Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Divulge Scientific Facts They Wish They Never Learned

The sihouette of a man in front of a starlit sky
silhouette photography of person
Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

Reddit user NoRush5642 asked: "What’s a scientific fact that most people would rather not know?"

Even if it might not have been our favorite subject in school, we can't. help but be fascinated by science.

As there are literally endless things to learn about the world we live in, and beyond.


That being said, endless possibilities and learning are also rather intimidating.

And every now and again, we might learn something about our bodies, the earth, or the vast cosmos of space that we truly wish we hadn't.

Redditor NoRush5642 was curious to hear some of these unsettling facts, leading them to ask:

"What’s a scientific fact that most people would rather not know?"

One Tiny Spec In The Universe...

"The true scale of how far and big things really are in space."

"To get a comprehensible look, we have to shrink things by a trillion times."

"At that scale the Sun is just 1.4mm wide... a grain of sand."

"The Earth would be 15cm or half a foot away, and about the size of a red blood cell."

"Only Jupiter and Saturn may be visible both around 0.1mm wide, and Saturns rings 0.3mm wide."

"Jupiter would be 77cm away, or 2.5 feet, and Saturn 2.3m away, or about 8 feet."

"Pluto would be 5.9m, or 20 feet away, and Voyager 1, the furthest human made object, would be 25m away, about 1/4 of a football field."

"Alpha Centauri however... would be 42km or 26 miles away, a whole marathon between grains of sand."

"The largest known black hole at this scale, Phoenix A, would be 590m, or over 1800 feet wide. If this replaced Alpha Centauri, it would look larger than the full Moon from Earth."- Youpunyhumans

Don't Let The Stripes Fool You...

"Tigers hold grudges."- Substantial-News-336

They Know More Than They Let On...

"Until the 1980s, surgery on infants was often performed without anesthesia as a standard medical practice."

"The belief at the time was that newborns' nervous systems were too underdeveloped to feel pain."

"So, instead, they'd just use a paralytic like curare to immobilize the child who then remained fully aware of everything that was going on."

"The trauma can stick with people for life."- JimTheJerseyGuy

Loop Baby GIF Giphy

And That's A Fact!

"Some of you reading this are older than the scientific confirmation of the theory of plate tectonics."- XComThrowawayAcct

When In Doubt, See A Doctor...

"Many viruses can change your DNA and causes permanent changes within you."

"The 'sniffles' can turn into an autoimmune or permanent symptoms and complications quicker than we think."- Lady_Obsession

No Rhyme Or Reason...

"Aneurysms can happen at any point, for no reason, and there’s no preventing them."

"Sometimes you can just go to sleep and have an aneurysm for no reason and die or just be living life and suddenly just drop dead."- PleaseCorrect

Fall Die GIF by Abster Giphy

Careful Where You Rest Your Head...

"Sphinx cats have no hairs on them or around their butthole so when they sit on things it suctions cups to the surface and leaves a ring when they get up."- AdPrestigious702

Talk About Territorial...

"Ocean dolphins are known to savagely attack river dolphins."

"It’s a documented case of animal racism or tribal behavior."- Merry1960

Despite What We've Seen In The Movies...

"We have no way to detect in advance or respond to a majority of cosmological events that would be classified as planet killers."- mobile_deadman

Armageddon GIF Giphy

Makes You Rethink Photographic Memories...

"Your memories are not like video recordings."

"Every time you recall an event, your brain actively reconstructs it, and it can be subtly changed by your current mood or new information."

"Your most cherished memories are likely the most factually inaccurate because you've 'rewritten' them so many times."- Sajil_ali

Hope You Didn't Just Eat...

"Everyone knows the govt has regulations called Filth Levels concerning things such as rodent hairs or roach legs in our food and there are acceptable levels of such."

"What a lot of people don't know is the Filth Levels also measure blood and pus. In our food."

"And there are acceptable levels."

"Bon Appetit."- OkIllustrator1483

They May Look Cute, However...

"In some parts of Australia, up to 80% of wild koalas are infected with chlamydia."

"It can be passed to humans."- Mongo514

koala hanging GIF Giphy

Very Few Would Call Dying A Success...

"Dying from a disease is considered a spectacular failure of the virus/bacterium."

"Killing the host almost always ends the life cycle of the infecting organism."

"The best possible outcome is to produce billions of copies without any ill effect of the host."

"Or better still, to provide some benefit to the host."

"A good example of this is the Hanta virus in field mice."

"They will shed the virus by the billions over their lifetime, yet it seems to have no ill effect on the mouse."- jdlech

FIRE!

"There is just enough potassium in the average human body to make just enough gunpowder to load and fire a small cannon."-Tennents_N_Grouse

Questions Better Left Unanswered?

"That there is medication that is FDA approved, is sold, and works a prescribed…but we don’t know WHY it works."

"One of these drugs is Tylenol."- Lokitusaborg


Pain Relief Head GIF by Tylenol_US Giphy

Chances are, those of you who just finished reading this also wish you had never learned the above-mentioned facts.

Making it equally likely that you also wished you never read this article...

More from Trending

Two people standing next to each other on a bridge under black umbrellas
man and woman holding black umbrellas

People Reveal The First Sign They Noticed That Their Partner Was Cheating On Them

There are few worse feelings than the feeling that your partner might be cheating on you.

Be it from past experience, or simply owing to their own distrustful nature, some people may take the tiniest sign as evidence that their partner isn't being faithful to them.

Keep ReadingShow less
Two people scuba diving by coral surrounded by fish
man in black wet suit diving on water with school of fish
Photo by Aviv Perets on Unsplash

Things People Are Glad They Tried Once But Would Never Do Again

"Don't knock it till you've tried it", as the saying goes.

Indeed, one can never be too sure whether they like something or not until they've tried it themselves.

Keep ReadingShow less
Abby Lee Miller (left) and Neil Patrick Harris (right)
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images; Bruce Glikas/Getty Images

Abby Lee Miller Just Posted A Bizarrely-Edited Selfie With Neil Patrick Harris—And His Reaction Is All Of Us

Holy Facetune, Batman.

Dance Moms alum Abby Lee Miller may have just earned herself a permanent spot at the top of the pyramid, and not for choreography. This time, it’s for posting what might be the most chaotic celebrity selfie of 2025: a heavily blurred, aggressively yassified Instagram photo of herself and Neil Patrick Harris.

Keep ReadingShow less
raccoon; break-in at Ashland ABC Store in Virginia
Bernd Weißbrod/picture alliance/Getty Images; Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter/Facebook

Photo Of Drunk Raccoon That Broke Into Liquor Store And Passed Out In Bathroom Goes Viral

This week in Virginia, someone broke into the Ashland ABC Store. The perpetrator targeted the liquor store's bottom shelf, knocking items to the floor and leaving behind a trail of broken glass and spilled alcohol.

The perpetrator also reportedly drank some of the liquor, and instead of fleeing the scene, ended up too intoxicated to leave and instead passed out in the store's restroom.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joe Rogan
American Alchemy

Joe Rogan Just Shared His Bonkers Theory About The Second Coming Of Jesus—And It's Not Going Over Well With Fans

Okay Joe, put down the blunt.

Podcaster Joe Rogan has pretty much never met a ridiculous conspiracy theory he didn't immediately jump onto, but his latest idea is bonkers on a level that even his most devoted fans are not having.

Keep ReadingShow less