I was never good at science in school…
In fact, I was downright terrible at it.
But that doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate awesome science facts!
And AskReddit users were nice enough to share some great ones with us.
Take a look!
1. Preserved.
“There are some Ice Age animals that are so perfectly preserved in permafrost that scientists have been able to find them still with all their soft tissue, hair, and organs. They even found a couple mammoths that still had liquid blood in them and I remember one scientist even tasting the mammoth meat.
Also there was a mummy found in China that was so well preserved that she still had all her skin, hair, organs, etc. Her body was even flexible that you could bend her limbs as if she was alive. They even found her last meal still in her stomach and could perform an autopsy on her to tell you why she d**d. She d**d over 2000 years before she was found.”
2. Into liquid.
“Caterpillars basically dissolve into liquid in the cocoon.
The only thing left are the so called ‘imaginal discs’, groups of cells that contain all the information and the mechanism to turn that soup into the various body parts of a butterfly (the same applies for other insects).”
3. Amazing.
“T-rex lived 66 million-ish years ago. Stegosaurus lived 155 million-ish years ago.
The gap between rex and stego is 16million-ish greater than between rex and present day.”
4. Whoa.
“There are 8 times as many atoms in a teaspoonful of water as there are teaspoonfuls of water in the Atlantic ocean.”
5. Welding in space.
“If 2 pieces of the same type of metal touch in space, they will bond and be permanently stuck together.
Space welding ( cold welding ).”
6. Crazy.
“I recently read about the Split-Brain experiments. There is a procedure for severe epilepsy that involves cutting the connecting nerves of the two brain hemispheres, resulting in the two hemispheres being unable to communicate with each other.
The experiment shows that both halves can answer questions independently of each other, have separate opinions/preferences, form memories independently. Basically suggesting that there are two minds in the brain. That just blows my mind(s).”
7. That’s big!
“The size of animals still blows my mind.
You can read about how a manta ray is 23 feet long and 3 tons but it doesn’t really hit you until you realize that’s heavier than most cars.”
8. The more you know…
“Sharks are older than trees, also, trees almost k**led all land life on earth as there use to be nothing that could decompose them, so d**d trees covered the ground and k**led all other vegetation. Only once fungus evolved did trees start decomposing.
The period in which this occurred was known as the carboniferous period. Fungus had evolved long before this, around 600 million years before, but it had not evolved the ability to decompose trees due to them evolving during this period.
These first trees were actually more closely related to ferns and reproduced via spores rather than seeds. Also, these trees would not have k**led all land life (sorry to disappoint) due to wildfires clearing out the d**d trees.
That said, the lack of decomposing fungi, which use up oxygen in the decomposition process, and the extremely high number of photosynthesizing plants lead to very high oxygen levels during this period. As high as 15% higher than modern levels.
This allowed the insects of the time to grow to massive sizes . insects have a fairly inefficient respiratory system, so without high oxygen levels it’s difficult for them to grow to large sizes.
Now you might be asking how large, well, dragonfly’s were the size of hawks, spiders were the size of house cats and millipedes we’re as long as 8 feet.
Truly a fascinating point in our planets history.”
9. Think about that.
“If the distance between earth and the sun were the thickness of a dime, the next closest star would be ten miles away.”
10. Mind-blowing.
“Monkeys have entered the Stone Age.
A group of monkeys (I forget where) was filmed using hand tools at an abandoned work site. One even used a saw to cut a piece of lumber, likely mimicking what it had seen a human do. They seemed to do this out of curiosity, not for any useful purpose.
It made wonder what’d happen if one of them got the inspiration to cut down a tree, and use the wood. How would the other monkeys react? Would they perceive the significance of this ability?
Also, I believe it’d be the first time an animal used a tool to create raw materials. It’s rather mind-blowing to think about.”
11. They’re talking…
“Trees can communicate and cooperate using a network of underground mycelium.
They can store excess energy in it for later use, can trade different nutrients with neighbors so their needs are met, take care of their young when they’re unwell, and even warn others of a spreading disease or parasite.
Nature is wild.”
12. Wild to think about.
“If some sort of super-advanced alien species on a planet 80 million light years away from Earth built a high-tech telescope that let them see objects on the Earth’s surface, they would be seeing dinosaurs right now.”
What do you think about this?
Talk to us in the comments and let us know.
Thanks a million!
