There are an infinite number of cool facts in the world. Of course what makes something cool to you is fairly subjective, though I think we can all agree that some facts are more universally interesting than others.
These 20 people have some favorite facts they just love to share, so take a look and see if some or all of them might end up being favorites for you, too.
20. The iPhone thing is wild.
I always find it amazing that the first flight and first moon landing essentially happened within 65-70 years of one another.
Also a modern day iPhone has more processing power than the entire computer set up NASA has for that mission.
19. This hurts my brain.
It takes ~108 atoms laid in a row to span the width of a human fingernail (~1 cm.)
If the same number of standard wooden pencils were laid end to end, they would circumnavigate the Earth’s equator more than 47 times.
18. The trees will fight back.
Acacia trees were shown to send chemical signals to other trees that they were being overgrazed on, causing the other Acacia trees to increase the production of a specific chemical that would kill the animals overgrazing on them.
17. She keeps a list.
i LOVE telling my bf fun facts so i have a list in my notes. these aren’t verbatim so it’s iirc.
The space before certain punctuation mark in the French language (Je déteste être en ligne ! ) is the only feminine space in the language, the rest of the spaces are masculine.
Oregon is the only state with a state nut – the Hazelnut.
Since most people are right handed, in WW2 the Germans were specifically trained to eat with their left hand, so that finding spies from other countries would be easier to spot.
When unable to tell the difference between a bone and a rock in the archaeological field, it’s not uncommon to press it to one’s tongue. If it falls, it’s a rock, and if it sticks, it’s bone.
The most common form of homicide in the primate species is infanticide.
The reason the plural of Goose is Geese (same with tooth/teeth) but the plural of Moose is still Moose, is because the aforementioned comes from the Latin language while the latter comes from Native American languages, so it doesn’t follow the same rules as most other words.
the word LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.Unlike others,* it’s common in American society to smile at another person as we walk past them. This is due to the fact this country was founded on immigrants and with the use of many different languages, smiling become the way of greeting someone as to avoid the language barrier.
One of the big defenses for the idea of DNA carrying memories is the fact that some butterflies, when migrating south, stop abruptly in the middle of a lake (I forgot which, I’m sorry) and seem to go around something.
This is because thousands of years ago, a mountain was there and it was coded in their DNA to go around this mountain.
I’m sorry this was long, I didn’t include all of them.
16. Skinny is better than fat…if you’re a dog.
Dogs that are slightly underweight live an average of two years longer than dogs that are slightly overweight.
Scientists also found that mice who were fed all their calories during a single feeding lived longer than those who were fed the same amount of calories but broken up throughout the day.
15. What good does it do us, though?
Human’s ability smell petrichor (smell of wet earth from rain) is greater than a Shark’s ability to smell blood in water.
14. No one was taking credit.
There was a phantom poop on an Apollo mission. A poop, floating around, that none of the astronauts said was theirs.
13. You can see into the past.
When you are looking at a star, you are literally looking in the past.
The amount of light years the star is distant is equal to the amount of years in the past you are looking at.
The most distant star visible to the naked eye is “V76 Cas” located in the Cassiopeia constellation, and it is 16,310 light years away.
The light emitting from that star started emitting in around 14000 BC, during which time the Earth was still in the Upper Paleolithic era.
12. Dream sand.
In the pineal gland in your brain, over time it will start to form tiny calcification, little mineral buildups.
There is no known function for these but scientists named it corpora arenacea also known as dream sand.
11. How did we get here…
There was a time on the Earth where there were, at least, four different human species at the same time. Homo sapiens, Homo Neanderthalensis, Homo denisova and Homo floresiensis.
10. A speedy reward.
The California Highway Patrol once had an open offer of a full prime rib dinner at Lawry’s Beverly Hills and a case of scotch for any patrolman that could bust Steve McQueen for speeding in “The Green Rat”, his barely street legal 1956 Jaguar XK-SS. The specifics were to catch him speeding, pull him over, and issue a ticket.
The problem here was The Green Rat was so fast, nothing in the Highway Patrol could equal its speed.
McQueen did get busted once after a cop managed to sneak up on him because his wife was in the car, but he used his wife Neile beside him as an excuse telling the cop she was in labor (she wasn’t but he said it was a false labor after the cop left)
9. Isn’t it ironic…?
That the patent for the fire hydrant was lost in a fire.
8. Wow, really?
Twister was the first movie released on DVD.
7. We truly are all unique.
Muscles do not develop the same in everyone and their exact origins/insertions can differ between people.
In some the biceps have three or more heads, as opposed to the normal two. Some muscles are entirely absent, such as the psoas minor (found in about 40% of humans) and the sternalis (only 7.8%).
6. It is fairly horrifying.
Butterflies and Moths can drink blood and tears in order to get nutrients. It’s called Mud-puddling. I think more horror movies should use this.
Read a book about some Congo mercenaries in the sixties. The author said that as soon as someone would die scores of butterflies would show up to sip on the blood, especially when a large number of people died at one spot. So I guess there’s some truth to that.
5. They can feel that.
The shell is part of the turtle’s skeleton.
According to a turtle carer I spoke to at a zoo, the shell is as reactive the nerves on our own skin. They can feel even really gentle touches.
4. They clone themselves.
Komodo dragons are the largest animals in the world capable of reproducing asexually
Never thought this knowledge would come in handy but, to explain further, its called parthenogenesis. Its not like they suddenly split in two like bacteria do, its a method of reproduction for if the female isnt able to reproduce sexually.
They’ll lay and hatch an unfertilized egg, literally creating a clone of themselves that has an exact copy of their DNA
3. They stick together.
If you find a four leaf clover then there is a good chance you’ll find more not too far away.
2. Soon to grow…
90% of the population on Earth lives in the Northern Hemisphere.
1. It’s happened fairly fast.
Eugene Aldrin, the father of the famous moon landing astronaut Buzz Aldrin, not only witnessed the Wright brothers’ first flight but also went to see his son land on the moon in his lifespan.
We’ve been quick!
I’m pretty thrilled that all of these are now lodged somewhere in my brain. Not that I’ll be able to find them in there.
What’s your favorite cool fact? Our comments are always open for that sort of thing, so drop it there!
