Facts that sound false but are true — Page 19
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
Plasma is the most common state of matter in the universe.
Plasma is the fourth state of matter, after solid, liquid and gas. It is formed by ionised gas at very high…
The Bitcoin whitepaper was published in 2008 by a person or group called Satoshi Nakamoto.
The document describing Bitcoin, titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, was published in 2008 by…
The osprey can detect fish from hundreds of metres above.
The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) has extremely sharp vision that allows it to detect fish from hundreds of metres above…
Spermaceti from the sperm whale is used for buoyancy.
Spermaceti, a waxy substance found in the sperm whale's head, helps the animal regulate buoyancy by being heated or…
Carbonised loaves of bread were found in the ruins of Pompeii.
In the bakeries of Pompeia were found loaves of bread carbonised by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Some still had…
A walrus's tusks can grow up to 1 metre long.
A walrus's tusks are canine teeth that continue to grow throughout life and can reach 1 metre in length. They help…
A mutation in the LRP5 gene can make bones extremely dense and difficult to break.
A mutation in the LRP5 gene can make bones extremely dense and hard to break. People with this mutation rarely suffer…
Casu marzu is an Italian cheese with live fly larvae.
Casu marzu, a traditional cheese from Sardinia, is left in the open for the cheese fly to lay its eggs. The larvae…
Surstromming is considered one of the foods with the strongest smell in the world.
Surstromming is a Swedish fermented herring that undergoes a fermentation process producing acetic acid, propionic…
On the island of Socotra there are trees that bleed when cut.
The Dracaena cinnabari, or dragon's blood tree, is native to the island of Socotra, in Yemen. When the bark is cut…
The Richat Structure in Mauritania is visible from space and looks like a giant eye.
The Richat Structure, also known as the Eye of the Sahara, is a circular geological formation about 40 kilometres in…
Machu Picchu was built without mortar.
The stones of Machu Picchu were fitted so precisely that no mortar was used to join them. The Incas carved each block…
The Catatumbo lightning in Venezuela occurs almost every night for half the year.
The Catatumbo lightning is an atmospheric phenomenon that occurs at the mouth of the Catatumbo River in Venezuela…
There are formations of snow and ice in the shape of sharp blades called penitentes.
Penitentes are formations of snow and ice that resemble blades or needles pointing towards the Sun. They form at high…
Aerogel is one of the lightest solids in the world.
Aerogel is a solid material with very low density, composed of up to 99.8 percent air. It is so light that a block…
Time crystals are a new state of matter.
Time crystals are structures that repeat in time, not just in space, like normal crystals. They were proposed in 2012…
Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, has water geysers at its south pole.
The moon Enceladus ejects jets of water vapour and ice from cracks at its south pole. The Cassini probe flew through…
Fast radio bursts are cosmic signals that last milliseconds.
Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are pulses of energy that last only a few milliseconds, but can release as much energy as…
Google was originally called BackRub.
Google was originally called BackRub, a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University in…
Linux was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991.
The Linux kernel was created by Linus Torvalds, a Finnish student, in 1991, when he was 21 years old. He made the…
Fire tornadoes can form during wildfires.
Fire tornadoes, or fire whirls, form when hot air from flames rises and creates a vortex. These whirls can reach…
The Kuiper Belt is a region of the solar system beyond Neptune.
The Kuiper Belt is a ring of icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune, between 30 and 50 astronomical units. It…
The Aztec Sun Stone is not a calendar.
The Aztec Sun Stone, often called the Aztec calendar, is actually a ceremonial monument representing Aztec cosmology…
Buckyballs are carbon molecules shaped like a ball.
Buckyballs, or fullerenes, are carbon molecules with 60 atoms arranged in a hollow sphere, similar to a football…
