Approximately only 0.02% of the population lives more than 100 years, and Marguerite Koller is almost one of them. Not only could she live that long, but she also met her 100th great-grandchild. The reunion was recorded, and the result is touching.
This. Is. Earth... 335 million years ago. I wasn’t around then, but there’s just one supercontinent, Pangaea. See? Let’s watch it shift around in fast-forward. Ok here we go, it just split into two huge pieces! Australia goes this way, North and South America go that way. Africa, Asia, Europe, forming, forming... and there we go, the planet as it is today. Let’s keep going, I mean, the continents are always on the move! Over time, some of them will crash into each other, others will break apart. But that’ll take about 100 million years! Better put it on super fast-forward! 100 years from now. Humans keep spitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and the planet’s already warmed up a bunch. The world’s ocean levels have risen about 4 feet. The Bahamas? They’ve totally disappeared! 200 years from now. The Earth’s population is about 19 billion people. The climate’s gotten even warmer, we’re packed in like sardines over here! New medical tech makes it possible to live to 180! But why? Fossil fuel reserves of oil and gas... long gone. Oh, and the continents have drifted over 16 feet!
Humanity’s facing the greatest danger ever. Our Sun’s fading. In 500 years, the entire Solar System will be plunged into darkness and eternal cold. To save our civilization, people begin to build a huge spaceship that will accommodate the population of the whole world inside, and go into deep space. In less than 400 years, the construction of the ship is finally completed. The Sun is already nearing its end — it’s much smaller and cooler, making the climate on Earth cold and harsh. You and the rest of the inhabitants of the planet are going to board the greatest ship in history.
The mystery surrounding ghost towns is hard to ignore. Today, these eerie places serve as a window into the past, offering a glimpse into a time and way of life that has long since disappeared.
Our ancestors were tough. Tough! They had to fight huge wild animals to survive, and meanwhile, they were hiding in caves, eating forest fruit, socializing, catching animals, and discovering new things, like fire. But even with a tight schedule like this, they had some time left for hobbies and artistic things.
As the largest continent on the planet, Asia is home to 60% of the world’s population, comprising 49 countries in total. The region is famous for its tall buildings, 2 world wonders (the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China), and rich biodiversity. Still, there are numerous facts about Asia that are not as well-known, but they can easily blow your mind — so we are eager to tell you about them in this article.
The Moai statues have been standing tall and proud for hundreds of years. Once, people put an enormous effort into carving these grand sculptures. And then they just suddenly stopped making them! But why? Let’s figure out this mystery! Easter Island, located 2,500 mi east of Tahiti, has an area of 63 square miles. To this day, it’s one of the most isolated islands in the world.
Let’s test to see how many spiral-shaped objects you can find around you right now. I bet there are more than you think. A spiral may be hidden in the flower petals of your houseplants. One might be staring at you from that seashell you brought home from your last trip to the beach. If none of these objects sound familiar, you might want to head over to the mirror, and turn to the side a bit. In case you haven’t noticed yet, even our own ears are shaped like a spiral!
Why is Australia so strangely empty? Why haven’t we discovered so much of the Ocean? Is our planet a perfect sphere? And was the Earth once more purple than green? I bet you didn’t know these facts about our planet, so let’s find it all out!
Imagine discovering an ancient city without leaving the comfort of your home! In 1963, a man in the Nevşehir Province of Turkey did exactly that. He was renovating his house. He knocked down a wall in his basement and found a mysterious room. He continued digging and saw a tunnel. This is how Derinkuyu Underground City was found. Derinkuyu is one of the deepest multilevel underground settlements of Cappadocia and in all of Turkey. This engineering masterpiece has 8 levels. The inhabitants living on those floors had access to cellars, storage areas, chapels, a school, a study room, and other structures.
Even though the world’s population will soon reach 8 billion, we are all different, and some human beings possess unique body features. For example, someone has fingers resembling a staircase, and another person has freckles in their eyes. These body features are very rare, so people want to share them with the world. And this is what the heroes of our article have done.
Being left-handed was once considered a bad thing, and parents would try to change the dominant hands of their kids. These beliefs are not common at all anymore, but people are still facing issues in their daily lives and activities thanks to their left-handedness. And while almost 10% of the population considers their left hand to be dominant, it doesn’t mean that others should ignore their needs. Unfortunately, most things are manufactured to accommodate right-handed people.
Asia is home to nearly 60% of the Earth’s population. This continent is the birthplace to some of the world’s earliest civilizations, like Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley civilization as well as ground-breaking inventions such as gunpowder and paper-making. Even today, Asia never ceases to amaze us with its technological and social innovations which, to a Westerner, might seem like something out of a futuristic sci-fi film.
