One of the best things about learning something new is being able to share that knowledge with others. And while some facts are weird and wonderful and others are totally useless, there's a whole category of trivia that is just so incredible you can't resist asking everyone you meet "Did you know this?!" From why grapes catch on fire in the microwave to how long it takes the average mammal to urinate, these are the facts that will fascinate you and your friends. And for more facts that might shock you, check out these 50 Science-Backed Health Facts That Will Blow Your Mind.
ShutterstockBack in 2011, a physicist at the University of Sydney went viral after he placed a grape in the microwave and filmed the fiery aftermath. And oddly enough, scientists couldn't explain the phenomenon until quite recently. A March 2019 study published in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reported that the fruity fireball occurs as a result of the loose electrons and ions that cluster to form plasma when grapes get hot. And here are more of the 100 Fascinating Facts You'll Want to Share with Everyone You Know.
Each area code has 792 possible prefixes or NXX codes (for example, NXX-XXXX or 555-1234), explains the Public Utility Commission of Texas. And each "NXX" has 10,000 possible phone numbers attached to it. So, with a little math, we know that theoretically, there are 7,920,000 possible seven-digit phone numbers in each area code. Obviously, not all of these numbers are put into use, so you don't have to try nearly 8 million numbers if you want to randomly dial a friend who lives nearby.
ShutterstockAlthough it might sound a little strange, the word for an individual piece of spaghetti is spaghetto. The same goes for a single piece of confetti, which is confetto, as well as a single piece of graffiti, which is graffito, according to Merriam-Webster.
ShutterstockMcDonald's is always introducing new items for their loyal customers. And obviously, some are more successful than others.
But their bubblegum-flavored broccoli, which the fast-food chain developed in 2014 as a tastier version of the leafy green for children, was a complete failure. McDonald's CEO
Don Thompson admitted that kids were confused by the taste.
No one will blame you if you've never bothered to time yourself on the toilet. But you may be interested to know that researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology found that most mammals weighing more than six pounds take 21 seconds to pee. According to Live Science, this oddly consistent time is due to the fact that the urethra is "appropriately scaled" to be a "flow-enhancing device." And apparently, the perfectly enhanced flow takes 21 seconds to complete.
ShutterstockAlong with having laws against spitting and urinating anywhere but in a toilet (which you're then legally obligated to flush if it's a public washroom), Singapore has also banned chewing gum in an effort to keep the city clean and orderly.
The ban was established in 1992. In 2004, exceptions were made for therapeutic, dental, or nicotine gums. And for more trivia tidbits, check out 55 Facts So Interesting You'll Kick Yourself for Not Knowing Them.
Whether you've been inspired by Marie Kondo or not, you probably still have close to a third of a million items in your home. One report found that the average U.S. house has around 300,000 things in it. Yeah, we like stuff. Lots of stuff.
Wetzel Publishing Co.Back in 1939, American author Ernest Vincent Wright published Gadsby, a 50,000-word novel that doesn't use the letter 'e' once. What's more, it's not the only novel that ditched the letter. Author Georges Perec also wrote the French-language book La Disparition without the letter 'e' in 1969. That's even more astounding when you consider that 'e' is the most commonly used letter in the English (and French!) language. And these are the 23 Words You Need to Stop Mispronouncing.
Most of us are well aware that lobster shells change color when exposed to heat (like in a pot of boiling water, for example). But the sea creatures' blood is also intriguing. Lobster blood is initially clear and turns blue when it hits oxygen.
ShutterstockBuyer beware, as they say. Thankfully, buyer Mark Fraser was apparently aware of the fact that he was getting a broken laser pointer when he purchased it for $14.83 from eBay's founder Pierre Omidyar in 1995. And for more cool quiz questions to test your friends, check out 50 Facts About Life You Won't Believe You Didn't Already Know.
ShutterstockIf you ever dreamed of being a ninja, now might be the time to make it a reality. The Japanese city of Iga, which has a rich history of martial arts masters and claims to be the birthplace of the ninja, suffered from a ninja shortage in 2018, despite the fact that they're willing to pay salaries as high as $85,000 for the performative ninjas willing to take on the job of staffing their annual ninja festival.
Unfortunately, this is one of the facts you probably can't repeat to your friends—and that's because it's nearly impossible to pronounce. Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is in New Zealand and is 85 letters long. And when it comes to other super long place names, it's followed by Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in Wales, Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg in the U.S., Tweebuffelsmeteenskootmorsdoodgeskietfontein in South Africa, and Azpilicuetagaraycosaroyarenberecolarre in Spain.
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More than 300 million years ago, the Meganeura established itself as the largest known flying insect to ever exist on Earth. The dragonfly-like creature had a wingspan that stretched around 2.5 feet. The bugs were also big enough to hunt prey like frogs and newts, which it could eat with its teeth-like mandibles.
