World Records

Scientists have developed the world’s strongest resistive magnet, which produced a steady magnetic field of 42 Tesla (T). The system could improve devices that use magnets, as well as enable a range of new experiments that probe electromagnetism.

Earth saw its hottest day on record this week – twice. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service data, Sunday claimed the top spot for highest global average temperature since the records began in 1940, only to be broken again on Monday.

It’s not just you – it has been hot lately. According to preliminary reports of global average temperatures, last week was the hottest week on record, with the record for hottest day broken several times in a row.

Scientists in China have set a new world record for the strongest steady magnetic field ever generated on Earth. The hybrid magnet managed to produce a field measuring 45.22 Tesla (T), which is over a million times stronger than the planet’s own.

Millipedes are frauds – despite their name being Latin for “thousand feet,” they usually only have a few hundred. But a newly discovered species is the first to earn its name with well over 1,000 legs, far more than any other creature on the planet.

Most of us can give Pi to four or five digits, but Swiss scientists have broken the world record. It took three and a half months and a data center’s worth of computer equipment, but the researchers calculated Pi to a staggering 62.8 trillion digits.

Scientists at South Korea's Center for Relativistic Laser Science have achieved a major milestone in physics – and one pursued by researchers in the field for decades – by generating a record-breaking ultra-high intensity laser.

Physicists in Germany have measured the shortest timespan ever recorded. The team measured the time it takes for a photon of light to travel the length of a hydrogen molecule, and found it to occur in just trillionths of a billionth of a second.

An almost-complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton has sold for over US$30 million. Nicknamed Stan, the rex was the star attraction in Christie’s Evening Sale of 20th Century Art on Oct. 6, and it's fetched the highest amount ever paid for a dinosaur fossil.

There are few more spectacular demonstrations of nature's power than a thunderstorm. The World Meteorological Association (WMO) has now confirmed two new records for the biggest lightning bolts in recorded history, measured by duration and distance.

To say “Antarctica is cold” will surprise nobody, but just how cold it can get might. Researchers from NSIDC have now identified the coldest places on the planet, where the mercury plummets to almost -100° C (-148° F) under specific conditions.

The human body obviously has biological limits, with a review of 120 years of historical records now suggesting they may have already been reached in terms of life expectancy, height and sporting performance – and if we aren't careful they could start going backwards.