Editorial Team
In the vast universe of knowledge that mankind has amassed, there are kernels of truth that seem too staggering to believe. Yet, these are facts – delightful, intriguing, mind-boggling facts – that challenge our assumptions and expand our horizons. Join us as we delve into twenty such revelations, each one carefully researched and verified to ensure their authenticity.
1. If we thought technology corporations had an easy start, Google’s founders would say otherwise. They were ready to sell Google for under $1 million to Excite in 1999. Excite, however, decided against the deal.
2. There’s a psychological disorder known as boanthropy: it makes people think they are cows.
3. Australia has over 10,000 beaches. To put this into perspective, you could visit a new beach every day and it would still take over 27 years to explore them all.
4. The scientific term for brain freeze is “sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia.” So, the next time you experience that icy jolt in your head after consuming something cold too quickly, you know what to call it.
5. Artificial banana flavoring, the familiar scent we often associate with candies and desserts, originally made its debut as a pear flavoring in Britain. It was much later when it started to be connected with bananas.
6. If you were to line up all the DNA in your body end to end, it would stretch from the earth to the sun and back over 600 times.
7. Mercury and Venus are the only two planets in our solar system without any moons.
8. The iconic Aaron Burr “Got Milk?” advertisement from 1993 was directed by none other than Michael Bay, who would later be known for blockbuster action films.
9. In the mid 1980s, Nicholas Cage told Johnny Depp he should pursue an acting career.
10. In the world of intriguing place names, Boring, Oregon, and Dull, Scotland, have been sister cities since 2012. In 2017, they included Bland Shire, Australia, in their “League of Extraordinary Communities.”
11. If a Polar Bear and a Grizzly Bear mate, their offspring is called a “Pizzly Bear” or a “Grolar Bear.”
READ MORE: Nature’s Oddballs: A Glimpse Into the World’s Strangest Looking Creatures
12. Canadians say “sorry” so much that in 2009, a law was passed stating that apologies could not be used as an admission of guilt.
13. During World War I, German measles were referred to as “liberty measles” in the United States, and dachshunds became “liberty hounds.”
14. The national animal of Scotland is the Unicorn.
15. In a remarkable display of human-animal partnership, a guide dog named Roselle led her blind owner down 78 flights of stairs during on 9/11. It took about an hour, and they both made it out safely.
16. In December 2020, women lost 156,000 jobs in the United States, and men gained 16,000. This disproportion is largely due to women shouldering the additional caregiving responsibilities brought on by the pandemic.
17. The majestic Niagara Falls has a flow rate of over 85,000 cubic feet per second. However, this natural wonder completely stopped flowing for 30 hours in March 1848 due to an ice jam blocking the entrance of Lake Erie.
18. The octopus has three hearts. Two pump blood to the gills, while the third circulates it to the rest of the body.
19. It’s illegal in Switzerland to own just one guinea pig. This law exists because guinea pigs are considered social animals and are prone to loneliness.
20. The word “nerd” was first coined by Dr. Seuss in his book “If I Ran the Zoo” published in 1950.
The realm of knowledge is boundless, and as we journey through it, we encounter facts that alter our perception and expand our understanding. Today, we have taken a small step in this journey, illuminating our minds with these captivating facts. As our voyage continues, let’s revel in the joy of lifelong learning and remain ever-curious.