ShutterstockIf you can't wait to pop every air-filled pocket the minute you pull a piece of bubble wrap out of a package, can you imagine how irresistible it would be if it were covering your walls? Engineer Al Fielding and Swiss inventor Marc Chavannes probably didn't consider that when, in 1957, they invented bubble wrap while trying to create a textured wallpaper by sealing two shower curtains together to trap air bubbles.
Shakespeare wrote some of the most beloved and revered pieces of literature the world has ever known, but in order to craft his plays and poems, he sometimes resorted to making up his own words. In fact, The Bard is said to have come up with more than 1,700 words including moonbeam, laughable, eyeball, bump, puking, champion, bedroom, excitement, and zany.
ShutterstockWhen Santa Claus makes his trip around the world on Christmas Eve, you can rest assured that he's legally allowed to drive his sleigh—at least in the United States. In 1927, the jolly man in the red suit was given a pilot's license from the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics William P. MacCracken.
According to the Library of Congress, "The old saint called at the Commerce Department in Washington" and when he arrived, his picture was taken as he was given his license, airway maps, "and the assurance that the lights would be burning on the airways on Christmas Eve."
AlamyWhen Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein passed away on April 18, 1955, he left behind specific instructions when it came to the disposal of his body, according to one National Geographic investigation.
Einstein didn't want his corpse to be worshiped or his brain to be studied, so he instructed those who were responsible for his remains to "cremate them, and scatter the ashes secretly in order to discourage idolaters."
However, Thomas Harvey, the pathologist on call when Einstein died at New Jersey's Princeton Hospital, didn't quite follow those instructions. Instead, he stole Einstein's brain. From there, things got even weirder. When Einstein's family found out, his son apparently didn't object to the theft and Harvey was able to keep the brain in two jars in his basement before moving it to "a cider box stashed under a beer cooler."
ShutterstockIn 2008, a man in Japan bought a nearly black Densuke watermelon for ¥650,000 or $6,125. The specialty fruit is only grown on the island of Hokkaido and, according to a Japanese agricultural expert in the Los Angeles Times, is crisp and hard with "a different level of sweetness" than the watermelon we're used to eating.
In 2013, Joao Maria de Souza was lying in bed when a cow that had been grazing on a hill behind his house walked onto the asbestos roof and fell through, landing on de Souza, according to the BBC. The injured man was taken to a hospital where he later passed away. As strange as this incident might seem, locals claim that it was the third time a similar thing had happened in the area in the past three years, although no one was killed the first two times.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb
ShutterstockCornell University researchers carved the tiny musical instrument out of crystalline silicon and claim that it's the world's smallest "nanoguitar" at 10 micrometers long. The guitar's six strings are each about 50 nanometers (100 atoms) wide. And while it was "made for fun to illustrate the technology," it also demonstrates how this tech could be used in fiber optics, displays, sensors, and electronics.
iStockFrank Duryea reached a top speed of 7 mph when he raced the second car he had ever built with his brother, Charles, on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1895.
The Chicago-Times Herald sponsored race featured a 54-mile course that ran from downtown Chicago to Evanston and back.
For reference, that's about 19 football fields. The U.S. Antarctic Program also notes that if the ice sheet ever suddenly melted, it would raise the sea level worldwide an estimated 200 feet and submerge much of the Gulf and Atlantic coastal areas of the U.S.
ShutterstockIt's pretty common to be afraid of heights and scared of spiders, but if you have arachibutyrophobia, you're among the smaller group of people that suffer from a fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of their mouths. This phobia is often connected to a fear of choking or a fear of sticky textures, but it can also be its own isolated fear.
ShutterstockThe game, which took place between LSU and Auburn University, took place in front of a crowd of 79,431 fans at LSU's Tiger Stadium. The crowd's reaction to the game's final pass registered as an earthquake by a seismograph located around 1,000 feet from the stadium.
A seismologist noticed the reading the next day and the game went down in LSU history as the "Earthquake Game."
Garry Turner from the U.K. holds the Guinness World Record for the stretchiest skin thanks to the fact that he can extend the skin on his stomach 15.8 centimeters. Turner is capable of such an elastic-like feat thanks to a collagen-defective condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. The Good Place actress Jameela Jamil recently confirmed that she also has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, even demonstrating the stretchiness of her skin on social media.
ShutterstockIf you're not able to travel all the way to Egypt to see the great pyramids in Giza, then you might want to plan a trip to Memphis, Tennessee, to see the local Bass Pro Shops Megastore. At 321 feet tall, with a 535,000-square-foot interior, it's one of the largest pyramids in the world and features a hotel, an indoor swamp, an aquarium, a bowling alley, and the world's tallest freestanding elevator, which can take you to an observation deck.
