During the entire run of Gilligan’s Island, it was never revealed if “Gilligan” was his first or last name.
100 Mind-Blowing Revealed Facts
The military has used silly strings to detect tripwires in Iraq. Before entering a room, they can squirt it inside. If it hangs in the air, it may have revealed a wire.
You could sweat when you’re anxious to alert others. One theory suggests we’ve evolved to sweat whilst anxious to alert the brains of other people around us so they are primed for whatever it is that’s making us anxious. Brain scans have revealed that when you sniff the sweat of a panic-induced person, regions of the brain that handle emotional and social signals light up. When you’re anxious your sympathetic nervous system releases hormones including adrenaline, which activates your sweat glands.
Kelley Blue Book data revealed that the average price paid for a new electric vehicle (EV) in November 2023 was $52,345. Industry experts state that EV price parity is approaching as EV transaction prices in November 2023 were only 8.5% higher than the industry average price of $48,247.
95% of people text things that they would never say in person. However, what’s more, interesting is what people are willing to say rather. People are more willing to be revealed over the phone rather than in person because of the psychological thrill it entails.
Swearing can relieve pain. A Keele University study revealed that volunteers who used profanity could endure pain 50% longer than those who did not curse.
90% of U.S. money has cocaine on it. Either from exposure or drug use, a study revealed that 90% of the dollars circulating in the economy have cocaine on it. Traces of cocaine were found to reach 0.006 micrograms (several thousand times smaller than salt). The green dye on dollars causes cocaine residue to stick to the bills.
A 155-year-old mouse trap successfully caught a mouse in 2016. In the mid-1800s, inventor Colin Pullinger revealed his “perpetual mousetrap,” claiming that it would last a lifetime. Over a century later, his claim was proven true. In 2016, the 155-year-old device was on display at England’s Museum of English Rural Life when it caught a mouse that snuck into it.
5 billion Suns could fit in UY Scuti, one of the biggest known stars. Compared to the rest of the worlds of our Solar System – even colossal Jupiter – our Sun is pretty big. But it’s nothing compared to the biggest stars we know of red hypergiant stars that would positively dwarf our Sun if ever there was a cosmic ‘who’s the biggest star?’ contest. UY Scuti is one such stellar giant. It’s often referred to as the biggest known star in the Universe (although this can’t definitively be proven). But what calculations have revealed is that if UY Scuti were to replace our Sun, its outer edge would sit beyond the orbit of Jupiter. 5 billion Suns, 7 trillion Jupiters or 7 quadrillion Earths would fit inside UY Scuti! What’s more, UY Scuti is 300,000 times brighter than the Sun but is so far away you wouldn’t know this when observing it in our night sky.
For years it was believed that Earth was the only planet in our solar system with liquid water. More recently, NASA revealed its strongest evidence yet that there is intermittent running water on Mars, too!
Self-mummification. A 1,000-year-old Chinese Buddha statue was taken to a Dutch hospital for a CT scan in 2017. The scan revealed a mummified monk inside the golden figure with its internal organs missing. The monk was believed to have self-mummified before being encased in the statue.
The oldest prosthetic. In 1997, an excavation near the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes revealed the oldest prosthesis ever discovered: an engraved wooden toe, fitted to the right foot of an Egyptian noblewoman who lived 3,000 years ago. The ‘Cairo toe’ was practical, modified over time to accommodate the woman’s gait. But it was also designed with aesthetics in mind, intended to be worn in open-toe sandals, not concealed.
Stalin’s eldest son died in a German concentration camp. Stalin’s son, Yakov Dzhugashvili, was raised by an aunt and didn’t meet his father until he was 14. During the war, Yakov fought as a Russian soldier and was captured by the Nazis. After he was revealed to be Stalin’s son, the Nazis attempted to use Yakov as leverage, but Stalin refused to negotiate, stating: ‘You have in your hands not only my son Yakov but millions of my sons. Either you free them all or my son will share their fate.’ Yakov died at Sachsenhausen concentration camp while attempting to climb the camp’s electric fence.
The cost of hacking is increasing (FBI and McAfee): The FBI revealed that although they considered the cost of cybercrime to be around $3.5 billion for the US in 2019, the actual toll could be a lot higher because many exploits and attacks go unnoticed. Even without a clear view of unreported crimes, the cost of cybercrime is increasing significantly every year. McAfee found the costs of an attack are increasing, but that the costs of manageing an event before and after an attack are higher now too.
Over 80% of attacks are financially motivated (Verizon): For the last several years, Verizon’s reports on the hacking and cybercrime landscapes have revealed the number one motivator for attacks is finances. In 2020, the number of financially motivated attacks far outweighed the number of attacks prompted by reasons like espionage. The most common figures behind hacking attacks are those in the organised crime world. Organised criminal syndicates account for around 80% of all attacks. Verizon notes only around 5% of attacks in North American organisations in 2020 were motivated by espionage, while 3% were motivated by grudges, often involving former employees.
Edward Snowden Leaks: In 2013, Edward Snowden leaked classified information about NSA surveillance programs, including PRISM and metadata collection, which revealed extensive data collection from U.S. Internet service providers and cellular phone calls.
Liverpool is England’s tea capital: Typhoo revealed in a Facebook post that a key finding from their recent survey was that people living in Liverpool drink more cups of tea than anyone else in the country! On average, Liverpudlians sip nine brews per day. When it comes to the bigger picture, Statista shows that coffee is tied with tea as the nation’s favourite drink. So, who knows, perhaps Liverpudlians will favour an espresso over a brew this time next year?