SortStack #998 — 2029-03-03

By duration · Order from shortest to longest.

1. A mantis shrimp throwing its famous punch 3 ms

   The strike accelerates like a bullet and creates collapsing cavitation bubbles that briefly flash with light and heat — prey gets hit twice by one punch.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. Munich's Oktoberfest 17 days

   Despite the name, most of it happens in September — and visitors drink roughly six to seven million litres of beer before it ends.

5. 'Logistics', the longest film ever made 35.7 days

   The Swedish experimental film follows a pedometer's supply chain in reverse, in real time, from a Stockholm shop back to a Chinese factory.

6. The time since the last woolly mammoths died out 4K years

   A dwarf population survived on Wrangel Island until about 2000 BC — meaning mammoths were alive while the Giza pyramids were already centuries old.

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