team of scientists led by Yale University, USA, revealed that there were around 3.04 trillion trees on Earth, or around 422 trees for each person. The survey also suggests that, since the beginning of human civilization, Earth has lost nearly 46% of its trees and is now less forested than at any time in recorded history. Human activity destroys some 15 billion trees each year. WORST RIVER POLLUTION INCIDENT On 1 Nov 1986, firemen fighting a blaze at the Sandoz chemical works in Basel, Switzerland, flushed around 30 tonnes (66,138 lb) of agricultural chemicals into the river Rhine, along with the water they were using to combat the fire. The river water turned red from the influx of chemicals, which included pesticides and mercury. Within 10 days, the pollution had reached the North Sea. Half a million fish died from the toxic chemicals. WORST CITY FOR AIR POLLUTION PM10s are "particulate matter" such as soot (carbon), metal or dust with a diameter of 10 microns or less. According to the WHO's Ambient Air Pollution report for 2