Vantablack is a nanomaterial that is darker than any other substance on Earth. It was developed in the UK by Surrey NanoSystems in 2015 and is actually a collection of vertical carbon tubes that are "grown" on a substrate. Vantablack absorbs 99.98% of the light that hits its surface. This means that the human eye technically sees nothing when it looks at Vantablack, making it the closest thing to staring into a black hole.
The Voynich Manuscript is a 240-page medieval tome written in an unknown language that has baffled scholars and code-breakers for years. The manuscript is believed to have originated sometime between 1404 and 1438. It is filled with enigmatic illustrations and diagrams that seem to depict everything from unusual plants to women with swollen bellies bathing in green pools. All attempts to translate the book’s text or identify the plants depicted in it have failed. In January 2018, a group of Canadian computer scientists announced that they may have had some limited success decoding parts of the manuscript using AI. The researchers, however, admitted that further refinement of the process and input from scholars is needed.
Point Nemo is the furthest point from land on Earth. Officially known as the oceanic point of inaccessibility, it's located in the center of the triangle made by Ducie Island, Motu Nui (part of the Easter Island chain) and Maher Island near Antarctica. It is so far from land that the closest humans to Point Nemo are usually astronauts — the International Space Station orbits the Earth from a distance of about 258 miles, while the closest inhabited spot to Point Nemo is more than 1,670 miles away.
Whales, redwood trees, and elephants are all very big — but they're not the largest living organism on the planet by acreage. That title, when looking at sheer size — the Pando tree colony holds the title of the largest living organism by mass — goes to the Armillaria Ostoyae mushroom. Nicknamed the Humongous Fungus, this mushroom has spread across 2,385 acres of Malheur National Forest in Oregon. The scientists who discovered the fungus in 2017 used DNA testing to determine that all parts of the growth are in fact different segments of the same organism. The giant mushroom has probably been growing for between 2,400 to 8,650 years, and its caps are said to be quite delicious.