30/100
M87’s black hole shoots a 3,000-light-year plasma jet.

NASA captured a plasma beam shooting through space from the supermassive black hole in the galaxy M87. This jet extends 3,000 light-years from the galaxy’s central black hole, which has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun.

29/100
Sea silk, a rare fabric, originates from clam filaments.

Sea silk is a rare, ultra-fine fabric made from the silky threads secreted by the foot gland of the Pinna nobilis clam, which it uses to anchor itself to the seabed. This material has been used by Greek, Roman, and Chinese civilizations since ancient times.

28/100
AI pageant crowns avatars, creators win 20K in prizes.

Miss AI is the first beauty pageant for AI-generated women, where participants can win $20,000 and earn the title of Miss AI.

27/100
A 191-year-old tortoise named Jonathan is the oldest living land animal.

Jonathan, a tortoise hatched around 1832, is the world’s oldest known living land animal, aged 191 years.

26/100
Undersea cables carry most internet data, not satellites.

Instead of satellites, around 99% of intercontinental internet data travels via hundreds of thousands of miles of undersea cables at the ocean’s bottom.

25/100
Swigert received a tax extension while aboard Apollo 13.

During the 1970 Apollo 13 mission, Jack Swigert forgot to file his taxes. NASA contacted the IRS, who agreed that he was considered “out of the country” and granted him a deadline extension.

24/100
Artist sold an invisible sculpture for £13,000 with authenticity certificate.

In 2021, Italian artist Salvatore Garau sold an invisible sculpture for £13,000, providing the buyer with a certificate of authenticity to confirm its existence.

23/100
Space-bred crops include giant eggplants and improved peppers and cucumbers.

The Chinese government has been sending seeds into space to promote beneficial mutations. This method has produced giant eggplants, half-meter cucumbers, and peppers with higher yields and fewer seeds.

22/100
Romanian woman unknowingly used a million-dollar amber as doorstop.

An elderly Romanian woman used a massive 3.5-kilogram amber nugget, worth over $1 million, as a doorstop for decades, unaware of its true value. It was later confirmed as one of the world’s largest amber pieces.

21/100
In 1955, a 600-year-old plaster Buddha statue was dropped, revealing it was actually made of solid gold underneath.

In 1955, workers in Bangkok accidentally dropped a large plaster statue of the Buddha while moving it, causing some of the plaster to crack and reveal gold underneath. The statue, known as the Golden Buddha, is believed to be over 700 years old and weighs approximately 5.5 tons. It is thought that the golden statue was covered in plaster to hide it from invaders during a time of conflict, and the true nature of the statue remained hidden until its accidental discovery​.