The Most Remarkable Creations of Man and Nature | Part 4

At a height of 160 meters, this building became one of the tallest in the city. The skyscraper is also known as the Leaning Tower of Abu Dhabi.

The tilt of the building to the west is 18 degrees. For comparison: the tilt of the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa is only 4 degrees, which is 4.5 times less.

This tilt was achieved thanks to an unusual engineering approach: the floor plates were stacked vertically up to the 12th floor, above which they were offset from 30 to 140 centimeters, creating the inclination.

This huge airport has only 2 runways, each 4 km long, and 3 terminals (passenger, cargo, and royal).

A large part of the area is occupied by a developed infrastructure consisting of numerous restaurants, shops, hotels, entertainment centers, and even a mosque that accommodates about 2000 people.

Despite its size, the passenger traffic of King Fahd International Airport is only about 10 million people per year. For comparison, Dubai International Airport, which covers just 14 square kilometers, handles more than 80 million passengers annually.

This tree grows in Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca, in the town of Santa María del Tule, on a square near the church. It is a Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum).

Initially, due to its thickness, it was thought to be several merged trees, but later DNA tests confirmed that it is indeed a single tree.

The age of the tree is unknown and is estimated to be between 1200 and 3000 years, and according to one hypothesis, about 6000 years. The Tule Tree has been declared a natural monument by the Mexican government.

These owls live in Mexico and some parts of the southern United States near the border. They inhabit canyons, plateaus, and mountain slopes.

Their habitat is closely tied to giant saguaro cacti. They nest in cavities of these cacti located two or more meters above the ground. Sometimes they share these cavities with other small owls and with woodpeckers, who chisel the nest holes. Because of this, the elf owl is also called the cactus owl.

Elf owls have weak legs and claws, which makes hunting difficult. They usually feed only on insects: crickets, locusts, moths, fly larvae, caterpillars, centipedes, and cicadas, as well as scorpions and spiders. If a scorpion is meant for a chick, the parent first removes the stinger before feeding it. Elf owls hunt at dawn and dusk, in twilight, and never during the day. Their flight resembles that of bats, and they are very maneuverable in the air, so they usually hunt on the wing.

Whitehaven Beach is located on Whitsunday Island, which is a national park and protected by the government. This has preserved its pristine cleanliness and nature.

Whitehaven Beach was awarded Queensland’s cleanest beach in the “Keep Australia Beautiful 2008” competition. In July 2010, CNN named it the best eco-friendly beach in the world. Dogs are not allowed on the beach, and smoking is prohibited.

The sand on the beach is 98% pure silica and, unlike ordinary sand, does not retain heat, making it comfortable for barefoot walks on a hot day.

The coconut palm is one of the ten most valuable plants for humans. Almost all its parts are used in one way or another.

An important product made from coconuts is real coconut milk. It is a key ingredient in many Asian cuisines, for example, in the famous Thai soup “Tom Kha.”

Fibers from the husks and leaves are used to make ropes, mats, brushes, etc. The trunks are excellent building material. The leaves are used for weaving and as roofing. The shells are made into dishes.

Coconut substrate — a product of industrial processing of crushed husks and coconut fibers — is widely sold and often used in gardening. In addition, coconuts, especially coconut oil, are used in traditional medicine as anti-inflammatory, anti-scorbutic, and diuretic remedies.

British psychologists from the University of Manchester created a “stress scale” for over 150 professions. The level of stress was determined by the frequency of heart attacks and other diseases, such as alcoholism, as well as by the rate of divorces and traffic accidents among people of different occupations.

At the top of the scale were miners, with a risk score of 8.3.

Next came police officers — 7.7. Psychologists rated the risk of construction workers and journalists at 7.5. Surprisingly, actors followed with 7.2, and political and public figures scored 7. The high risk level of the latter is explained by the fact that they “work in public,” which is psychologically burdensome. Doctors scored 6.8, bus drivers 5.4, and diplomats and farmers 4.8.

The calmest jobs were found to be those of library and museum staff, with a score of 2.8.

The summit of Mount Augustus is 1106 meters above sea level, and it rises 860 meters above the surrounding plain. The rock covers an area of about 47.95 km², and its ridge stretches for more than 8 km.

The rock of this mountain is very ancient. The gray sandstone visible today is the remains of a seabed formed here about 1000 million years ago. Beneath the sandstone lies granite about 1650 million years old.

The Luxor Las Vegas pyramid hotel is 106 meters tall and has 30 floors. Guests have access to more than 1500 slot machines and 87 gaming tables. The hotel complex has 4407 rooms.

At the top of the pyramid is a light source of more than 40 billion candelas — possibly the most powerful beam of light on the planet. In clear weather, it can be seen with the naked eye from more than 400 kilometers away from an airplane or even from Earth’s orbit.