The Atacama Desert Is the Driest Non-Polar Place on Earth

The letter 'Å' (meaning 'stream' in Old Norse) is the name of several villages in Norway and Sweden. The commune 'Y' in the Somme department of France also holds this record, with a population of around 88 people. These single-letter place names are recognized official geographic designations.

Russia spans approximately 9,000 km from east to west, while Pluto has a diameter of only about 2,377 km. This means if you could place Pluto next to Russia, the dwarf planet would fit across Russia nearly four times. Russia's land area (17.1 million km²) is also larger than Pluto's surface area (16.7 million km²).

While Mount Everest is the highest point above sea level (8,849 m), Earth is not a perfect sphere — it bulges at the equator. Ecuador's Mount Chimborazo sits near the equator, making its summit the point on Earth's surface farthest from the planet's center at about 6,384 km.

Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy, and peace. She founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, which mobilized poor rural women to plant trees, restore degraded land, and improve local livelihoods. Under her leadership, the movement planted over 51 million trees across Kenya. She was also the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctoral degree.