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11 U.S. States That Are Larger Than the UK With a total area of almost 3.8 million square miles, the United States is approximately 40 times the size of the United Kingdom, which itself is comprised of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Of the fifty states, there are exactly eleven that are large enough to house—bearing in mind that we are taking liberties with shape and tectonics—the entire area of the United Kingdom at least once. 11 U.S. States That Are Larger Than the UK: Alaska is equal to 7.05 UKs Texas is equal to 2.86 UKs California is equal to 1.74 UKs Montana is equal to 1.56 UKs New Mexico is equal to 1.29 UKs Arizona is equal to 1.21 UKs Nevada is equal to 1.17 UKs Colorado is equal to 1.11 UKs Oregon is equal to 1.04 UKs Wyoming is equal to 1.03 UKs Michigan is equal to 1.03 UKs

Frederick Banting: Five facts you might know about the man who co-discovered insulin The Canadian scientist, along with his colleague Dr Charles Best, spent years experimenting with ways to extract insulin from the pancreas, which had previously been thought to be an impossible task. In 1921, the pair extracted the first anti-diabetic substance and in 1922 a diabetic teenager called Leonard Thompson became the first person to receive an insulin injection as a treatment for Type 1 diabetes. Until insulin was made clinically available, Type 1 diabetes was a death sentence, with many sufferers dying from the condition within weeks. In 1923, Sir Frederick was awarded the Noble Prize in Medicine for the discovery and was knighted by King George V in 1934. Here are five facts you may not know about the revolutionary scientist: 1) The youngest Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine Sir Frederick was 32-years old when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery, making him the youngest Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine to date. He was jointly awarded the accolade with J J R Macleod, Professor of Physiology at the University of Toronto, who Sir Frederick initially approached with his theories about the pancreas and who provided experimental facilities and the assistance of one of his students - Dr Best. Sir Fredrick is understood to have been deeply unhappy upon hearing he would share the prize with Dr Macleod, who he felt had not contributed to the discovery enough to deserve the award. He decided to split the prize money with Dr Best. 2) A war hero Before Sir Frederick began saving lives with insulin, he served in the Canadian Army Medical Service during the First World War. Despite being intensely wounded during an attack of enemy fire outside Haynecourt, France in September 1918, Sir Frederick continued to attendant to his battalion for nearly 17 hours straight. He was awarded the Military Cross for his service. 3) An acclaimed artist Before embarking on his career in medicine, Sir Frederick enrolled at the University of Toronto on a General Arts programme, but failed his first year. Despite this setback, he went on to develop a keen interest in painting and became friends with The Group of Seven - a group of painters, including A Y Jackson and Lawren Harris, who specialised in depictions of the Canadian landscape. He and Jackson travelled Canada together, painting the Canadian Rockies and Northern landscape. 4) Move into aviation medicine Sir Frederick’s interest in aviation medicine resulted in him embarking on research into the psychological problems encountered by pilots working in high altitudes. He led the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Clinical Investigation Unit and helped Wilbur Franks develop the G-suit to stop pilots blacking out in flight. During World War 2, he also helped develop treatments for mustard gas burns, even testing the gas and remedies on himself. 5) Plane crash death Sir Frederick was travelling to England to conduct tests on Mr Frank’s flying suit when the plane he was in crashed after both its engines failed. The navigator and co-pilot died instantly, while Sir Frederick and the pilot survived the initial impact. According to the plane’s captain, Sir Frederick died from his injuries the day after the crash on 21 February 1941.

Study Suggests Potatoes Can Grow On Mars, Good news for Matt Damon! In a scene from "The Martian," astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) employs some ingenious methods to plant crops on Mars. The International Potato Canter (CIP) has launched a series of experiments to discover if potatoes can grow under Mars' atmospheric conditions, as well as under extreme conditions on Earth. The CIP placed a potato inside a "specially constructed CubeSat contained environment" that simulates Mars temperature, air pressure, oxygen and carbon dioxide levels. They then used sensors and live-streaming cameras to record the soil and monitor the status of the potato. Preliminary results are positive as cameras inside the container show sprouts. Phys.Org reports: "We have been looking at the very dry soils found in the southern Peruvian desert. These are the most Mars-like soils found on Earth." Chris McKay of NASA ARC. "This [research] could have a direct technological benefit on Earth and a direct biological benefit on Earth," says Chris McKay of NASA ARC. From the initial experiment, CIP scientists concluded that future Mars missions that hope to grow potatoes will have to prepare soil with a loose structure and nutrients to allow the tubers to obtain enough air and water to allow it to tuberize. "It was a pleasant surprise to see that potatoes we've bred to tolerate abiotic stress were able to produce tubers in this soil," Amoros said. He added that one of the best performing varieties was very salt-tolerant from the CIP breeding program for adaptation to subtropical lowlands with tolerance to abiotic stress that was also recently released as a variety in Bangladesh for cultivation in coastal areas with high soil salinity. Amoros noted that whatever their implications for Mars missions, the experiments have already provided good news about potato's potential for helping people survive in extreme environments on Earth.