Fictional Marvel characters aren't the only beings with superhero-like powers. A few lucky mice were given the ability to see perfectly in the dark when scientists utilized nanoparticles that convert infrared light to visible light. The same method could be used to give humans the same night-vision superpower sometime in the future. We'll just have to wait and see.
ShutterstockThere are plenty of extreme sports out there if you happen to be an adrenaline junkie. From the classics like skydiving and surfing to newcomers like parkour and blobbing (A.K.A. human catapulting), there's truly something for everyone. But if you want to combine your love of cleaning with your love of getting wild, then perhaps you'd like to try extreme ironing, which was founded in 1997 and has been challenging competitors to press shirts in unexpected locations—like high up in trees, hanging over cliffs, or paddling white-water rapids—for more than two decades.
ShutterstockOther than the fact that it hit an iceberg and sank, a lot went wrong during the Titanic tragedy.
But one of the most jaw-dropping facts about the incident is that, according to passenger Arthur Godfrey Peuchen, who later recalled what had happened during his testimony at congressional hearings in Washington, a routine lifeboat drill was supposed to take place the morning of the disaster, but the crew never assembled and the drill was canceled. And for more on this disaster, check out the 13 Surprising Artifacts Found in the Titanic Wreckage.
It's not quite true that there's a Starbucks on every single corner in every major city. But there does happen to be a Starbucks cup in every scene in the 1999 movie Fight Club starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. The cup's appearance was reportedly inspired by a line in the film, when Norton's character explains, "When deep space exploration ramps up, it'll be the corporations that name everything, the IBM Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks.
" You can view all of the cups on this comprehensive Tumblr page.
In October 2018, the Gilbert Minnesota Police Department issued a public notice about birds that appeared to be "under the influence." It turns out that the airborne animals were apparently eating berries that had fermented due to early frost, which was making them "tipsy." Unfortunately, this meant that the buzzed birds were acting confused and flying into windows. Hopefully, they were able to sleep it off.
ShutterstockIt's no secret that the Statue of Liberty is a mighty monument. The copper section alone is 151 feet and one inch tall. But if Lady Liberty needed a new pair of sandals, it would take size 879 shoes to cover her massive feet.
ShutterstockGuinea pigs are social animals that prefer the companionship of another guinea pig. That's why it's illegal to own just one of the little critters in Switzerland. Thankfully, if one of your fuzzy pets passes away and you're not ready to commit to another, Switzerland also allows you to rent a guinea pig for your remaining pet.
In 2010, the FIFA World Cup South Africa was shown in every country and territory on Earth, including Antarctica and the Arctic Circle, which meant that a record-breaking 3.2 billion people around the world watched the game in their homes, or 46.4 percent of the global population. Four years later, FIFA World Cup Brazil drew the same staggering number of viewers.
Shutterstock"The Highest Court in the Land" is the name given to the basketball court that's located in the U.S. Supreme Court building. Located on the top floor (and therefore higher than any other court in the building, which is how it got its name), the former storage room was turned into an exercise area for courthouse workers in the 1940s before nets were eventually installed.
ShutterstockNot every celestial object has a shape that's as perfectly majestic as planet Earth. In fact, some of them are downright hilarious to look at. Take Haumea, for example. This dwarf planet is cool for a number of reasons.
About the same size as Pluto, Haumea orbits the sun beyond Neptune and has rings similar to Jupiter. But what makes this object even more interesting is that it's shaped like a potato.
There are also 119 ridges (which are called reeded edges) on the side of a quarter, 150 on the side of a half dollar, 198 on a dollar coin, and 133 on a Susan B. Anthony dollar coin.
ShutterstockWombats produce around 80 to 100 pieces of excrement each night and until recently no one knew why it was cube-shaped. But in 2018, researchers concluded that it's the wombat's intestines, which are made up of some "stretchy" and some "stiff" sections, that create "the edges and the cubing" during the digestive process.
ShutterstockBeat Wampfler, a Swiss cheesemaker, plays songs from bands like Led Zeppelin and A Tribe Called Quest during his cheese-producing process and, with the help of students from the University of the Arts in Bern, he's studying to see if and how music can change the flavor of his Emmental cheese.
Wampfler told AFP, "I am convinced that humidity, temperature, or nutrients are not the only things that influence taste… Sounds, ultrasounds, or music can also have physical effects."
Just one drink can quickly go to your head, whether you feel it or not. Researchers at Heidelberg University Hospital found that just six minutes after consuming alcohol, changes are already taking place in the brain. So even if you don't feel tipsy right away, you're definitely not totally sober either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5whe9XtdQgwImage via YouTubeAccording to The Hollywood Reporter, the production team also made 40 versions of Salazar Slytherin's locket, 250 paintings for the Marble Staircase, 900 Memory Vials for the cabinet in Dumbledore's Office, and 210,000 coins for the Gringotts bank scene in the last two films alone. And for more on the wizard phenomenon, check out the 35 Ways Harry Potter Is Still Crazy Relevant.
