We don't get to learn fun facts in school because there's so much of the basics we need to cover first. So when we get a chance to learn something cool and unique, it can really be mind blowing!
They're impressive facts, especially when you're playing trivia and you get to impress all your friends.
We went to Ask Reddit to see what people have learned that will make you say "Holy Cr*p!"
Redditor da-genius-kid asked:
"What’s your 'holy cr*p that’s interesting' fact?"
These are some of the coolest facts we've seen.
Dogs sense of smell.
"Most people know that dogs have a really good sense of smell, but I recently did some research into the full extent of it."
"40% of the brain goes entirely to their sense of smell. They have a completely different organ that is designed purely to take in the smell, separately from the oxygen they breathe (unlike humans, we process it together)."
"To put this into perspective, we can taste a teaspoon of sugar in our coffee. They could smell a teaspoon of sugar inside two Olympic sized swimming pools."
"A cancer alert dog kept marking to one mole on a woman's arm. They had already tested it and it was negative. They decided to retest due to the dog's behavior, and found an incredibly small fraction of a cancer cell in the spot."
- mazebean5
"Its not just dogs trained to detect cancer either. For the last couple of years dogs have been OBSESSED with me. I always liked dogs and got along with them. But strangers dogs started going out of their way to talk to me. We went fishing and a dog at the river found me and sat in my lap (totally not a lap sized dog) and stayed there the entire time we were there. The owners could not get it off me. Last July I was diagnosed with bowel cancer and it was cut out in September. Dogs don't want to crawl under my skin anymore. I'm just like everyone else now."
- Ineedsomuchsleep170
The Sun makes a sound.
"The Sun is extremely loud, we just can't hear it because sound can't travel through the vacuum of space."
- KingdaToro
"I guess it's a bit like the 'if a tree falls in a forest and nobody hears it, does it make a sound' paradox - sound is not just the wave of energy that we perceive, it is also the act of it being perceived by an organ evolved for the purpose."
"Except in this case, not only is there nobody to hear the sound, the conditions that will allow for the sound wave to exist don't obtain either; there is an effective vacuum around it for millions of miles in every direction."
"Even if the physics allowed sound transfer, it wouldn't be possible for anyone to survive the experience of being anywhere near it long enough to hear the noise."
- Signature_Sea
The lighter came before matches.
"The lighter was invented before the match."
- johnnyloveswag
"My brain cannot comprehend why matches became so mainstream if there was an easier way to start fires before it."
- Due-Letter-2799
"In 1823, the first lighter, known as 'Döbereiner’s Lamp' was invented. It was large, expensive, difficult to use, and dangerous (it used hydrogen gas). The first matches were invented 3 years later."
- Aromatic-Scale-595
Woodpecker facts.
"Woodpeckers tongues wrap around their skulls to prevent them getting concussions."
- HalfEyeLizard
"They also close their eyes every time their beak makes contact with the wood, to avoid popping them off their sockets with the impact."
"This happens hundreds of times per minute."
- eolix
"IIRC they have a nictitating membrane (like we are familiar with seeing in cats) that slams shut at impact about as fast and forcefully as a seatbelt locks in a crash. Nifty!!"
- CaterpillarSmoothie
Moving through space.
"In the time it takes you to read this sentence, you’ve traveled approximately 2,200 miles through space relative to the cosmic background radiation."
- Pissedbuddha1
"So, the Earth is spinning, and revolving around the Sun, which is itself moving around a bit in the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Milky Way is also moving relative to all of the other galaxies as well. We may feel motionless, but we're zipping through space wicked fast.
"Put another way, in every moment we are moving into a place we have never been, and will never be back in it again."
- Enigmachina
Splinter free toilet paper.
"Splinter free toilet paper was invented in 1935. Which means before that, toilet paper had splinters. F*cking ouch."
- Georgia_The_Jungle
"With some of the TP I encounter in stores I feel like they brought it back."
- Tee_hops
Whales drown.
"Whales naturally drown to death."
- Seaworthiness_Jolly
"I think I've heard this before! Don't they just get to the point they can't carry themselves anymore, and don't have the energy to come up for air?
- twisted_nipples82
"I'm pretty sure for anything that breathes air in the ocean, there's only 2 ways to die. Drowning or being brutally killed."
- The-True-Kehlder
Hydrogen bombs.
"For 1 600 billionth of a second when a hydrogen bomb detonates, it is 100 million degrees Celsius, the core of the sun is 15 million degrees Celsius."
- i_like_atla
"Scientists were nervous it was going to ignite our atmosphere and burn us all."
- Hung_S0lo
"All I got from that is there is a very fine line somewhere far away from the explosion, that if you put a pizza outside on just the right place, it will be done in a matter of a couple of seconds."
- mofoka2001
Apple seeds produce unique apples.
"Apple seeds DO NOT yield the same apple it came from... every apple seed yields a completely unique apple. If you want the exact same apple, you have to cut a branch off the existing apple tree and graft in onto another tree."
- GlutonForPUNishment
"Also true of Avocados as well as a number of other fruiting plants."
- Jearonimo
Some facts are fun, while some are "Holy Cr*p!" worthy. They're impress your friends and make great first impressions.
Take these with you and win the next trivia night!
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