10 Fascinating Scientific Facts

In one of the greatest medical discoveries in history, Alexander Fleming's messiness led to this incredible discovery. Apparently, when he came home from a vacation and saw mold on his workstation, he noticed that bacteria tended to avoid it. This mold is still used as an antibiotic today.

HERPETOLOGY: Rattlesnakes are starting to avoid roads.

New research shows that rattlesnakes are avoiding crossing streets. This is a remarkable example of adaptation, but it's also a problem. According to the study that made this determination, this is keeping rattlesnakes from finding mates across roads, which is leading to inbreeding.

ASTROPHYSICS: The Hadron Collider once released enough energy to lift magnets off the ground.

It's working fine now (no black holes yet), but almost two years ago, the Hadron Collider in France and Switzerland went through a "quench," an instability caused by a magnet getting too warm. This caused 100 magnets to come loose and a ton of liquid helium to leak into the tunnel.

SURGICAL ROBOTICS: Surgeons can perform heart surgery with robots.

Last week, British surgeons performed a heart rhythm operation with a remote-controlled robot. In the future, such surgeries could be performed over the internet from the other side of the world.

NANOTECHNOLOGY: An entire library's worth of information can fit on a single microchip.

Remember the days of 1.44 megabyte floppy disks? An NC State professor Dr. Jay Narayan has made a microchip that can hold an entire library's worth of information. Just don't lose it.

ZOOLOGY: Elephants have a warning call for bees.

In an experiment funded by charity Save the Elephants, researchers have discovered that elephants will make a certain sound when bees are near. The scientists tested this by playing a recording of the sound and seeing elephants' reactions. And we thought it was mice all this time.

CHEMISTRY: You can start a fire with compressed air.

Check out this Popular Science article for instructions. Apparently this is a centuries-old technology, but you can use a tube, an aluminum plunger, and some heat-generating friction to light your cigarette without any fuel.

CHEMISTRY: Salt water and urine can power a battery.

A South Korean battery maker, on a military contract, has developed a battery that can be charged with sea water to give your laptop four hours of life. This is also a centuries-old technology, believe it or not. Don't have an ocean nearby? Don't worry; it is also powered by urine.

GEOLOGY: There are an estimated 15,000 fault lines below California.

The California Geological Survey has updated its seismic map with 50 newly discovered fault lines. The map is powered by Google Maps and puts the grand total at around 15,000. Yikes!

PRIMATE ANTHROPOLOGY: Chimps may recognize the finality of death.

According to Univerity of Stirling studies, chimps act differently when a loved one is about to die, and after the fact. Video cameras captured grooming during the final hours and frustrated behavior after Pansy, a chimp in Guinea. Another study observed mothers refusing to let go of their dead infants.