ShutterstockEvery vehicle needs maintenance to stay in tip-top shape, especially if it's expected to transport a country's leader around the world.
So when Air Force One's SAM 28000 Boeing 747-200B plane is getting a tune-up, there's an identical SAM 29000 standing by. One plane is always ready for the president's use whenever needed.
With nine letters and eight of them being consonants, "strengths" is the longest word in the English language with only one vowel, according to the Guinness World Records. Which, on reflection, makes it a really weird looking word.
ShutterstockThere's no doubt that Darth Vader's getup is pretty snazzy in Star Wars, but according to Time, it's probably out of your budget. That's because it would cost $18.3 million to make a real-life replica of the suit that features a voice modifier, breathing apparatus, prosthetic limbs, and an augmented-reality filter.
ShutterstockIf shark attacks give you the chills, you're not alone. And the people over at Google can sympathize thanks to the fact that they deal with shark attacks that threaten the internet.
And this isn't a new problem. Back in 1987, The New York Times reported that is was an issue with phone lines at the time due to the fact that "sharks have shown an inexplicable taste for the new fiber-optic cables that are being strung along the ocean floor linking the United States, Europe, and Japan."
What state do you live in? Does it have a "q" in the name? We can guarantee that it doesn't because that's the only letter that doesn't appear in any U.S. state name, from Alabama to Wyoming and everything in between.
ShutterstockIf you've ever considered getting your entire body tattooed, be sure not to forget about your eyeballs. Hardcore body-art fans have started inking their eyes all kinds of colors, from purple to green. But beware of the risks that come along with such an extreme modification.
ShutterstockJimmy Carter won three Grammy Awards in the Best Spoken Word Album category for Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis in 2007, A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety in 2016, and finally Faith: A Journey For All in 2019.
In 2004, Bill Clinton won Best Spoken Word Album for My Life, just a year after he earned the Best Spoken Word Album for Children thanks to Prokofiev: Peter And The Wolf/Beintus: Wolf Tracks.
Barack Obama has won two Grammys, including Best Spoken Word Album in 2006 for the Dreams from My Father audiobook and another in 2008 when he took home the Best Spoken Word Album Grammy for the audiobook version of The Audacity of Hope.
ShutterstockThe Sulabh International Museum Of Toilets in New Delhi, India, features a rare collection of objects "detailing the historic evolution of toilets" from 2500 BCE to right up until today. Learn about the toilet systems of ancient societies, the elaborately decorated toilets of 18th- and 19th-century Europe, and even a toilet from Austria that's shaped like a lion so that you can feel like you're riding the wild beast while doing your business.
ShutterstockYou might think that throwing a little bread to the birds is a nice thing to do, but in San Francisco, it could get you into trouble.
That's because it's illegal to feed pigeons in the streets or on the sidewalks of the California city. San Francisco's Public Works Department explains that there "are dozens of reasons why" you shouldn't feed our flying friends, "but mainly: feeding pigeons harms our neighborhoods and also harms the birds." And for more crazy facts check out these 35 Fascinating Fast Facts for When You're Bored.
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“Did you know” facts are everywhere, and you might start to hear some over and over again, on the back of a Snapple cap or something.
Yes, you know that Napoleon wasn’t really that short and that frogs don’t drink. But, for your brain-food pleasure, here’s a plethora of “did you know” facts that you probably haven’t heard before. And for more cool trivia, here are 100 interesting facts about basically everything.
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Did you know each insect is a host to ten bacterial species?There are around 2 billion species on Earth—with 6.8 million likely to be species of insects. And up to 10 types of bacteria lives inside of each of these insects! Here are more bizarre bug facts that will totally freak you out.
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Did you know Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are incredibly distant cousins?The old wives’ tale that we’re attracted to people who look like our parents may be debatable, but the Duke and Duchess of Sussex share more than just a marriage.
Apparently, they share an ancestor dating 15 generations back. But they’re not the first royals to be married and related—here are more royals who married their relatives. Plus, check out these less disturbing “did you know” facts about the British royal family.
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Did you know instrument strings were made from animals?The strings of string instruments were originally made from the guts of animals like sheep or lambs. Now, instrument makers have transitioned to metal wiring. But before metal, it was common for all string instruments to be made from the guts of the animals geographically available to the makers. Find out more disturbing facts you’ll wish weren’t true.
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Did you know there were male engagement rings once?You know the story: The man spends a small fortune for a ring, kneels, and pops the question.
