12 Fast Facts About The Fastest Things In The World

TELUS is Canada's largest and fastest network, so let's just say we know a thing or two about extreme speed.

1. Cheetahs' crazy speed comes from their claws.

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A cheetah's claws lack sheaths to retract into, so they stay partially out at all times, acting like cleats and giving the world's fastest land mammal added stability and launching power as it chases its prey.

2. This rapper can pronounce 14.1 syllables per second.

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Ricky "NoClue" Brown broke a world record with the 2005 track "New West," becoming one of the world's fastest rappers by rapping 723 syllables in 51.27 seconds. If only all office meetings went by this quickly.

3. The fastest land vehicle in the world caused a sonic boom.

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The Thrust SSC, a British jet-propelled vehicle that retains the record for fastest land speed, broke the sound barrier on its record-setting 1,228km/h test run in 1997, creating a sonic boom (and minor earthquake panic in Gerlach, Nevada).

4. Peregrine falcons dive so fast they need a third eyelid.

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The peregrine falcon — deemed the fastest diving bird in the world, with speeds of up to 322km/h — benefits from a translucent third eyelid known as the "nictitating membrane," which covers the eye during those high-speed dives so it remains moist and protected from debris. Whaaaaat!

5. Usain Bolt runs asymmetrically.

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Turns out the world's fastest runner has an uneven stride, with his left leg remaining on the ground about 14% longer than his right. But hey, it's never stopped him from winning.

6. The world's fastest roller coaster was inspired by fighter jets.

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To propel its 240km/h speeds, the Formula Rossa in Abu Dhabi employs a hydraulic launch system that is conceptually similar to those that fling fighter jets off aircraft carriers. NBD.

7. Tiger beetles run so fast they go blind.

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The Australian tiger beetle Cicinidela hudsoni can cover 2.5 metres in a single second — but its brain can't keep up with the visual input at that speed, which means the bug literally runs blindly toward and away from things.

8. The fastest texter in the world can type 26 words in 17.5 seconds.

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In 2017, college professor Abdul Basit broke the texting record for typing two sentences in under 20 seconds (neither of which was "U up?").

9. Another galaxy is hurtling toward ours at 419km/s.

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Coming soon to a Milky Way near you: The Messier 86, or M86, has been falling out of the receding Virgo cluster and racing toward us, displaying the fastest approaching velocity (of all Messier objects) in the process.

10. This man can eat 13 grilled cheese sandwiches in one minute.

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Takeru Kobayashi is a competitive eater whose records include consuming 62 slices of pizza in 12 minutes and 13 grilled cheeses in one. (The craziest part? He's still got a six-pack.)

11. The Maglev train in Japan gets you from A to B at 603 km/h.

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"Maglev" is short for magnetic levitation, which is the actual technology used to propel the world's fastest trains. This also means it's a near-soundless ride, since the rails aren't producing friction. Whoa.

12. Emails may one day literally travel at the speed of light.

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Data already travels about two-thirds as fast as light now, and in 2013, researchers at the University of Southhampton produced fiber-optic cables that allow data to travel at 99.7% the speed of light. So much for "just seeing this now!"

Not a bad selection of the world’s speediest stuff. But join TELUS and you’ll really be impressed – we’re officially Canada’s largest and fastest mobile network. Blink and you’ll miss us.

Images by Getty Images unless otherwise noted.