Facts that sound false but are true — Page 35
Our highest surprise rating: the facts people most often refuse to believe until they read the explanation. Every one of them is documented.
1017 facts
The first webcam was invented to monitor a coffee pot at a university.
In nineteen ninety-one, researchers at the University of Cambridge created a camera pointing at the laboratory coffee…
Wombat feces naturally have a cubic shape.
Wombats are the only known animals to produce cube shaped feces. This occurs due to variations in the elasticity of…
Humans are bioluminescent and emit light in the dark.
The human body emits a small amount of visible light as a result of metabolic reactions. However, this light is about…
The shortest war in history lasted only thirty eight minutes.
The Anglo Zanzibar War occurred in 1896. The conflict began at nine in the morning and ended at nine thirty eight…
Wombat feces have the shape of a perfect cube.
Wombats are the only known animals to produce cubic feces. This happens because the walls of their large intestine…
The jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii can reverse its life cycle and become biologically immortal.
When facing physical stress or aging, this jellyfish can transform its adult cells back into the polyp stage, its…
Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as a medicine for diarrhea.
In 1834, a physician named John Cook Bennett declared that tomatoes could cure diarrhea, indigestion, and jaundice…
Fungi are evolutionarily closer to animals than to plants.
Genetic analyses show that fungi and animals share a more recent common ancestor than either does with plants. Both…
Wombat feces have a perfect cubic shape.
The wombat intestine has variable elasticity, which molds the feces into cubes. This shape prevents the feces from…
Nutmeg is highly toxic if consumed in large quantities.
Nutmeg contains myristicin, a compound that in high doses can cause hallucinations, nausea, tachycardia, and…
Pineapple contains an enzyme that literally digests you while you eat it.
Fresh pineapple contains bromelain, a group of enzymes that break down proteins. This is why the tongue can become…
At Point Nemo, the closest humans are often on the space station.
Point Nemo is the oceanic pole of inaccessibility, the location in the ocean farthest from any landmass. It is so…
Napoleon Bonaparte was once attacked by a horde of rabbits.
During a treaty celebration in eighteen hundred and seven, Napoleon organized a rabbit hunt. The rabbits, instead of…
The Australian military lost the Great Emu War in nineteen thirty two.
The Australian military was mobilized to control the emu population devastating crops in Western Australia. Despite…
The Sahara Desert was once a lush, green savanna with lakes and rivers.
About six thousand years ago, during the African Humid Period, the Sahara was covered with vegetation, lakes, and…
Cleopatra lived closer in time to the invention of the iPhone than to the construction of the pyramids.
The Great Pyramids were built around 2560 BC, while Cleopatra lived in the 1st century BC. The time difference…
Ketchup was sold in the nineteenth century as medicine.
In the 1830s, ketchup was marketed as a cure for indigestion and other ailments, containing ingredients that would…
Ants do not have lungs or a centralized respiratory system.
Ants breathe through small openings called spiracles, located along their exoskeleton, which distribute oxygen…
There is a giant alcohol cloud in space.
In the Sagittarius B2 star-forming region, astronomers detected a cloud containing billions of liters of ethyl…
The human brain feels no pain, despite processing all pain signals.
Brain tissue itself lacks nociceptors, which are pain receptors. This is why brain surgeries can be performed with…
Giant sequoias depend on fire to reproduce.
The cones of giant sequoias need the intense heat of forest fires to open and release seeds. Fire also clears the…
The shortest war in history lasted less than an hour.
The Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 lasted between 38 and 45 minutes. The Sultanate of Zanzibar surrendered quickly after…
Koalas have fingerprints so similar to human ones that they are hard to tell apart under a magnifying glass.
Although koalas are marsupials and humans are primates, both evolved to grip tree trunks and branches. That…
The most isolated point in the ocean, called Point Nemo, has the astronauts on the International Space Station as its closest neighbors.
Point Nemo is the oceanic pole of inaccessibility, the location in the ocean farthest from any landmass. It is about…