We learn something new every day. Thankfully, our brain can take all the latest information. Folks share some interesting and surprising facts about random things in an online discussion. Let's blow your minds with some of them.
1. A Special Type of Moth
In Madagascar, there's a type of moth that drinks tears from sleeping birds' eyes. They lay on the neck of the bird, insert their harpoon-shaped proboscis under the bird's eyelids, and drink their tears. They are searching for salt and figured the only place to get that would be to drink a sleeping bird's tears. Without their permission, too, let's add.
2. Sharks Are Ancient
They are older than trees and even the rings of Saturn. Imagine the stories they have to tell to their young ones! They have been around since over 400 million years ago, that's older than the Earth as we know it. Before the Earth knew how to grow trees, they were already swimming in the oceans. Somehow, they have stayed on top of the food chain until today.
3. Häagen-Dazs Means Nothing
Who doesn't love a delicious scoop of ice cream from Häagen-Dazs? Worth every penny. If you ever wondered what the name meant and how it came about, we are here to tell you that it means nothing. The creator, Reuben Mattus, wanted a company name that sounded like a Danish name, but no one from Denmark could interpret what it meant. That's because Reuben coined the name on his kitchen table.
4. Lighters Came First
If we were asked in a quiz if the match was invented before lighters, we would say yes. We would have been dead wrong because lighters were created before the matchbox. Yep, it sounds unbelievable. In case you don't believe us, the first lighter came in 1823; the first match in 1826.
5. Canned Openers Were Invented Years After Canned Food
Yes, you read that correctly. When canned food was invented, no one thought about how the food would be assessed — no one, not even the person who created canned food. Only the military had the sharp weapons needed to open the cans in those days. It took years for engineers to put their heads together and find the solution we have now.
6. Koalas Have Chlamydia and Smooth Brains
One would think all animals' brains would have folds, but nope. Koalas choose to be different. They have smooth brains and are always sleepy and quite lazy. Koalas can be cute, but you must also be careful with their urine and feces; you can contract Chlamydia from them.
7. A Samurai, a Fax, and Abraham Lincoln
Theoretically, it would have been possible for a samurai to send a fax to Abraham Lincoln. The fax machine was invented in the 1840s, and the first commercial fax service was started in 1865. Samurai were around until the late 1870s, and Abraham Lincoln was alive until 1865. Meaning that Samurais and Abraham Lincoln had a couple of years to send a fax to themselves. Sadly, they didn't.
8. Sloths Use The Bathroom Once a Week
We already know that sloths are incredibly sluggish. We never imagined that they would also carry that into their bathroom habits. But what were we expecting? Their metabolism is also as slow as they are; this makes it possible for them only to need to go once every five to seven days. They do it scarily, too — everything comes out once, and their stomach shrinks immediately. They require too much energy to do that, so they only manage to do it once a week.
9. The Moon Isn't The Same Size as The Sun
When you look at the moon and the sun, it would appear as though they were the same size. Don't be deceived. The moon is significantly smaller than the sun. But because the sun is significantly farther from us, the moon takes advantage of this and acts like they are the same size.
10. Alaska Is Truly The Last Frontier
Alaska's nickname wasn't a coincidence. The size and the distance between the state and other states is something else. But did you know it is also the most northern, western, and eastern state in the United States? It sounds ridiculous, but it's true. The most northern point is Point Barrow (Nuvuk), the most western end is Amatignak Island, and the most eastern point is Semisopochnoi Island.
11. You Can't Produce The Same Sequence of Cards Twice
The chances that you would randomly shuffle a deck of cards and get the same sequence twice are infinitesimally small. That's like saying impossible without using the word. It means a random shuffled deck is brand new and has never existed. That sounds so unique.
12. Worms Have Superpowers
Worms don't die if you cut them. They have incredible healing powers, much like Wolverine and Deadpool.
13. Octopi Have More Than One Brain
Octopi are some of the most intelligent sea creatures in our time. It could be because they have not one or two but nine brains. Phew! Each tentacle has a brain that controls it, and then the ninth one is the central brain. You would think having blue blood and three hearts was unusual.
