Fun Fact of the Week!

By Quinn Hoop

Have you ever felt lonely or isolated? Well here’s a list of three inanimate objects that just might have experienced loneliness too. 

• Tristan da Cunha: The most isolated inhabited island in the world, it is located in the South Atlantic. It’s 2,437 km from the nearest island, and 2,454 km from Argentina, and takes a six-day boat trip to reach. It has a population of approximately 250 people, and is administered as a British Overseas Territory. 
• Tree of Ténéré: This tree stood in the middle of the Libyan desert, 150 km from any other tree. It resided next to a nearby well, and served as a landmark for the caravans that passed by. Unfortunately (and somewhat astoundingly), it was knocked down by a drunk driver in 1973.
• Eugene Shoemaker: Eugene Shoemaker holds the current record for most isolated human remains. Part of the ashes of this planetary geologist were aboard the 1999 Lunar Prospector mission, which crash landed on the moon. Although human remains have been launched further (for only $13,000 Celestis will send your ashes into deep space), as far as I can tell, these missions have always sent multiple urns at once. This leaves Eugene Shoemaker’s ashes as the current most isolated human remains, having been sent alone.