Many cities invest a lot of money in their urban landscapes and public areas. Not only do they increase green areas, but they also create innovative sculptures and other structures. And that makes perfect sense if we take into consideration the fact that by 2050 about 68% of the population will be living in big cities. So, the prettier and greener our cities are, the better quality of life we’ll all have.
There is only one answer when searching for the reason why animals go extinct, and that’s humans. Marine life can’t stay unaffected when humans catch about 85 million fish every year. Also, it’s only natural for animals that live in forests to disappear when millions of acres of land are being destroyed every year, not to mention all the plastic that ends up in the oceans that is seriously threatening turtle populations amongst others.
Only 1% to 2% of the world’s population has red hair. The same goes for people with green eyes: only 2% of people have them. But sometimes, Mother Nature adds a pinch of love and simply blesses people with even more unique and curious traits. From people with different kinds of hair (on one head) to extreme hand flexibility, we at Bright Side are putting a magnifying glass on people with traits that are so unique and fun, they should be shared with our readers.
In ancient times, instinctively carrying out all activities with the left hand (such as eating, drawing, gesturing, waving, or even throwing a ball) was frowned upon, and could be considered strange or even evil. Fortunately, times have changed, and research has been conducted to discover what lies behind the predominant use of one side of our body, making this topic more and more interesting.
The Piraha people, who live in the depths of the Brazilian jungles, don’t know what the past and the future is, they consider a long sleep dangerous and have no idea what stress is all about. All these nuances make it quite difficult for a modern person to understand them. A missionary who came to the Piraha to teach them about life came to the conclusion that these people are the happiest people on Earth. And years later, he understood that it was actually he who needed to learn from them, not vice versa.
Today people worldwide are living longer. By 2050, the world’s population, age 60 and older, is expected to total 2 billion, researchers say. But there is one more important thing about how to stay healthy and young at the same time.
The species of the Española giant tortoise used to be in big danger because there were only 12 females and 3 males left in the world. Only 15 representatives of one species! And they managed to survive thanks to Diego, the tortoise who had a simple but important mission — to reproduce as much as possible.
Despite the fact that plague pandemics appeared in both the Middle Ages and in the modern world, the fiercest and most destructive was the one that ravaged Europe in the 14th century, killing a third of the European population of that time — about 25 million people! But it didn’t just bring on death: after the end of the pandemic, Europe started to change so significantly that the consequences of those events still have an impact on our lives today.
Remember a time when air travel was only used by rich people? Or when kids used to be excited to play outside? According to a survey, kids the ages of 12 to 15 spent around 12.2 hours a week playing video games in 2017. Welcome to the future! We’re still on the fence about whether this is advanced or harmful for us. Is today’s new normal helping us or making us dependent on technology?
The world’s population is becoming increasingly urban and 68% of people are expected to live in cities by 2050, according to the UN. No wonder it’s getting more and more important for urban design to be innovative and convenient. The environment that surrounds us in the streets every day has the ability to influence our mood, our behavior, and even our way of thinking.
Most people have heard the word “childfree.” People who are childfree make the conscious decision not to have children. But society is usually suspicious of those who don’t have children, leaving many childfree people to have to explain their personal life choices to those who have trouble understanding such a position.
What do you do when you see a lot of numbers, charts and the word, “statistics”? You very well may ignore them. But not today! We’ve collected some of the most interesting statistical facts that reveal a lot about the world around us. For example, did you know that around 1,700 people in the U.S. become millionaires every day?
You don’t need to be psychic to predict the future. Sometimes it’s enough to just analyze the present.Bright Side compiled a list of 16 events that will most likely have happened by the second half of the 21st century.
There are more than 200 countries in the world, and we’re sure you’ve heard of each of them at least once. But there are states and territories on our planet we never knew existed. They occupy a super small area, and some of them are inhabited by just a couple of families. Bright Side has decided to make a list of the top ten tiniest countries with a population smaller than that of a medium-sized city or even a small village.
Cape Breton is a small island located at the eastern end of Nova Scotia, Canada. The Farmer’s Daughter Country Market, a bakery and general store, is a staple of this hidden paradise which is looking to expand. Actually, they have everything they need for this purpose, except...people.
Earth is a living, breathing organism. It is undergoing constant changes — glaciers melt, rivers dry up and appear again, cities expand, forests and deserts shift around. And all the while, our planet remains breathtakingly beautiful. Today, Bright Side brings you a selection of incredible NASA photos that demonstrate how the face of the world has changed over the last century! What’s most astonishing is how fast these natural and man-made changes occur. The photos below portray transformations with a time span ranging from a few decades to just one year. Some of the photographic evidence is truly unbelievable. Now you have the chance to see these beautiful and thought-provoking images for yourselves!
