A werewolf also goes by the name “lycanthrope,” and you can learn more about werewolves here.
100 Mind-Blowing Here Facts
Dead skin cells are a main ingredient in household dust. Here’s an interesting science fact for you: According to researchers at Imperial College London, humans shed around 200 million skin cells each hour—and they have to go somewhere when we’re indoors. If the idea of skin dust isn’t sitting well with you, you should know that a report from the American Chemical Society found that a skin oil called squalene naturally helps reduce indoor ozone levels by up to 15 per cent.
The longest English word is 189,819 letters long. We won’t spell it out here, but the full name for the protein nicknamed titin would take three and a half hours to say out loud. While this is, by far, the longest word in English, the longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary has 45 letters, and the longest made-up word has just 28. Just a few more interesting facts for your next cocktail party!
Only a quarter of the Sahara Desert is sandy. Most of it is covered in gravel, though it also contains mountains and oases. And here’s another geography fact that everyone gets wrong: It isn’t the world’s largest desert. Antarctica is.
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ron Wayne started Apple Inc. on April Fools’ Day. The three technology innovators signed the documents to form the Apple Computer Company on April 1, 1976. However, the company was not fully incorporated until January 3, 1977. Thirty years later, the company was renamed Apple Inc. and is no joke. In 2018, Apple became the country’s first trillion-dollar company. Of course, computers have come a long way over the years—here’s what computers looked like the decade you were born.
Michelangelo wrote a poem about how much he hated painting the Sistine Chapel. One translation of the poem he sent to his friend begins: I’ve already grown a goitre from this torture, hunched up here like a cat in Lombardy (or anywhere else where the stagnant water’s poison). Doesn’t sound like he was too thrilled with his task.
There’s a reason why passports come in four colours. Here’s a weird fact that might surprise you. Have you ever wondered why there isn’t a hot pink passport? The reasoning is that most countries prefer dark shades of red, green, and blue since these dark colours look more official and if they’re dirty, it’s not as noticeable.
Cucumber slices can fight bad breath. Here’s a weird fact you might know: cucumbers can fight bad breath! If you don’t have a mint on hand, use a slice of cucumber!
Flossing your teeth improves memory. Here’s one useful random fact for you: Research suggests that if you keep your gums healthy and avoid gum disease, it will lead to the prevention of stiff blood vessels. Preventing stiff blood vessels also prevents memory problems.
Honey never spoils. Here’s one of our sweetest did you know facts about food. When honey is heated strained and sealed properly, it will not be able to absorb moisture and therefore will stay as it is forever. The oldest jar of honey ever found is stated to be over 5500 years old today.
Coins in the Trevi Fountain are collected and given to charity. Do you know any did you know facts about the coins tossed in fountains? No? Here’s one! The coins thrown in the Trevi Fountain are collected privately and donated to non-profit organisations. Some of these organisations provide food to the poor and the homeless of Rome.
Monopoly is the most played board game in the world. Did you know facts about Monopoly? Here’s one. Over 275 million Monopoly board game sets have been sold worldwide. It has also been translated into 47 other languages apart from English.
Hugging trees is forbidden in China. Here’s one of our weirder did you know facts. Hugging trees was forbidden after the mass tree hugging that occurred outside of China’s imperial garden. The Chinese government speculated that the tree huggers were part of a suspicious cult and banned the activity in the country.
The Titanic was made in Belfast. Here’s one of our best you-know facts about the famous Titanic ship. The ship was designed by Eric Kuhne who died from a suspected heart attack. Building the ship took almost 3 years to complete.
The most commonly bitten body part by insects is your feet. Here’s the last of our did you know facts. The most common places to be bitten by insects are by the ankles. This is because this area is rarely noticed by us when insects land on our skin.
Watermelon is Oklahoma’s state vegetable. Here’s another case of “Are tomatoes fruits or vegetables?” You may remember differently from preschool, but watermelons are classified as a fruit and a vegetable. Watermelons came from the cucumber and gourd families, which are vegetables. So, in 2007, Oklahoma declared the watermelon as their state vegetable. Their state fruit? Strawberries.
