The Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated place on Earth within Western civilization — 3,700 kilometers from the nearest mainland (U.S. territory). They’re also among the most remote places in the world. Maybe that’s why Hawaii has the highest life expectancy in the U.S. — 82 years. In Mississippi, by contrast, life may be no worse, but it’s much shorter — just 75 years.

The highest mountain on the planet is the Mauna Kea volcano, if measured from its base (10,203 meters), not from sea level (4,205 meters). That’s because most of the volcano sits underwater. And the Waialeale volcano is the wettest place on Earth — it gets an average of 11,684 mm of precipitation a year, with a record 16,916 mm in 1992. For comparison, Riga’s average annual precipitation is just under 700 mm.

Nearby is the largest active volcano on Earth, Mauna Loa — its height is only 36 meters less than Mauna Kea. On the night of Sunday, November 27, 2022, the volcano woke up for the first time since 1984, flooding the bowl-shaped caldera at its summit with lava. On November 28, lava fountains began erupting along fissures; most rose only a few meters, while the tallest reached 30–60 meters in height.

Did you know the person on the US $100 bill was never a president? It’s Benjamin Franklin — one of the leaders of the American Revolution and the only Founding Father to sign all three of the key documents that established the United States as an independent nation: the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the 1783 Treaty of Paris.

Тауматауакатангиангакоауауотаматеатурипукакапикимаунгахоронукупокануэнуакитанатаху (Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu) is the name of a low hill on the North Island of New Zealand; it’s one of the longest place names in the world.

The name can be translated from Māori as ‘The summit of the hill where Tamatea, the man with big knees — who slid, climbed, and swallowed mountains, known as the land-eater — played his nose flute for his beloved.’ The word is 85 letters long and is listed in the Guinness World Records. Locals often simply call the hill ‘Taumata’.

Here are a few curious, century-old laws still on the books in some U.S. states. Years have passed, but the laws remain… Men in Colorado aren’t allowed to kiss sleeping women. And in Wisconsin, men aren’t allowed to shoot women during their orgasm. In some U.S. states, like Arizona, Indiana, and New York, an erection visible through clothing in public is illegal.

You can be fined for it — and even jailed. Meanwhile, in one city in Oregon, men aren’t allowed to swear while making love…

Death Valley, the driest and hottest place on the planet, is home to over 15 species of birds, 40 species of mammals, 44 species of reptiles, 12 species of amphibians, 13 species of fish, and 545 species of plants.

Some 450 years before the Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus discovered America, the 11th-century Central Asian scholar and encyclopedist Abu Rayhan al-Biruni confidently predicted the continent’s existence.

Out of 18 million Australians, more than 4 million have moved to Australia over the past 50 years.