SortStack #1187 — 2029-09-08
By duration · Order from shortest to longest.
- A chameleon's tongue reaching its insect prey 72 ms
Small chameleons have the fastest tongues, accelerating at hundreds of g — proportionally the most powerful movement of any reptile, bird, or mammal.
- A dentist-approved tooth brushing session 2 min
Studies show most people actually brush for about 45 seconds while believing they've done the full recommended time.
- Jeff Bezos' first Blue Origin spaceflight, launch to landing 10.2 min
The 2021 flight carried both the oldest and youngest people to reach space at the time: 82-year-old Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen.
- The Woodstock music festival of 1969 2.8 days
Billed as '3 days of peace & music', it overran badly — Jimi Hendrix closed at 9 am on Monday to a field mostly littered with sleeping bags.
- 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.
- How long the Parthenon has been standing 2.5K years
It survived largely intact for over 2,000 years — until 1687, when a Venetian shell hit the gunpowder the Ottomans had stored inside.