SortStack #2804 — 2034-02-11
By duration · Order from shortest to longest.
- 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.
- 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.
- The average adult's actual night of sleep 6.8 h
Smartphone-tracking studies put the global average well under the recommended eight hours — and humans sleep less than virtually any other primate.
- Alcock and Brown's first nonstop transatlantic flight 16 h
The 1919 crossing ended nose-first in an Irish bog they mistook for a meadow. Brown had climbed onto the wings mid-flight to chip off ice.
- The Islamic holy month of Ramadan 29.5 days
Because it follows the lunar calendar, Ramadan drifts about 11 days earlier each year — cycling through every season over 33 years.
- 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.