Coolest fact I learned in 2014

I need a better 'coolest fact I learned' schedule.  I stumble across things that I had better write down because they resonate and I feel the need to share (some may say over-share!).

Coolest fact: Starts with trees:  Ever wonder where their mass comes from?  The General Sherman tree, for example annually puts on the mass of a large oak tree every year.  

'where did it get its mass, its thick trunk, its branches?' — the instinctive answer would be from the soil below, plus a little water (and, in some mysterious way, sunshine), right?

From here: "Would it surprise you, ... to discover that 95 percent of a tree is actually from carbon dioxide, that trees are largely made up of air?"  You can measure their carbon sequestration in pounds, baby.

The inputs to a tree are soil-minerals+sun+CO2.  the outputs are O2.  The growth in a tree is the difference between CO2 and O2's the tree breathes.  For humans, it's different - in fact opposite.  The inputs to humans is food+water+sun+O2.  The outputs are CO2+waste products.  

Humans gain weight through food, and lose it through exhaling.  
Consider this: All other factors held constant, the weight loss attributed to exercise is largely the CO2 you're outputting compared to the O2 you're inputting.  Exercise makes you breathe faster/harder.  

If you're packing on a few extra pounds, breathe yourself thinner.