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Ancient Egyptians had a unique way of preventing pregnancy: crocodile poop.

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July 28, 2023

Welcome to the world of totally counterintuitive pieces of trivia! If you’re looking for a unique way to impress your friends and family with your knowledge of the world, then you’ve come to the right place. This list contains some of the most unexpected and mind-blowing facts out there, from ancient Egyptians using crocodile poop as a birth control method to the UN approving the spelling of "Türkiye" for Turkey.

We’ll explore the dangerous rip currents of Florida, the process of vitrification that turns liquid radioactive and chemical waste into glass, the Bangles’ hit song "Manic Monday" written by Prince, the incredible 41-year journey of Ho Van Lang and his dad in the jungles of Vietnam, and the surprising truth about lactic acid.

We’ve scoured the internet, consulted experts, and dug deep into the archives to bring you these totally counterintuitive pieces of trivia. So get ready to be amazed, astounded, and entertained as you learn about the world in an entirely new way. Enjoy.

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13

Ancient Egyptians: "Crocodile poop: birth control of choice."

CRACKED ANCIENT EGYPTIANS USED POOP TO PREVENT PREGNANCY. Just to make things extra disgusting, they'd mix it with other stuff to form a block, then insert that block into the vagina. — Paul Vinten/Shutterstock,
Dmytro Buianskyi/Shutterstock
Flo

12

Prince gifts the world with "Manic Monday".

CRACKED PRINCE WROTE MANIC MONDAY FOR THE BANGLES. Не heard their first album, became a huge fan, and came up with a song for them before the second one came out. — The Bangles/YouTube,
theincomparable_rj/Shutterstock
NPR

11

Radioactive waste: now in glass form.

CRACKED TURNING WASTE INTO GLASS CAN MAKE A RADIOACTIVE MESS SAFE. The process of vitrification turns liquid radioactive and chemical waste into a solid, glass-like material - basically, by combining it with molten glass - that can be safely stored forever without leaking. — Hoika Mikhail/Shutterstock
Hanford Vit Plant

10

Shakespeare’s skull: MIA.

CRACKED SHAKESPEARE'S SKULL PROBABLY ISN'T IN STRATFORD AFTER ALL. An archaeological team used ground-penetrating radar to scan the grave of Shakespeare in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, and it looks like his skull is not there. — John Taylor/Wiki Commons,
SibFilm/Shutterstock
Reuters

9

"Türkiye" it is.

CRACKED UN APPROVES TURKEY'S SPELLING REQUEST: TÜRKIYE IT IS. In 2021, the UN gave the thumbs up to the Turkish embassy's request to use the spelling Türkiye for Turkey for the UN and the U.S. — Seqoya/Shutterstock
NPR

8

Neanderthals and Denisovans: still influencing us today.

CRACKED SURPRISE! YOU'VE GOT A BIT OF NEANDERTHAL AND DENISOVAN IN YOU. People today have a bit of genetic material from Neanderthals and Denisovans, two types of early humans who lived in Europe and Asia, passed down to them. — Fractal Pictures/Shutterstock
MedlinePlus

7

Lactic acid: not so bad after all.

CRACKED LACTIC ACID: NOT THE VILLAIN WE THOUGHT IT WAS. It's been believed for a long time that lactic acid is responsible for making our muscles tired and sore, but it turns out that it's actually a great energy source for our muscles, and doesn't stop them from working properly. — BLACKDAY/Shutterstock
Pfizer

6

Impressive.

CRACKED 86 BILLION NEURONS? WOW, TALK ABOUT OVERKILL. The human brain has an incredible 86 billion neurons, which makes it the most neuron- dense primate brain around. — Andrii Vodolazhskyi/Shutterstock
The Conversation

5

41 years in the jungle.

CRACKED 41 YEARS IN THE JUNGLE BECAUSE OF ONE U.S. BOMB. Vietnamese Но Van Lang and his dad escaped to the jungle in Vietnam after a U.S. bomb destroyed half their family during the Vietnam War. They stayed there for 41 years. — AFP (via Insider)
Insider

4

The Guillotine

CRACKED GUILLOTINE: NOT AS HUMANE AS PROMISED. At a certain point, people began thinking that the guillotine wasn't as humane as the French Revolution government said it was. It turns out that those killed by it didn't die right away, and still briefly showed signs of life after they were beheaded. — pirtuss/Shutterstock
National Center for Biotechnology Information

3

Funding vanished?

CRACKED JANE GOODALL'S HUSBAND LEFT WHEN THE MONEY RAN OUT. Dr. Goodall has been married twice in her life. Her first husband was Dutch photographer and filmmaker Baron Hugo van Lawick, and he met her when he came to photograph her for NatGeo. Не left her when funding vanished. — Tinseltown/Shutterstock
People

2

Florida: Not so sunny after all.

CRACKED FLORIDA: WHERE THE WATER IS MORE DEADLY THAN THE WEATHER. Rip currents are really dangerous and are responsible for more deaths in Florida than lightning, hurricanes and tornadoes put together. Overall, they're the United States' third most lethal natural hazard. NO SWIMMING DANGEROUS CURRENTS — Ken Schulze/Shutterstock
Naval Postgraduate School

1

U.S. slipping in global economy.

CRACKED THE U.S. ECONOMY IS SLIPPING (IN A WAY). The U.S. has been steadily losing its grip on the global economy since 1960, when it made up 40% of the world's total. Even though the U.S. economy has grown since then, its share of the global economy has dropped to 24%. — FOTOGRIN/Shutterstock
Visual Capitalist

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