BlackBerry has just launched a new phone, called the Aurora It's out, but only in Indonesia. What does it cost? Roughly $260/£215/AU$345 BlackBerry has just launched a new phone, called the Aurora, packing a low to mid-range price, a big screen and a curious mix of lower and upper end specs. If you want to buy it, well, you can’t outside Indonesia, or not right now anyway. But it’s always possible we’ll see something similar get a wider launch. The BlackBerry Aurora is out now, but currently only in Indonesia where it sells for the equivalent of around $260/£215/AU$345. The handset is aimed at emerging markets, so it’s unlikely we’ll see it in the US, UK or Australia, but it’s possible that a similar phone could at some point be launched globally by TCL (the company now responsible for BlackBerry branded hardware). BlackBerry also has a new phone called the KeyOne, which will be released globally in April. The BlackBerry Aurora has a fairly plain design, with a textured plastic shell in black, silver or gold. It’s 152 x 76.8 x 8.5mm and 178g, and unlike some BlackBerry devices there’s no QWERTY keyboard here, just a 5.5-inch 720 x 1280 touchscreen surrounded by sizeable bezels. At that size and resolution, the display is just 267 pixels per inch, which isn’t particularly sharp, even for the money, but the BlackBerry Aurora justifies its price tag in other ways, as you’ll see below. The beating heart of the BlackBerry Aurora is an entry-level quad-core Snapdragon 425 chipset clocked at 1.4GHz. While that’s unremarkable, the 4GB of RAM that accompanies it is rather more notable, matching flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G6. That’s significantly more RAM than most phones at this sort of price have. The Aurora also has 32GB of storage, plus a microSD card slot with support for cards of up to 256GB. It’s also got dual-SIM support, which while not super exciting is a first for a BlackBerry phone. The BlackBerry Aurora has a 13MP rear camera with a dual-LED flash, while around the front there’s an 8MP one. A 3,000mAh battery keeps the phone alive. Another notable feature of the BlackBerry Aurora is its use of Android 7 Nougat, which is the latest major release of the OS and one which few phones yet run. techradar

25 Best-Selling Books of All-Time This the number one bestselling book of all time. It is worth noting that some religious and political books such as The Bible, Quran, and Quotations from Chairman Mao are believed to have more than a billion copies each in existence. However, sales numbers for these Books are nearly impossible to track because churches or governments give many away. Additionally, a wide range of publishers has often printed these books over centuries, many of them unreported. For these reasons, major religious and political texts are not listed here, but we can all agree that they are among the top selling books of all-time. 1. Don Quixote (500 million copies sol By Miguel de Cervantes 2. A Tale of Two Cities (200 million copies sold) By Charles Dickens 3. The Lord of the Rings (150 million copies sold) By J.R.R. Tolkien 4. The Little Prince (142 million copies sold) By Antoine de Saint-Exupery 5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (107 million copies sold) By J.K. Rowling 6. And Then There Were None (100 million copies sold) By Agatha Christie 7. The Dream of the Red Chamber (100 million copies sold) By Cao Xueqin 8. The Hobbit (100 million copies sold) By J.R.R. Tolkien 9. She: A History of Adventure (100 million copies sold) By H. Rider Haggard 10. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (85 million copies sold) By C.S. Lewis 11. The Da Vinci Code (80 million copies sold) By Dan Brown 12. Think and Grow Rich (70 million copies sold) By Napoleon Hill 13. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (65 million copies sold) By J.K. Rowling 14. The Catcher in the Rye (65 million copies sold) By J.D. Salinger 15. The Alchemist (65 million copies sold) By Paulo Coelho 16. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (60 million copies sold) By J.K. Rowling 17. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (55 million copies sold) By J.K. Rowling 18. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (55 million copies sold) By J.K. Rowling 19. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (55 million copies sold) By J.K. Rowling 20. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (50 million copies sold) By J.K. Rowling 21. One Hundred Years of Solitude (50 million copies sold) By Gabriel García Marquez 22. Lolita (50 million copies sold) By Vladimir Nabokov 23. Anne of Green Gables (50 million copies sold) By Lucy Maud Montgomery 24. Charlotte’s Web (50 million copies sold) By E.B. White 25. Black Beauty (50 million copies sold) By Anna Sewell

A loving couple was celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary A loving couple was celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary, privately, at home with a couple of bottles of champagne. A bit tipsy and feeling very intimate the husband turns to his wife and asks, Tell me truthfully, have you ever been unfaithful to me? Well, she replied, since you ask, to tell you the truth I have been unfaithful only on three occasions. What? How could you? Let me tell you about it, she said. The first time was back when we were first married. You needed open heart surgery and we didn't have the money, so I went to bed with the surgeon and got him to operate for free. Gee! That was noble of you, I guess I should be grateful. But, tell me, what about the second time? Do you remember that you wanted that position, and they were going to pass you over for someone else? Well, I went to bed with the President and the Vice President and they gave you the job. Hell, I think I could have done it on my own. But I guess I should be grateful. And so, what about the third time? Do you remember two years ago when you wanted to become President of the Baseball Team, and you were missing 70 votes...?

When Beethoven passed away, he was buried in a churchyard... A couple days later, the town drunk was walking through the cemetery and heard some strange noise coming from the area where Beethoven was buried. Terrified, the drunk ran and got the priest to come and listen to it. The priest bent close to the grave and heard some faint, unrecognizable music coming from the grave. Frightened, the priest ran and got the town magistrate. When the magistrate arrived, he bent his ear to the grave, listened for a moment, and said, "Ah, yes, that's Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, being played backwards." He listened a while longer, and said, "There's the Eighth Symphony, and it's backwards, too. Most puzzling." So the magistrate kept listening, "There's the Seventh... the Sixth... the Fifth..." Suddenly the realization of what was happening dawned on the magistrate. He stood up and announced to the crowd that had gathered in the cemetery, "My fellow citizens, there's nothing to worry about. It's just Beethoven decomposing."