America accidentally dropped an atomic bomb on South Carolina in 1958. Talk about clumsy. Here’s one of the scary WTF facts: In 1958, a B-47 plane was headed to the United Kingdom with an atomic bomb even bigger than the Nagasaki bomb. During the flight, one of the pilots accidentally released the emergency pin. However, the critical part of the bomb needed to activate it was still on the plane. If it were already equipped with the bomb, it would have obliterated the entire state and even more.
We are more creative in the shower. Here’s one of the most useful weird fun facts! If you’ve ever felt like you think better in a warm shower, you’re probably right! The warm water increases the flow of dopamine and makes us more creative.
Starfish do not have bodies. The fascinating, weird fun fact here about starfish is that their bodies are their heads.
If all of the world’s entire bacteria were stacked together, it would stretch for 10 billion light-years. Here’s another weird science fact about it: it could wrap around the Milky Way over 20,000 times.
The Sun is not silent. That Sun above us does make sound through pressure waves. But the weird science fact here is that the wavelength of the sun’s pressure waves is impossible to capture with human hearing.
They also have a special bony pouch beneath their throat that acts as a resonator which helps project their howls at great distances, sometimes more than a kilometer! Click here to hear it.
Here’s some amazing sports trivia for kids: Wilma Rudolph (who set the world record in 1960 for 100, 200 and 4×100-meter relay) had polio, scarlet fever and pneumonia as a child, leading doctors to believe she’d never walk again.
Insects have been around for about 350 million years. To put that in perspective, we’ll note that humans have only been here for 13,000 years.
You can see axolotls right here at Deep Sea World! That’s right, Deep Sea World’s Temple of Frogs is home to a small group of axolotls, so you can enjoy an up-close view of these cute and curious critters.
This is the first website ever. In 1989, British scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web and published the first website ever which can be found here. Tim worked for CERN at the time. He hosted the first website on his NeXT Computer to allow scientists and universities to share information with ease. This archaic website described the World Wide Web (W3) project itself and was the start of the Internet Era as we know it today.
Gravity’s effect on time isn’t limited to intergalactic travel. Here on Earth, gravity can vary for several reasons, including your altitude, since you’re changing your distance from the centre of the Earth. That means if you put a bunch of synchronised atomic clocks at various altitudes, eventually those clocks would fall out of sync. A clock at the top of Mount Everest and one at sea level would, over the entire 4.5 billion-year history of the planet, have diverged by about a day and a half.
The largest county in England is… Yorkshire: We’re continuing this guide on facts about England with a dive into the country’s geography. Taking up 11% of England’s land mass at 14,859 km², Yorkshire hails the title of being England’s largest county! Due to its large size, it’s no surprise that Yorkshire boasts a large variety of landscapes. From the stunning North Yorkshire Coast and Moors to the flat greenery of the Vale of York; there’s so much to explore here. The county is also home to a wealth of history, including two UNESCO World Heritage sites, Saltair & Salts Mill and Fountains Abbey & Studley Royal.
Each Dollar Amount Has Its Lifespan: Money doesn’t last forever, but some dollar bills have a longer life cycle than others. According to the U.S. Currency Education Program, a $10 bill has the shortest lifespan while a $100 bill has the longest. Here’s the estimated lifespan of the different denominations: $1: 5.8 years, $5: 5.5 years, $10: 4.5 years, $20: 7.9 years, $50: 8.5 years, $100: 15 years.
The Dollar Sign Was First Used in 1785: Here’s another fun money fact: The official adoption of the dollar sign in the U.S. can be traced back to 1785, when it evolved from the Spanish symbol for pesos. It’s believed the $ originated from the abbreviation PS, which was used to indicate Spanish pesos in the Americas. Gradually the “S” came to be written over the “P,” eventually morphing into the dollar sign we know today.
Last year, Chinese scientists created AlphaDog – a robot dog that, beyond serving as a pet, could also help with delivery, bussing in restaurants, and aiding the visually impaired. A fun fact about technology here is that the AlphaDog will use 5G and operate autonomously.