Month in Facts: February

© wfmillar

114

The world’s oldest woman, Eunice Sanborn, died in Texas on 31 January 2011 at the age of 114. However, family members claim the Census Bureau incorrectly recorded her birth year as 1896 and not 1895, making her actually 115.

1,000ft

A Scottish man survived a fall of 1,000 feet (305 metres) down the Sgurr Choinnich Mor cliff near Ben Nevis in Scotland after losing his footing. He was found by researchers at the bottom reading a map with only minor injuries.

500

Mars500, a study simulating 520 days of isolation for six men on a spacecraft to re-create the conditions of a mission to Mars, has just seen the crew land on the artificially created surface.

25 years

On 28 January 2011 NASA commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, the accident in 1986 that saw seven astronauts lose their lives when the space shuttle exploded shortly after liftoff.

3 seconds

Scientists have suggested that we go through life experiencing the present in shot windows of time, following analysis of human and animal behaviour that occurred, on average, in periods of three seconds.

50 micrograms

A piece of metal in Paris is currently used for the official weight of a kilogram. However, after it lost the equivalent of a grain of sand in weight over the past 100 years, scientists will look to define the weight as a physical constant.