Facts that sound false but are true — Page 17
Our highest surprise rating: the facts people most often refuse to believe until they read the explanation. Every one of them is documented.
627 facts
Fireflies produce light without heat, with over 90 percent efficiency.
Fireflies produce light through a chemical reaction called bioluminescence, in which the enzyme luciferase acts on…
The term Wi-Fi does not mean anything.
Wi-Fi was a name invented by a marketing company for a wireless communication standard. In fact, it does not mean…
Ethernet was invented in the Xerox PARC laboratories.
Ethernet was invented in 1973 by Bob Metcalfe at the Xerox PARC laboratories in California. It was created to connect…
Each dragonfly eye has more than 30,000 facets.
Dragonfly compound eyes contain up to 30,000 tiny lenses called ommatidia, giving them a nearly complete panoramic…
The smell of garlic only appears when the clove is cut or crushed.
Whole garlic contains alliin, an odourless compound. When the clove is cut or crushed, the enzyme alliinase converts…
The Altamira cave in Spain has cave paintings over 14,000 years old.
The Altamira paintings, discovered in 1879, include bison, horses and human handprints painted on the walls. They are…
Some migratory birds use Earth's magnetic field to navigate.
Birds such as the flycatcher and the thrush use Earth's magnetic field as an internal compass during migration…
Lake Baikal contains about 20 percent of the planet's liquid fresh water.
Lake Baikal, in Siberia, is the deepest lake in the world, at 1,642 metres. It contains about 23,000 cubic kilometres…
The black hole at the centre of the Perseus cluster emits pressure waves that can be translated into sound.
The black hole at the centre of the Perseus cluster generates pressure waves in the hot gas surrounding it. These…
A sand battery can store thermal energy for months.
The sand battery heats sand up to 500 degrees Celsius using surplus electricity from renewable sources. The heat is…
A brain-computer interface managed to decode speech and singing from brain waves.
A system developed by researchers uses artificial intelligence to decode brain waves into expressive speech and even…
Snakes detect the body heat of prey through sensory pits.
Some snakes, such as pit vipers and pythons, have loreal pits between their eyes and nostrils that detect infrared…
The sea otter has the densest fur of any mammal.
The sea otter has about one million hairs per square centimetre, the densest fur of any mammal. This density creates…
La Paz, Bolivia, is the highest capital in the world.
La Paz is at an altitude of about 3,640 metres, making it the highest administrative capital in the world. Although…
The star-nosed mole has 22 tentacles on its nose to detect prey.
The star-nosed mole has 22 fleshy appendages on its nose, covered by more than 25,000 touch receptors. These organs…
Hawaii is the southernmost state in the United States.
Hawaii is the southernmost state in the United States. It stretches for 2,400 kilometres in the Pacific and is the…
The terracotta army was built to protect the tomb of the first emperor of China.
The terracotta army was built to protect the tomb of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, who died in 210 BC…
Roman concrete is more durable than modern concrete.
Roman concrete, made with volcanic ash, withstands time better than modern concrete. Buildings such as the Pantheon…
Liquid oxygen has a pale blue colour.
Unlike oxygen gas, which is colourless, oxygen in the liquid state is pale blue. This colour is due to the absorption…
Olympus Mons on Mars is the largest known volcano in the solar system, about 22 kilometres high.
Olympus Mons is about 22 kilometres high, almost three times the height of Mount Everest, with a base hundreds of…
The pangolin is the only mammal covered in scales.
The pangolin is the only known mammal with true scales. The scales are made of keratin, the same material as human…
The octopus can taste with its arms.
The octopus has taste receptors on the suckers of its arms. This allows it to identify whether an object is edible…
Ancient Roman concrete had a self-healing ability.
Roman concrete contained lumps of lime that, on contact with water, dissolved and recrystallised, filling cracks…
The sailfish is the fastest fish in the ocean, reaching 110 kilometres per hour.
The sailfish can reach speeds of up to 110 kilometres per hour, making it the fastest fish in the ocean. Its speed is…
