The Largest Optical Telescopes in the World
Operating optical and infrared telescopes ranked by effective aperture, from the 11.8 m Large Binocular Telescope to the 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias and the twin 10 m Keck telescopes, plus JWST in space.
- 1 · Largest (combined)11.8 m
- 2 · Largest single mirror10.4 m
- 3 · Ranked telescopes14
The Most Prescribed Medications in the United States
Estimated US outpatient prescriptions filled in 2023, by generic drug, from the ClinCalc DrugStats database built on the federal Medical Expenditure Panel Survey: atorvastatin leads with about 115 million.
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The Largest Shark Species in the World
Whale sharks and basking sharks dwarf every other shark, with great whites and great hammerheads next, ranked by the longest length that reliable sources document, not by legend.
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The Most Populous Countries in the World
All 236 countries and territories, ranked by 2026 population: from India's 1.48 billion down to Niue's 1,822 people.
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The Largest Casual-Dining Chains in the US
Texas Roadhouse now out-sells every other sit-down chain in America, ahead of Chili's and Olive Garden. Ranked by US sales for the most recent full year, using Technomic's 2026 Top 500 report (2025 sales) where it is published and company filings where it is not.
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The Strongest Atlantic Hurricanes on Record
Atlantic hurricanes ranked by lowest minimum central pressure, from the National Hurricane Center's records, as of October 9, 2026. Wilma's 882 millibars in 2005 is the record, and the whole list is made up of Category 5 storms.
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The NHL's All-Time Goal Scorers
Career regular-season NHL goals, ranked: Alex Ovechkin leads with 929, ahead of Wayne Gretzky's 894 and Gordie Howe's 801. Totals as of October 2026, playoff goals excluded.
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The Largest Lottery Jackpots in History
The biggest jackpots ever won, ranked by advertised annuity prize: Powerball's $2.04 billion (2022) leads, and Mega Millions' $1.602 billion is the biggest in its game. All 15 are American, and only jackpots that were actually won are counted.
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The Countries That Drink the Most Coffee per Person
Luxembourg tops the 2025 estimates at about 5.3 cups per person per day, ahead of Finland and Sweden, though Finland leads the older kilogram-per-year tables. Every figure is one dataset's estimate of average cups per resident, children included.
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The World's Top Universities: THE World University Rankings 2027
Oxford leads Times Higher Education's World University Rankings 2027 for an 11th straight year, just 0.1 points ahead of MIT. These are the world's top 20 universities, with their overall scores and last year's ranks.
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