14. Polar Bears Are Not White
You would not believe this — polar bears are black! Not just any shade of black, jet black. Their fur isn't white either; it's translucent. It only looks white because of the light reflecting through it. These cuddlers have successfully played a fast one on us.
15. Mattresses Gain Weight From Dead Skin
We must warn that this one is quite gross, so brace yourselves. As mattresses spend more years on this Earth, they get heavier. The bed acts like a sponge and absorbs all the dead skin, dust, sweat, saliva, and whatever else it can absorb. We are advised to change them after a few years.
16. Plastic Wasn't Made To Kill Earth
Contrary to popular opinion, plastics weren't made as an evil invention to kill Mother Earth. According to a contributor, plastic was introduced as a means to combat deforestation. Back then, paper bags were the superstars and were used everywhere. But this also meant that trees had to go down for that, which caused deforestation on a large scale. When plastic bags were invented to replace paper bags, the idea was to reduce deforestation and save the Earth. It didn't go according to plan because we disposed of them incorrectly.
17. Kids Don't Need Kneecaps
At least not until they are two and above. When we are born, we don't precisely have kneecaps. We have opaque cartilage that then hardens to become kneecaps when we are between two and six years old. The process is relatively slow and takes its sweet time to complete.
18. Cows Are Considered Dangerous in The UK
We found it bizarre that the UK listed cows as one of the most dangerous animals there. In most cases, it tops the list. They even have other deadly animals, but that's a different discussion. Between 2000 and 2020, cows killed almost 100 people over there.
19. 51 and 57 Are Not Prime Numbers
When you look at prime numbers 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37, etc., you would expect that 51 and 57 would be part of them, right? They are not. We are slightly annoyed by this. If you are wondering what makes them prime numbers, they are supposed to have only two factors. 51 and 57 have more than two factors.
20. Pineapples Used To Be Fancy
A long, long time ago, Christopher Columbus discovered pineapples somewhere in a Caribbean village and brought them to King Ferdinand in Spain. The King loved them, and an obsession began. The following years saw pineapples being shipped from the Caribbean to Europe, where they were so luxurious and rare. It eventually got the nickname “King of Fruit” and would cost around $8,000 in today's dollars.
21. Caterpillar's Parasite
Someone else shares a weird fact, and we're not sure how we feel about it. There's a caterpillar parasite that takes control of the caterpillar's mind and makes it climb to the top of the forest canopy where it then turns to liquid goop, which rains down onto the forest, which then gets eaten by birds and animals. They melt a few hours later and mix with the rains, allowing other animals to feed on millions of viruses. Yuck.
22. Don't Drink 100% Pure Water
When we think about it, the best water to drink should be water that has been purified. Isn't it weird that we can't drink 100% purified water? If you drink it, you can seriously hurt yourself. Water is supposed to contain some impurities for us to drink it. So 100% pure water is water poisoning and can lead to brain damage, coma and even death. That sounds daunting.
23. Music Can Affect Your Heart Rate
When you listen to music, if the song has a slow beat, your system would be stimulated, and your heart rate would be decreased. But your heart rate would increase if you listen to music with a fast rhythm. Your heart rate can be affected by the music you listen to.
24. Women Can't Make New Eggs
Trust that we screamed when we found out, too. Women already have their entire lifetime supply of eggs when they are babies in their mother's womb. Say you were born with two million eggs, that's it. Your body won't produce any new eggs; the number is continuously reduced each month.
Source: (Reddit).
Boloere Divine Seibidor, fondly called B.S., is a Nigerian-based writer and poet. Her favorite topics include music, especially Hip-Hop, film, lifestyle, and fashion. She's been published by Feral Journal, Fantasy Magazine, The Temz Review, and most notably, Wealth of Geeks. She enjoys romantic dinners, movie nights, and touring new sights. When she's not writing, she's delving back in time to the underground world of Hip-Hop, watching TikTok, or visiting the cinema.