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The Space Pen (produced by Fisher Space Pen Co of the USA) is able to write upside down, in extreme heat and cold, underwater and the zero gravity of space. The pens were first used in space on the Apollo 7 mission in 1968 and have become the standard pen for astronauts, who previously had to use pencils. The pens use special nitrogen-pressurised cartridges to dispense a thick visco-elastic ink, which is pressurised at 50 psi and is fed to a tungsten carbide ball pint.

The oldest fragment of earth is a small zircon crystal between 4.3 and 4.4 billion years old.

In December 1970 Warren Jyrich, a 50-year-old haemophiliac, was given a record 1 080 litres (285 gallons) of blood when he underwent open-heart surgery in Chicago, Illinois, USA. People with haemophilia have blood that doesn't clot and can bleed to death from the slightest cut.

The world's tallest mountain is not in fact Mount Everest, but Mauna Kea (meaning White Mountain) on Hawaii, which is 1 357 metres (4 452 ft) taller than Everest. The base of Mauna Kea begins on the floor of the Pacific Ocean and rises to a peak of 10 205 metres (33 480 ft). However, around 6 000 metres (19 700 ft) of the mountain is under water and 4 205 metres (13 795 ft) is above sea level.

The world's largest doors are found in the Vehicle Assembly Building near Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, which is used by NASA to assemble and prepare space vehicles. The building's four doors are an incredible 140 metres (460 ft) high.

The longest interval between the birth of two children to the same mother is 41 years. Elizabeth Ann Buttle of the United Kingdom had a daughter, Belinda, in 1956 and a son, Joseph David, in 1997 at the age of 60.

In China, 38% of women aged 80 and over have bound feet. Foot binding began in the Sung dynasty (960-976 ACE) as a symbol of beauty. Chinese women's feet were bound tightly with strips of cloth to stop them from growing, so that their feet would resemble three-inch golden lotus flowers. By the time a girl turned three, all but the first of her toes were broken, and because of the cloth strips, her feet would grow no larger than 10 cm (3.9 in).

The fastest caterpillars are the larvae of the mother-of-pearl moth (Pleurotya ruralis), which can travel at the equivalent of 241 km/h (150 mph). The larvae curl into a ball and roll away when attacked, at the rate of 38 cm (15 in) per second.

The largest amount paid by a single cheque is £2 474 655 000 (around $4 billion) on 30 March 1995. The cheque was issued as payment by Glaxo plc to Wellcome Trust Nominees Limited regarding the Trusts's share in Wellcome plc. The Lloyds Bank Registrar's computer was unable to generate a cheque this big, so it was completed by an employee, who wrote it out by hand.

A camel does not start to sweat until its body temperature reaches 41 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit).