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30 Fun and Weird Science Facts That Made Us a Little Smarter

She blinded me with science!

30 Fun and Weird Science Facts That Made Us a Little Smarter

December 10, 2023

Science! The way we go about understanding all of the things taking place on our little space rock circling a gigantic fireball in the middle of nowhere. It's how we understand how our terrible meat sack bodies work, how the plants and animals around us work and even how all of the stuff on the other space rocks in the galaxy work.

Did you know that there's a planet out there made out of burning ice? WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? Back here on Earth, polar bears seem to be immune to heat-sensing technology? Also, there are terrible little mollusks in the Gulf of Mexico that have metal teeth. Yeah, no thanks on that one, nature.

Here we have a bunch of weird and fun little facts about the world around us and beyond that will hopefully make you feel a little smarter, and maybe set your imaginations and curiosity on fire.

30

Peanuts and explosives

Peanuts can be used to make an explosive. CRACKED COM When extracted, pea- nut oil can be turned into glycerol, which can then make nitro- glycerine, an unstable explosive substance used in dynamite. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

29

Water in Space

There's a floating reservoir of water in space that holds 140 trillion times all the water on Earth. CRACKED.COM NASA scientist Matt Brad- ford says that water is pervasive throughout the universe, and the reser- voir surrounding a black hole 12 billion light years away surely proves that. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

28

Little mouse muscle

The word muscle comes from a Latin term meaning little mouse. CRACKED.COM Muscle is derived from the Latin term musculus, meaning little mouse, which is apparently what the ancient Ro- mans saw when they flexed their biceps. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

27

Burning Ice in Space

A planet exists made of burning ice. Gliese 436 b, about 30 light-years from us, is made mostly of ice that would burn you to a crisp if you touched it. The strong gravity keeps water so tightly packed that it remains solid, even at a temperature of almost 1,000 degrees. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

26

Polar Bears

Polar bears are nearly invisible to infrared cameras. The bear's fur is so good at keeping the bear warm, that almost no heat escapes that can be picked up by infrared sensors. Invisibility cloaks are being researched that copy how the bear's hairs work. GRACKED COM — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

25

Tea is weird, it turns out

CRACKED.COM Tea can climb back to the kettle as you brew it. Tiny tea particles can climb short distances from the cup to the kettle. Researchers have found that small waterfalls create counter-flows strong enough for water to go upwards. — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

24

Io

IO, a moon of Jupiter, has tides of rock. lo has no oceans-but that doesn't mean it has no tides. The gravity of Jupiter and the other moons causes the ground to move up and down the height of a 30-story building. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

23

Chitons Metal Teeth

CRACKED.COM chitons have teeth made of metal. Chitons, that are found in the Gulf of Mexico, are the Wolverine of mollusks. Their teeth are made of a metal called magnetite. No other living organism can make any material that tough. — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

22

Well this is... handy?

The barreleye can look through its own head. The top of this deep-water fish's head is see-through. The fish can rotate its eyes and look at the world through it. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

21

All Female Lizards

CRACKED.COM whiptail lizards are all female. Aspidoscelis, a genus of New Mexico lizards, has no males. They reproduce through natural cloning. Their organisms have mechanisms in place to preserve genetic diversity. — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

20

Lobsters are crazy, man

Lobsters don't age. While not exactly immortal, lobsters don't become weaker or stop breeding with age. They just keep growing bigger and bigger, until they're too big for their own good. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

19

Birds have passwords

some birds password- protect their children. + * Brown-headed cowbirds have their chicks raised by different species of birds than their own. Adult cowbirds use a special vocalization that unlocks the chicks' ability to learn, so no one but them can teach their offspring to sing. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

18

Papua New Guinea's 850 Languages

More than 850 languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea. CRACKED.COM Many of the languages in the country are only spo- ken and understood by a few thousand people in the world. This makes Papua New Guinea one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

17

Aluminum Armored Shrimp

A deep-sea amphipod makes aluminum armor to protect itself. CRACKED.COM The small, shrimp-like ani- mal adapted to form a lay- er of aluminum hydroxide gel to cover its exoskele- ton, acting as a kind of pressure-resistant armor. It is also able to digest saw- dust. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

