Three Surprising Facts About Nature and Chess

Here are three facts that you probably didn't know First — bananas are radioactive.

They naturally contain potassium, and a small portion of that potassium is the radioactive

isotope potassium-40. The radiation is completely harmless to humans, but it is strong

enough that large shipments of bananas can sometimes trigger radiation detectors at ports and border

checkpoints. Next — there are more possible games of chess than atoms in the observable

universe. This staggering number is known as the Shannon number, estimated to be

around ten to the power of one hundred and twenty. It highlights just how complex chess

really is and why no computer can ever calculate every possible game. And finally — wombats