Science Facts for Kids
Mind-blowing science facts
The ABO blood typing system was discovered by Karl Landsteiner in 1901, a breakthrough that made safe blood transfusions possible for the first time. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1930 for the discovery.
Cholesterol does not dissolve in water, so it is carried around the body in the blood by proteins called lipoproteins. LDL ('bad') cholesterol deposits it on artery walls; HDL ('good') cholesterol removes it.
As a comet approaches the Sun, heat causes its ice and frozen gases to vaporise, forming a glowing cloud called a coma and a long tail of dust and gas stretching millions of kilometres through space.
Every time a cell divides, it must copy all 3 billion base pairs of DNA in the human genome with remarkable accuracy — the error rate is about one mistake per billion letters copied.
Contrary to popular belief, raindrops are not teardrop-shaped. Small raindrops are nearly spherical, while larger ones are flattened on the bottom and domed on top — like a tiny hamburger bun.
Copper surfaces kill bacteria, viruses, and fungi on contact, often within minutes — a property called the oligodynamic effect. This is why copper door handles and handrails are used in hospitals.
Stomach acid (hydrochloric acid) is strong enough to dissolve some metals and irritate skin — yet the stomach lining renews itself every few days to prevent the acid from digesting the stomach itself.
All computers store and process information using binary code — a system of just two digits, 0 and 1, representing electrical signals being off or on. Every word, image, and video is ultimately stored as a string of these digits.
Chemical reactions generally speed up when temperature increases, because higher temperatures give molecules more energy and cause them to collide more frequently and with greater force.
Radioactive elements decay at a constant, predictable rate described by their 'half-life' — the time it takes for half of a sample to decay. This property allows scientists to accurately date ancient rocks, fossils, and artefacts.