16

Benjamin Franklin was a swimmer

Benjamin Franklin was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. CRACKED.COM Franklin began swim- ming as a child in Bos- ton, which led to one of his first inventions: oval palettes worn on the hands so he could swim faster. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

15

Mars' blue sunsets

Martian sunsets are blue, thanks to dust. CRACKED.COM Curiosity team scientist Mark Lemmon explained, The colors come from the fact that the very fine dust is the right size so that blue light penetrates the atmosphere slightly more efficiently. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

14

It's better this way

Where The Wild Things Are is only about monsters because the creator couldn't draw horses. CRACKED COM The book was originally going to be about a young boy who finds himself in a land filled with wild horses, inspired by the writer's childhood. Mau- rice Sendak took the 'wild things' and made them unique monsters instead. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

13

Tic Tacs

Tic Tac mints are named after the sound their container makes. REFRESHING LITTLE LIFTS tic tac fresh mint CRACKED.COM Before the rebrand, they were known only as Re- freshing Mints. In 1970, Ferrero was inspired by the tic and the tac sounds heard when you open and close the little plastic container. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

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12

Octopuses have too many brains

Each arm of an octopus has its own brain. Octopuses have more nerve cells in their arms than in their heads. Each arm can move, touch, and taste by itself, with no input from the central brain. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

11

Crocodiles

crocodiles are more closely related to birds than to lizards. Crocodiles, alligators, and birds are the last surviving archosaurs (a group that included dinosaurs). Their common ancestor lived 240 million years ago. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

10

Trees vs Stars

There are way more trees on Earth than stars in the galaxy. A 2015 survey found that three trillion trees grow on Earth, 7 times the previous estimate. About 15 billion are chopped down every year. CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

9

Diamond halestones

Hailstones in Jupiter and saturn are diamonds. Thunderstorms turn atmospheric methane into pure carbon soot. As the soot falls and the pressure increases, it gets compressed into diamonds as big as one centimeter across. CRACKED COM — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

8

Killer Whales speak dolphin

Killer whales can learn dolphin language. Orcas who spend time with bottlenose dolphins use more clicks and whistles, and their language becomes a mashup of both species. (So orcas speak dolphin with an accent?) CRACKED.COM — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

7

Twins

CRACKED.COM Twins can have different fathers. On rare occasions, two eggs are released during the same ovulation cycle, which can be fertilized by different fathers. This is extremely unusual in humans, but it has been known to happen. — Source: Science Facts That Sound Like Nonsense

6

That's a long tongue

A chameleon's tongue is twice as long as its body. CRACKED.COM For a human, this would be like having a tongue that measured 10 to 12 feet long. The chameleon's tongue isn't just long, it's also the fastest in the ani- mal kingdom. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

5

The Antarctic Blackfin

The Antarctic blackfin icefish has no scales, white blood, and transparent bones. GRACKED.COM Instead of red blood cells or hemoglobin pigments for transporting oxygen, oxygen simply diffuses into their cir- culating blood plasma from the frigid seawater thanks to the fish's enlarged gills and smooth skin. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

4

The Lights When You Rub Your Eyes

Phosphenes are the flashes of light you see when you rub your eyes. CRACKED.COM When you rub your eyes, the optic nerve translates this pres- sure into various imag- es. You see these pho- sphenes briefly after you open your eyes. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

3

The first commercial

The first television commercial in 1941 aired during a Dodgers game. BULOVA Ambassador 31 AUTOMATIC GRAGKED.COM The ad, a silhouette of the continental United States, over which a watch face pops up and a voiceover says, Amer- ica runs on Bulova time, cost $9. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

2

Sharks and Orcas

Great White sharks will avoid an area for a year if they spot a Killer Whale. CRACKED COM The sharks are so terrified of their only natural preda- tor that they'll vacate their preferred hunting ground and will not return for up to a year if they encounter one, even if it's just pass- ing by. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

1

The invention of the Super Soaker

A former NASA scientist who helped develop stealth bombers invented the Super Soaker. NERF Super TM Soaker CRACKED.COM Lonnie G.Johnson eventu- ally licensed his design to Larami Corporation, later acquired by Hasbro. Не made so much money that he was able to fund his own research and develop- ment company. — Source: 15 Ice-Cold Facts To Beat The Summer Heat

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