DARK MATTERS
1 Found at 7,438ft above sea level, the Roque de Los Muchachos observatory in the Canary Islands is the darkest place on the planet. It’s stuffed with telescopes and instruments, including the largest single-aperture telescope in the world.
2 The darkest point of the ocean is the Mariana Trench, which is 1km below sea level – it’s impossible for sunlight to break through.
3 While we can’t see in total darkness, light-sensitive rod cells in our eyes allow vision in dim or dark light.
4 Fear of the dark is called nyctophobia and is something which Megan Fox, Katy Perry and Keanu Reeves suffer from, as do three quarters of all kids.
5 Some amphibians such as Argentinean frogs and the Virginia opossum, found in North America, glow in the dark. Wombats and platypuses in Australia have also been found to glow under ultraviolet light.
6 Nocturnal animals, including foxes, bats and owls, can see in the dark and are more active during that time of night.
7 If you mix the primary colours – red, blue and yellow – they absorb all the visible light and turn a dark black. Matte black paint does not reflect as much visible light so seems extra dark.
8 Singer Justin Hawkins of The Darkness once claimed he needs his management to schedule in a shower, otherwise he stays as one of the great unwashed.
9 Darkness helps plants such as cacti to grow as they open their stomata to take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis. The majority of seeds also germinate in the dark.
10 But photosynthesis – how plants create oxygen and sugars – can’t take place in the absence of light.
11 Steer clear of dark clothing in hot weather to stay cool as dark objects and surfaces absorb more heat than light ones.
12 It’s a myth that carrots help you see in the dark but they do have high amounts of vitamin A which is good for eye health. The idea dates back to a World War Two propaganda campaign which claimed British pilots were eating the veg to give them exceptional night vision.
13 In space black holes are the darkest place, where gravity is so strong that light cannot escape and they suck in everything around them, including stars.
14 Before she hit the big time in Friends, a 20-year-old Courteney Cox busted moves with Bruce Springsteen in his Dancing In The Dark video in 1984.
15 Rapper Eminem’s track Darkness called for changes to gun laws in the US and was told through the viewpoint of the 2017 mass shooter in Vegas.
● Scared Of The Dark starts on Channel 4 at 9pm on Sunday.