SortStack #529 — 2027-11-20

By duration · Order from shortest to longest.

1. One heartbeat of a hummingbird in flight 48 ms

   Hummingbird hearts can hit 1,260 beats per minute in flight, then crash to about 50 at night when the bird enters a hibernation-like torpor.

2. A single sneeze, from sharp inhale to achoo 1.5 sec

   A sneeze can launch droplets several metres, and you can't sneeze with your eyes open without effort — the blink is part of the reflex.

3. A standard university lecture 50 min

   Attention research suggests student focus starts lapsing after 10-15 minutes — which is roughly when most lecturers are just warming up.

4. The Titanic's sinking, from iceberg to going under 2.7 h

   The ship's band famously kept playing on deck for most of it — and the iceberg itself had likely calved from a Greenland glacier years earlier.

5. The record-winning Vendée Globe solo sail around the world 64.8 days

   Charlie Dalin's 2025 run was nonstop, alone, and unassisted — skippers sleep in 20-minute bursts for the entire circumnavigation.

6. The construction of the Sydney Opera House 14 years

   Planned as a four-year, $7 million project, it took fourteen years and $102 million — and its architect left Australia before it opened, never returning.

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