SortStack #2587 — 2033-07-09

By duration · Order from shortest to longest.

1. 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.

2. The Epsom Derby, Britain's most famous horse race 2.5 min

   Workforce's 2010 record run covered the mile and a half at over 56 km/h — and the race has been run every year since 1780, even through both World Wars.

3. The Cold War 43.9 years

   Historians call it 'the long peace' — the superpowers never fought each other directly, but proxy wars touched nearly every continent.

4. The time since a human last stood on the Moon 53.4 years

   Gene Cernan traced his daughter's initials in the dust in December 1972 — no boots have touched the surface since.

5. The Romanov dynasty's rule over Russia 304 years

   It began with a 16-year-old reluctantly accepting the throne in 1613 and ended 304 years later with Nicholas II's abdication in 1917.

6. The age of the Lascaux cave paintings 17K years

   Four teenagers and a dog named Robot found the caves in 1940 — visitor breath damaged the art so badly that today tourists see a replica.

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