SortStack #725 — 2028-06-03

By duration · Order from shortest to longest.

1. A single wingbeat of a honeybee 4.4 ms

   Bees beat their wings about 230 times per second — that frequency is exactly what produces their signature buzz.

2. A Venus flytrap snapping shut on a fly 102 ms

   The plant can count: it only snaps after two trigger-hair touches within about 20 seconds, which keeps it from wasting energy on raindrops.

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 Apollo 13 mission, launch to splashdown 6 days

   After the oxygen tank exploded, the crew used the lunar module as a lifeboat and slingshotted around the Moon — NASA's 'successful failure'.

5. A frilled shark's pregnancy 3.5 years

   At an estimated three and a half years, it's the longest known gestation of any vertebrate — embryos grow just over a centimetre a month.

6. The First World War 4.3 years

   The armistice was signed at dawn but set for 11 am — nearly 2,700 men died in those final six hours, the last just one minute before peace.

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