Well, in 1926, jewelers paired with advertisers to sell the concept of the man-gagement ring. The male engagement rings had names like the Pilot, the Stag and the Master. For another “did you know” fact, this is why we wear wedding rings on the fourth finger.
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Did you know Queen Elizabeth II keeps track of when she wore each outfit?It’s rumored that Queen Elizabeth never wears the same hat twice. If she does, she waits years to wear one again, and evidently, there’s a spreadsheet recording her exact outfit each day. So, what does she do with all of those hats? A one-time-only exhibit showcased the many hats and handbags she wore during public engagements. If you couldn’t make it to that exhibit, this epic timeline of Queen Elizabeth’s wackiest hats will fill you in.
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Did you know some common hand gestures are offensive in other countries?The “devil horns” hand sign seen thrown up at rock concerts can be offensive in other countries.
In European and South American countries, this hand sign implies that a man’s wife has been unfaithful. The meaning dates back to the etymological meaning of “cuckold” which is “horned” in Italian, Spanish, and Greek. Here are more common hand gestures that you should definitely not make in certain places.
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Did you know 40 percent of human jobs could be replaced by AI in the future?In about 20 years, the future could look eerily similar to Wall-E. Artificial intelligence expert Kai-Fu Lee said that 40 percent of human jobs could be replaced by equally capable robots. And drivers might be affected the most. Luckily, there are plenty of cool new jobs you could have in the future.
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Did you know Disneyland has an underground tunnel system?There are lots of quirky things that some think are underneath Disney parks, but these literally are! The tunnels were built in response to characters having to run through other lands to get to their posts, which spoiled the magic.
Thanks to the tunnels, you won’t see a Tomorrowland spaceman in the Old West–inspired Frontierland. Find out whether more Disney Park rumors are true or false.
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Did you know your body loses up to 8 percent of water on a flight?Water is our body’s mechanical oil—without it, it can’t function. You lose about 8 percent of your body water while on a flight. This is because the humidity in the climate-controlled environment can be as low as 10 to 15 percent. Check out these 50 airplane facts you’ve always been curious about.
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Did you know wind on Mars is audible?You’ll want your bass-heavy headphones for this one. Sensors on the NASA InSight lander on Mars picked up the first recorded sounds of Martian wind through vibrations.
The wind can be heard at a decibel within human range with the help of headphones.
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Did you know your skin sheds?The current skin you’re in will be gone in a month—our skin sheds 30,000 to 40,000 skin cells each day. In fact, over 100 of those cells probably flaked off while you were reading this sentence. However, it rejuvenates just as quickly as it deteriorates. Regular exfoliation twice a week helps get rid of lingering skin cells to make room for a fresh layer. Find out more bizarre human body features you didn’t know existed.
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Did you know trees can communicate?Trees talk. Their roots are connected through an underground network of fungi, nicknamed the “Wood Wide Web,” that allows them to share resources with each other.
They “talk” by transmitting nutrients to one another through the fungi. For instance, a mother tree, or oldest and strongest tree in the forest, will share some of her sugars with smaller, nearby trees.
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Did you know you can use willow bark for pain relief instead of aspirin?The secret to pain relief may be in your backyard. For centuries, willow bark has been used as an alternative to aspirin. The active ingredient in the bark, salicyl, turns to salicylic acid and is more gentle on the stomach than over-the-counter aspirin. But before you throw out all of your aspirin, here’s 7 household aspirin uses you never knew about.
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Did you know people rarely used to smile in photos?Why do people smile when they have their photo taken? Smiling in photos is said to have originated from a Kodak advertising scheme that focused on capturing moments of happiness with the product.
Since then, it’s been the norm to grin into the camera. A study comparing yearbook photos from 1905 to 2005 showed an increase of lip curvature over time. Learn more about why we started smiling—and saying “cheese”—in photos.
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Did you know the longest human neck is over seven inches?The longest human necks extend to 7.7 inches, belonging to women in the Padaung tribe in the highlands of northwestern Thailand. This is about twice the length of an average human neck. As a cultural practice, the tribe fashions heavy brass rings on a female’s neck from the ages of five to nine and add more as she ages. If you’re into these “did you know” facts, try some of these random trivia facts you’ll wish you knew sooner.
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Before it became sushi, that tuna could sail through the sea at lightning speed.
The fastest speed a tuna can swim has been recorded at over 45 km/h or about 28 mph.
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Did you know the first documentary was staged?What’s widely credited as the first documentary, Nanook of the North, was not true. Most of the film was staged—including its cast and surroundings. Although it “blazed cinematic trails” for its time, most of the film is full of “faking and fudging in one form or another,” as said in Criterion.
