13 Mind-Boggling Facts That Sound So Ridiculous, They Must Be True
Have you ever come across a fact so strange that it seems all made up? Like, who would believe humans are taller in the morning than at night or that diamonds, often pegged at the prices of sweat and blood, are, in fact, not so special? Weird as these may sound, they are disturbingly true!
Still wondering what’s out there that’s troubling to the ears but has been proven far beyond the shadow of a doubt? These mind-blowing facts will make you question everything you thought you knew.
1. Bananas Are Berries, but Strawberries Aren’t
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You’ve likely enjoyed munching the mellow and creamy taste of strawberries since childhood assuming you were having a diet of berries! But impostor strawberries are, in fact, not berries! Scientists categorized them as “false fruit” due to the bizarre way they develop from the ovary and other parts of their flowers.
A berry must come from a single flower’s ovary, and bananas kept to the rules! So next time you enjoy a banana, remember it’s a berry you’re having. And when you chump down fresh strawberries, plain or diced, in fancy salads and tangy cocktails, never forget it’s not what it seems.
2. A Day on Venus Is Longer Than Its Year
Inconceivable to the mind, our earth’s twin and neighbor, Venus, a planet of about the same size as our pale blue dot, takes longer to complete a day than it takes to complete a year.
Venus’ strange characteristics stem from the number of days it takes the planet to rotate on its axis, which is way more than the days it takes to go around the sun. This means if you lived on Venus today, you’ll see more birthdays than sunrise.
3. Honey Never Goes Bad
Left untouched with shut lids and at the right temperature, the edibility of the honey in your kitchen would not only outlive you and likely tens of thousands of generations to come. Honey has several natural properties that contribute to its alien-like shelf life. It has little water and high acidity contents, qualities which are inimical to the survival of microorganisms responsible for food decay.
It’s not enough to say honey doesn’t go bad just for the sake of it. Archeologists exploring King Tut’s ancient tombs in Egypt found old pots of honey still fit for consumption thousands of years later!
4. A Leap Year Isn’t Every Four Years
Contrary to what we learned reading the Leap Year Poem by Mother Goose in childhood, a leap year isn’t always every four years.
Years divisible by four are leap years, but not if they are divisible by 100 and not by 400, even if it was only a leap year four years ago. This implies that while 1996 was a leap year, and 2000 (four years later) was a leap year, 1900 wasn’t!
5. A Specie of Jellyfish Can Live Forever
In the 1984 Alphaville classic Forever Young, the singer asked if you “really want to live forever.” Turns out an ancient species of jellyfish already said yes to the question, literally.
Through a process known as transdifferentiation, the immortal jellyfish with the scientific name Turritopsis dohrnii can regenerate its cells to their earliest form to begin its life cycle anew! Wouldn’t it be cool if we could also press a button to younger, nostalgic times?
6. Your Dog Tilts Its Head To Listen for Familiar Words
Ever been locked in a conversation with your furry friend, only to see a tilt of the head? Dogs behave this way so they can catch words and interpret tones that connote or give clues about the information you are trying to share.
While the language processing region of the human brain is largely on the left, dog brains are lateralized. This means that areas that process specific information are either on one side or the other, else the reason why your furry friends go for the tilt.
7. Straight Things Only Exist in the Mind
Absurd as it reads, nothing is truly straight. The concept of straightness is our mind’s way of simplifying everything it considers straight around us. You still think some things must be straight? Zooming in close enough on any object, shape, or form is certain to reveal curves, bumps, and hardness.
While straight lines don’t exist, the concept of straightness is incredibly useful to how we perceive our world. Tree trunks, arrows, and silk strands are straight, and it’s simply fine if you want to leave it that way.
8. Animals May Display Autistic-Like Traits
Autism, as we know it, is predominantly a human neurological disorder. Some animals, however, have been observed to exhibit traits similar to those seen in people with autism. These traits, although hard to pinpoint, could vary from repetitive behavior to overreaction to sound or awkward social habits.
Knowing animals may feel the same way we do, including at the neurological level, may boost our compassion for our non-human friends.
9. Bats Can See You and Every Other Thing Clearly
What do you mean bats can see? Yes, they can! The idiom “as blind as a bat,” whether it signifies having bad eyesight or no vision at all, is plain wrong. Bats, agreeably, do not see the world the way we do, but they do not need to see clearly.
Bats also tend to see clearer in conditions humans would consider pitch black, like when it’s dawn or dusk. The elementary school probably taught you that bats depend solely on echolocation to do everything from finding food to hunting to avoiding predators, but this also isn’t true.
10. There Are More Trees on Earth Than Stars in the Milky Way
You go stargazing at the mind-blowing array of stars in the Milky Way, and they seem innumerable. But their numbers pale in comparison to the staggering number of trees on our planet.
Scientists estimate that the Milky Way is home to between 200 to 400 billion stars. The earth, however, holds on its soil a mind-bending three trillion trees. Beat that!
11. Only Two Percent of Humans Have Green Eyes
Of the six eye colors unique to humans, green eyes are the rarest to find. Only 2% of the global population has the genetic mutation that results in green eyes. All races of the world can have green eyes, but you’ll find the mutation more commonly among people from Northern Europe, Scotland, Ireland, and Iceland. If you find green eyes common around you, most aren’t likely real.
What’s more? Green eyes are colorless! While you see them as green or hazel, as an observer, the irises are without color pigments.
12. There Are More Possible Variations of Chess Game Than There Are Atoms in the Observable Universe
A grain of sand contains about one hundred quintillion atoms. That’s 100 trillion atoms if we are simplifying. Yet, there are more chess moves than atoms in the universe, including all the stars, comets, asteroids, and everything else you have seen, heard, or known!
Next time you make a chess move, keep in mind it’s never fatal until your opponent has made theirs!
13. Humans Glow in the Dark
We romanticize the glows of fireflies and glowworms, but they are not so different from us, albeit brighter. A 2009 study by some Japanese researchers found that humans glow in visible light, even though our lights are too dim to be detectable by our naked eyes.
A by-product of metabolic reactions in our cells, human glows have been captured by ultra-sensitive cameras. We also tend to glow more at midday and on our faces than at any other time of the day or any other part of the body.
