According to the National Sleep Research Project:

–The record for going without sleep is almost 19 hours.

– People can take a cat nap, with their eyes open, and without being aware of  it.

– Scientists can’t explain the 1998 study that showed that a bright light shown on the back of human knees can re-set the body’s sleep-wake clock.

– The 1989 Exxon oil spill, the Chernobyl nuclear accident, and the Challenger space shuttle disaster were all linked to human errors caused by sleep deprivation.

– Teens need as much sleep as small children.

I love all things to do with words.  Here are some fascinating word facts:

– The ONE word in the English language with three consecutive sets of double letters:  BOOKKEEPER

– The only word in the English language with only one vowel, and that repeated five times:  INVISIBILITY

– There are about 6,500 spoken languages in today’s world.  About 2,000 of  them have fewer than 1,000 speakers.

– The letter most used in the English language is “E”.

– The word “set” has more definitions than any other word in the English language.

– These words don’t rhyme with any other words in the English language: month, orange, silver, purple

– The shortest complete sentence in the English language is “Go.”

– All pilots on international flights  identify themselves in English.

– A lightning bolt is 6 times hotter than the sun’s surface.

– Tablecloths were orginally for guests to use to wipe their hands while dining.

– It takes glass a million years to decompose.

Tornadoes can have wind speeds of over 250 miles an hour!  A tornado is actually a counter-clockwise rotating column of air that goes from the base of a thunderstorm down to the ground.

Contrary to common myths, tornadoes can occur anyplace and at any time of the year.

It only makes sense that the Eskimos use refrigerators to keep their food from freezing, doesn’t it?

I was almost surprised when I heard that you can take out insurance for a specific disease.  I’m not sure - exactly - what I think about that.  I’ll have to think about it.

If you get your money from a Hitachi ATM machine in Japan, it will have been cleaned first, by being pressed between rollers hot enough to kill most bacteria.

And, how dirty is money, really? 

“ At random, two $20 bills, one $1 bill, and a quarter were plucked from circulation in New York and checked for germs by a microbiology lab.

Samples were taken from each note and coin by rubbing with a large, moistened cotton swab. Each sample was then stroked onto a small plastic plate containing jellylike agar enriched with blood and other nutrients. The plates were incubated at body temperature for 48 hours. They all grew grayish specks or circles, signaling small colonies of bacteria.

Five types of bacteria were identified: spherical coagulase-negative staphylococci and micrococci; the more rodlike diphtheroids; propionibacteria (a group that includes Propionibacterium acnes, the cause of acne in oily areas); and various species of bacilli. Small bills that get traded a lot are invariably the dirtiest. Our tired-looking single produced the most microbes–all five of the varieties identified. The quarter yielded the least: only two. “Anything that’s very hard and dry isn’t terribly hospitable to bacteria,” according to Joanne Bartkus, a microbiologist with the 3M Company. “And many metals have antibacterial activity,” she adds. “Often pennies come off sterile, presumably due to the copper.”

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1511/is_n10_v19/ai_21145379/pg_2?tag=artBody;col1

I love reading weird instruction labels.  Here are a few that I’ve seen recently:

– On a helmet-mounted mirror for cyclists: Remember, objects in the mirror are actually behind you.

– On a hairdryer:  Do not use while sleeping.

– On a string of Christmas lights (not U.S. made): For indoor or outdoor use only.

– On a food processor (not U.S. made):  Not to be used for the other use.

– On a package of peanuts:  Warning:  Contains nuts

– On a chainsaw (not U.S. made)  Do not attempt to stop blade with your hands or genitals.

Roughly a third of the population suffers from photic sneeze reflex, which means that they sneeze when suddenly exposed to bright (sun) light.  Scientists don’t know exactly why it happens, they only say that it is the result of crossed nerve signals.

If you’re ever sitting there listing off all the 15-letter words you can think of, consider this:

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is “uncopyrightable”.