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Did you know the lighter professional competitive eaters are, the better?You’d think that the bigger the stomach, the more hot dogs would be able to fit, right? Not quite. Popular Science expanded on the theory that lighter contestants can out-eat their heavier competitors. The reasoning behind this is that a skinny person has room for their stomach to expand without being blocked by a ring of fat.
Here are more “did you know” facts about competitive eaters that’ll gross you out.
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Did you know Elvis didn’t write “Blue Suede Shoes”?Instead, the “pioneer of rockabilly music” Carl Perkins wrote the illustrious song that sold two million copies before Presley covered it, according to the LA Times. According to Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Wise Up!, Perkins wrote the song on an old potato sack.
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Did you know the longest breath held underwater is 24:03 minutes?That’s the typical amount of time it takes to watch one episode of The Office. But in 2016, professional freediver Aleix Segura Vendrell set this world record in a breathtaking attempt (literally). Check out the wackiest world record in every state.
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Did you know lions are identifiable through their whisker patterns?Like humans and fingerprints, each lion has a whisker pattern unique to their nose, according to the New York Times. Back in the late ’60s, researchers conducted a whisker hole identification method that involved overlapping photographs of lions’ noses with a standard grid. Here are 60 fun facts about animals you didn’t know before.
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Did you know there’s a 50,000-word novel without the letter “E”?Gadsby is a lipogram, or a novel written without using a letter or letters. In the case of Gadsby, written by Ernest Vincent Wright in 1939, that letter is “E.” Check out a fun fact about each letter of the alphabet.
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It sounds phony, but it’s time-tested.
If an egg floats when you set it in water, then it’s old; if it sinks, it’s a fresher egg and you’re good to go.
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Dmitri Ma/ShutterstockFocused male with closed eyes,Focused male with closed eyes,Did you know before 1920, some people used to send children in the mail?Because postage was cheaper than a train ticket, according to Smithsonian, some frugal parents chose this option. Newspapers ran amusing headlines, such as “Baby by Parcel Post” and “Parcel Post Baby Makes Trip Along L & E Railroad.” That’s definitely among the craziest things people have ever shipped.
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Did you know blinking could serve as mental rest, not eye lubrication?The intuitive reason why humans blink so much, 15 to 20 times per minute, is for eye lubrication. But research suggests that it’s actually to give our brains a break.
Although these breaks only last for a few seconds, they could be giving the brain a chance to go idle and recharge. These 12 “facts” about our brains just aren’t true.
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Did you know you can survive in space without a suit?Well, only for about 15 seconds. It takes that long for humans to lose consciousness in space due to lack of oxygen to the brain. In 1965, a technician was inside a vacuum chamber and accidentally depressurized his suit. After 12 to 15 seconds he lost consciousness, but his suit was repressurized at 27 seconds. According to Scientific American, the man recalled “the moisture on his tongue beginning to boil as well as a loss of taste sensation that lingered for four days following the accident.” Here are some more “did you know” facts about space.
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Did you know there’s a secret vault that holds nearly every type of crop seed?It’s the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, located in one of the coldest corners of the world: an island on the Svalbard archipelago, between Norway and the North Pole.
This remote location allows the natural permafrost cooling necessary for proper storage of the world’s largest collection of crop diversity. If the zombie apocalypse were to become a reality, or just if farmers’ fields start to dry out, this seed vault would come to the rescue.
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Did you know the computer virus Stuxnet has been able to cause physical damage?Stuxnet is the MVP of computer viruses as it’s able to “[escape] the digital realm to wreak physical destruction on equipment the computers controlled,” per WIRED. Also, according to National Geographic, it’s been able to unlock computer-controlled locks in prisons.
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Did you know corn, rice, and wheat make up most of the world’s staple foods?According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, these three simple, yet vital, ingredients make up the world’s staple foods and provide the majority of the world’s calorie intake.
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Did you know American men spend more time on leisure activities than women?A 2018 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report says that daily, men spend 49 minutes more doing leisure activities than women. The study found that on average, men spend 5.7 hours a day engaged in leisure activities, compared with 4.9 hours for women. That’s not on our list of ways women still aren’t equal to men, but definitely warrants mentioning.
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PeopleImages/Getty Images
Did you know why we yawn?The most popular, but likely wrong, theory is that yawning increases levels of oxygen to the brain. A more plausible theory: Yawning cools the brain down. A study conducted on mice found that as mice sucked in air, their jaws stretched—this increases blood flow to the brain.
This combination of cooler air intake when yawning mixed with the blood flowing to the brain is thought to eventually cool the brain down.
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germ virus bacteria/shutterstock
Did you know viruses are not alive?Viruses are not living things—they are inanimate and do not have cells. This means that they “cannot turn food into energy, and without a host, they are just inert packets of chemicals,” according to Discover Magazine.
