Curious Elf2020 has been a year of first for many things for people around the globe. Among them, some are nothing to be happy about, while a few others will make you want to know more. This year there were several scientific discoveries made that broke records and made history. If some earned the title of the ‘oldest,’ the other was termed the ‘longest.’
We understand that you are getting excited to learn more about them, which is why we have brought this article for you. We have listed below a few science records that were broken in the year 2020. So, without wasting any more time, let us take a look at them.
#1 Longest Animal To Be Found Till Date
A group of researchers, while probing the Australian Coast’s deep-sea canyons, they discovered a stringy and super long creature, which in their opinion, is the largest animal to be found until today. The living thing, known as the Siphonophore, is 45 meters long, which is 150 feet when measured. A depth study revealed that it consisted of critters, smaller in size, which are termed as zooids. These animals stay connected to other zooids but, on the other hand, has their own lives. They collectively function for the larger animal.
#2 Largest Turtle To Have Ever Lived
It seems turtles are tired of being only termed as the longest living animal, and hence, one has earned a new title of being the largest. According to a recent discovery, this turtle lived almost 8 million years ago, and it was tagged as the largest to have lived because its shell measured around 2.4 meters, which is 8 feet in diameter. It belonged to the Stupendemys geographicus species, which has now gone extinct and lived in northern South America.
#3 Oldest Material On Earth
The title of oldest material discovered on earth was bagged by stardust found in a gigantic meteorite that hit the world around 50 years ago. According to research, the dust is older than the sun and landed on this planet with the Murchison meteorite in Australia in 1969. It then became the oldest material to be found on the earth.
#4 Longest Bird Flight
On the 16th of September, 2020, a bar-tailed male godwit broke the record of the longest flight without making any stops. This rust-colored bird, also known as the 4BBRW, is loud and has a long beak. Its scientific term is Limosa lapponica, and it started its journey from southwest Alaska and traveled to its destination non-stop for 11 days, which happened to be New Zealand. The godwit covered a distance of almost 12200 kilometers that is 7581 miles, including rounding errors.
#5 Longest Exposure Photo
What seemed to be a case of forgetfulness, a student of the University of Hertfordshire captured the most extended exposure photo to have ever taken in history. It was the everyday transition of the sun that it had over the sky since the year 2012. Regina Valkenborgh fitted a pinhole camera on the university’s Bayfordbury Observatory telescope but forgot all about it. According to reports, Valkenborgh was surprised that the camera had survived this long. Consequently, the photograph put forth the 2953 light arcs of the sun as it rose and set.
#6 Oldest Identical Twins
The remains of two infants, who were later proved to be identical twins, have been dubbed as the oldest variety of its kind on the planet. The twins were found in a 31000-year-old burial at the Krems-Wachtberg archeological site in Austria. After the DNA tests, it was concluded that one of the two immediately died after birth, while the other lived for almost 50 days. The tests also confirmed that another set of remains that were discovered from a burial nearby might belong to their cousin who lived for three months. Archaeologists found the grave where the twins were discovered in 2005.
The Bottom Line
All of the records mentioned above made 2020 a little more interesting. These were only a part of the long list that made history in the specific year. After going through them, all make you look on the positive side of things when everything seems to go otherwise