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fotofreaks/shutterstock
Did you know “C” is the most common key used in pop songs?A man analyzed 1,300 songs from the Top 100 charts in pursuit of patterns. As for chords, he discovered that the most common key in music is C, ranking at 26 percent. Popular songs in the key of C include Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” and “Take Me to Church” by Hozier.
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usmee/shutterstock
Did you know “love” is the most common word used in most music genres?Love is what makes the world go round, after all. In a study, eight out of ten music genres reported the word “love” as the most used word (excluding rap and heavy metal).
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Mircea Moira/shutterstock
Did you know stuntwomen get more beat up than stuntmen?Clothing like skirts, tank tops, and high heels makes the job that much harder for women than for men. A man’s suit can be easily padded, while bare legs cannot. One stuntwoman even admitted to using gel petals under her skinny jeans for knee pads. Yikes! Women’s super-unrealistic action-related behavior made our list of ways movies are nothing like real life.
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Khalangot Sergey L/Shutterstock
Did you know goats have emotional intelligence?Research shows that goats are socially aware of the environment they’re in.
They can “differentiate between other goats’ happiness or displeasure by listening to their voices,” according to National Geographic. Check out these other “facts” about animals you might have wrong.
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POM POM/shutterstock
Did you know Hogwarts would look like an abandoned building to Muggles?Hailing all Harry Potter fans! If Muggles came across Hogwarts, it would only appear to look like an abandoned building with a “Keep Out: Dangerous” sign on it. Check out these other hidden messages in Harry Potter books you never noticed.
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Kieran Jack/Shutterstock
Apparently a fairly nutritious snack, jellyfish can be prey to young green sea turtles. As they age, green sea turtles become more herbivorous and stray away from eating just anything.
In this video, you can see a young green sea turtle munch down on jellyfish tentacles and swim away. Here are more weirdly fascinating facts about jellyfish.
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Achimdiver/shutterstock
Did you know the fastest reptile is the sea turtle?Marlin and Dory had a wild ride when they went for a cruise on Crush’s back. And it seems that scene has a basis in truth: Sea turtles can swim as fast as 35 mph.
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Bilanol/shutterstock
Did you know why our skin gets wrinkly in the water?After about five minutes in the bathtub, you begin to notice that tiny wrinkles are forming on your hands and feet. Why is that? Researchers speculate that it’s the body’s biological way of getting a grip when in a slippery condition. And they found that the specific ways that human skin wrinkles are similar to river drainage systems.
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Champion studio/Shutterstock
Did you know that finger length can predict attractiveness?Your palm reader might not be too far off when they say that finger length and ratios suggest facial attractiveness in men. If a man’s ring finger is longer than his index finger, then he’s more likely to have a more attractive face, per the Atlantic.
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Brian C. Weed/Shutterstock
Did you know Stonehenge used to be in a circular formation?It wasn’t until 2014 that a drought exposed an apparent circular outline of Stonehenge. Though it’s now a semi-circle in shape, marks that may have signaled where stones might’ve been have given some credence to the idea that Stonehenge was originally a fully formed circle in shape. Learn about some ancient mysteries that have yet to be solved.
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Josh Schutz/Shutterstock
Did you know mountain goats are not in the goat family?You goat-ta believe it: Mountain goats are not goats, but are goat-antelopes, according to National Geographic. These curious creatures can also jump about 12 feet in one jump. Can you tell the difference between these nearly identical animals?
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Vitalii Matokha/shutterstock
Did you know most of the Earth’s freshwater is stored in glaciers and icecaps?Nearly 70 percent of Earth’s freshwater is stored in the coldest spots on the globe: in glaciers and icecaps.
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Saran_Poroong/Shutterstock
Did you know the game of Go is the oldest?This simple-looking yet mind-boggling game is said to be the oldest strategy game that’s still played.
According to the American Go Association, the game originated in China anywhere from 2,500 to 4,000 years ago. Check out more fascinating “did you know” facts about your favorite games.
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Srinil/Shutterstock
Did you know the world’s longest pizza is a mile long?At 1.15 miles exactly, this whopping pizza was made in, you guessed it, Italy. But how? By the sweat of 250 chefs and about 4,409 pounds of flour.
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Photo Image/Shutterstock
Did you know the Mississippi River inspired a painting?Speaking of long, the Mississippi River inspired one of the longest paintings in the world. Panorama of the Mississippi, by 19th-century American artist John Banvard, was 1,200 feet long. Unfortunately, after his death, Banvard’s famous panorama may have been cut up for theatre backdrops.
Check out these secret messages hidden in famous paintings.
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Joseph Sohm/shutterstock
Did you know the word “brownie” was first used in print in 1500?Although the context of the earliest use of the word is unknown, today it could be referring to these three alternative meanings: the sweet treat we all know and love, a good-natured elf, or a Girl Scouts member. Sadly, no one from the 1500s is around to specify.
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Nenad Basic/Shutterstock
Did you know an Alaskan town goes dark for over 60 days?The residents of Barrow, Alaska, must be the most avid consumers of vitamin D supplements, because their town sees darkness for about 65 days of the year. The 65 days of darkness, known as polar night, is due to their geographical location above the Arctic Circle. Here are some geography facts everyone gets wrong.
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Paolo Bona/shutterstock
Did you know Bill Gates’ business partner out-performed him on the SAT?While Bill Gates scored 1590, his business partner, Paul Allen, soared past him at a perfect 1600. Take a look at some ironic “failures” of wildly successful people.
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grafvision/Shutterstock
Did you know matcha contains eight times more caffeine than green tea?If you need an extra boost in the morning, we suggest reaching for green tea’s mighty cousin: matcha. One cup of matcha, a type of green tea, packs in 280 mg of caffeine, while traditional green tea contains a meek 35mg. This is eight times the regular amount.
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Mcimage/Shutterstock
Did you know two million kids are vegetarian?A host of reasons contribute to whether a child is vegetarian—and it mostly comes down to what their parents are willing to cook.
According to the New York Times, nearly two million children ages 8-18 are vegetarian.
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Marina Sun/shutterstock
Did you know the oldest surviving love poem was forgotten until 1951?Written in 2,000 BC, the world’s oldest love poem was stored unimportantly in a museum drawer in Turkey—until Sumerologist Samuel Noah Kramer saw it. The world’s oldest love poem, etched into a clay tablet, tells a tale of beauty and love, themes that persist in modern poems. Not so much in these funny poems that will perk up your day, though.
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shutteratakan/Shutterstock
Did you know the most used computer password is 123456?You’d think toddlers were creating them! “Password” comes in at a rather high rate too, according to CNN. This data comes from a list from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre that analyzed passwords worldwide.
Needless to say, these are super crackable passwords.
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buradaki/Shutterstock
Did you know 1 in 4 Americans believe the sun revolves around the Earth?A total of 2,200 Americans were surveyed by the National Science Foundation in 2012. The numbers were startling: One in four incorrectly answered that the sun revolves around the Earth. Brush up on the science facts you didn’t learn in school.
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Titus Group/Shutterstock
Did you know carbs make you sleepy?Ever wonder why everyone in your family passes out after a huge meal? Most comfort foods include carbohydrates, and carbs contain an amino acid called tryptophan that can cause sleepiness. These 12 fast food “facts” are actually false.
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Tom Fakler/Shutterstock
Did you know the words algebra, alcohol, ghoul, and magazine all come from Arabic?These common words are all rooted in Arabic.
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Roman Tiraspolsky/Shutterstock
Did you know the average American uses three rolls of toilet paper each week?And this excessive toilet paper use is affecting our forests. A report by the National Resources Defense Council described a “tree-to-toilet” pipeline, “concluding that the “consequences for Indigenous Peoples, treasured wildlife, and the global climate” are devastating. If the coronavirus pandemic and toilet paper shortage didn’t make you want to switch to a bidet and never go back, maybe that harsh truth will.
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Photo Spirit/Shutterstock
Did you know in India, most marriages are arranged?A survey by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies in Delhi and German foundation Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung found that a high number—84 percent!—of Indian youth were in arranged marriages.
If you loved these “did you know” facts, then try out these tricky trivia questions that only geniuses will get right.
Originally Published: November 02, 2020
Isabelle Tavares
Isabelle Tavares is a journalism graduate student at the Newhouse School of Syracuse University and former ASME intern for RD.com, where she wrote for the knowledge, travel, culture and health sections. Her work has been published in MSN, The Family Handyman, INSIDER, among others. Follow her on Twitter @isabelletava.
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Chorus:
People do things and raise numbers,
I count the cities, but only in my mind.
Fees will fall, crystal will flow,
But for now, it's just me and change in my jeans.
Small change in my jeans
But for now, it's just me and change in my jeans.
Small change in my jeans
But for now, it's just me and change in my jeans.
I scattered on the floor like change from a pocket
Five pills is a lot, three pills is not enough
Vodka with grape juice, in the bowels of my mind
I dream high, money and prostitutes
I will wipe my shoes with a Gucci turtleneck
I will cut down high grade and only the best
There will be a hut of one hundred squares next to Yakimanka
Fuck Uber, I want a motorcade with a flasher
Stacks of cash on the bed, I don't know exactly how much
Three models in my hut, I'm awake tonight
It will be very soon, Escalade, alloy wheels
In the meantime, only Murda is here, only a trifle in his jeans
Chorus:
People do things and raise numbers,
I count the cities, but only in my mind,
Fees will fall, crystal will flow,
But for now, it's just me and change in my jeans.
