25 Amazing Facts You’ll Want To Know

Posted by , Updated on November 20, 2023

We all love random and amazing facts. Some can bring out a good chuckle, while others might change the way we see the world. Whether you’re working on your Trivial Pursuit game or need an anecdote for a party, it never hurts to learn something new. Well, we’ve put together a nice list for you to get started. Here are 25 Amazing Facts You’ll Want To Know.

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25

Tiger shark babies cannibalize each other in utero.

1599px-Tiger_sharkSource: http://www.livescience.com

With up to twelve embryos in a shark mother’s belly, only one or two make it out alive. This is because the largest of the pack eats the others in a literal struggle for survival.

24

Giraffes can clean their ears with their tongue.

giraffeSource: http://mentalfloss.com/article/27517/tongue-length-and-other-things-you-should-know-about-giraffes

A giraffe’s ridiculously long neck also includes a ridiculous tongue which can be as long as 20 inches (50.8 cm). They use their long tongue to eat food from taller trees…but, they also use it to clean their noses and their ears.

23

Creative people remember vivid dreams better.

manSource: http://www.webmd.com

After doing a study with 193 college students, researchers believe there’s a direct correlation between creativity and the ability to remember vivid dreams. Of the students they studied, the ones that were prone to daydreaming and having big imagination could remember their dreams better than others.

22

Domestic dogs learned to bark from being with humans.

german-shepherd-166972_640Source: https://www.wired.com

Domestic dogs have one key difference from their wild counterparts, they bark. They not only bark, but they bark in certain acoustic ways for various purposes whether for alarm or play. Researchers believe this occurred over thousands of years by evolving to human requirements.

21

A grenade blast underwater is more deadly than on land.

grenadeSource: http://science.howstuffworks.com

If you had to choose between facing a grenade on land or in water which would you pick? If you picked water, then you’re dead. While facing off against a grenade on land isn’t great either, the explosion underwater sends a shockwave with enough pressure to crush your lungs or lead to brain hemorrhaging. You’ve got a little better chance ducking for cover on land. Let’s just hope we never are faced with this scenario in the first place.

20

Russia considered beer a soft drink until 2011.

Russian_beerSource: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Russians like their adult beverages. In fact, an average Russian drinks about 32 pints of pure alcohol every year. So, it probably came as a huge surprise when their government decided to classify beer as alcohol rather a soft drink in an attempt to help curb alcohol abuse.

19

France still used the guillotine in 1977.

Treffling_Burg_Sommeregg_Foltermuseum_Guillotine_24082007_31Source: https://www.wired.com

In 1977, the Apple II went on sale, Star Wars was released, and France still executed people with a guillotine. While most people connect the guillotine with medieval and renaissance time periods, France still kept the tradition alive all the way up to the modern era.

18

A Japanese man kept his dead father in a freezer for 13 years.

freezerSource: http://zeenews.india.com

Believing one day his father would be brought back to life, a Japanese man kept him in a freezer for thirteen years. Neighbors called the police complaining about a foul smell. Surprisingly, the man didn’t break any laws and wasn’t be charged.

17

Sigourney Weaver was paid $35,000 for Alien and $1,000,000 for Aliens.

Alien_movie_posterSource: http://mentalfloss.com

Being as Sigourney Weaver’s character in Alien was the sole survivor and there couldn’t be much of a sequel without her, Weaver’s agent pushed hard for her to get a big paycheck for the movies Aliens, and she got it. While she only got $35,000 for the first movie, the movie Aliens gave her $1,000,000, and the paychecks only increased thereafter. Talk about a big bump up!

16

The height of the Eiffel Tower changes with the temperature.

Tour_Eiffel_Wikimedia_CommonsSource: https://curiosity.com

Because of thermal expansion, in the summer months, the Eiffel Tower can grow up to 6.75 inches (17 cm). Of course, once the sun goes down, the tower decreases again.

15

Mark Zuckerberg and Vin Diesel are friends.

1599px-Mark_Zuckerberg_-_South_by_Southwest_2008Source: https://www.nytimes.com

Vin Diesel and Mark Zuckerberg met on Facebook and became good friends after that. They hang out at the Facebook campus. Zuckerberg is a big fan of his work and encouraged Diesel to return to Xander Cage.

14

Charlie Chaplin gets the award for most takes in one scene.

Charlie_ChaplinSource: http://www.cnn.com

It’s safe to say comedy legend Charlie Chaplin was a bit of a perfectionist. On the set of City Lights, Chaplin demanded the scene be just right. They ended up doing 342 takes.

13

You can't hum with your nose closed.

holding noseSource: http://www.neatorama.com

You can’t hum with your nose closed. Go ahead. Try it. We’ll wait. See?

12

In Minnesota, it's against the law to have a greased pig contest.

Greased_pig_contestSource: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=343.36

If you’re in Minnesota, definitely don’t oil up a pig and chase after it. It’s against the law! We’re guessing this crazy law was written to protect animals. It’s kind of nuts people actually did this.

11

In the 18th century, men were advised to cut off their left testicle if they wanted a boy.

its a boySource: http://www.independent.co.uk

Pseudoscience on swaying gender selection has been around for centuries. Doctors believed the left testicle always produced girls in the 18th century, so if a man desperately wanted a boy, they’d advise he cut off his left testicle to always get a boy.

10

Inception was originally a horror movie.

inceptionSource: http://www.neatorama.com

Though we all know and love Inception for its mind-bending action and suspense, in its early stages of development, Christopher Nolan originally envisioned it as a horror movie. As it grew and evolved, it changed into a heist movie.

9

In 1919, a wave of molasses killed 21 people in Boston.

BlackstrapmolassesSource: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/molasses.asp

In 1919, 14,000 tons of molasses burst from its tank and created a 30-foot tall wave of goo rushing down the city streets of Boston, killing 21 people. The sticky goo made it almost impossible to rescue anyone and slowed down relief efforts. Some in Boston claim you can still smell the molasses.

8

The cat is the only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible.

catSource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_in_the_Bible

Even though Egypt appears quite often in the Bible, the cat is the only domestic animal not mentioned. They’re mentioned once in the book of Baruch, but most Jewish and Christian traditions don’t consider that scripture.

7

The French eat 30,000 tons of snails a year.

Cooked_snailsSource: http://www.expatica.com

While most Americans likely haven’t eaten one snail, the French as a whole eat 30,000 tons of snails a year. However, only 1,000 tons of those snails come from the 100 French snail farms. Chances are if you ate snails in France, they probably were picked up under a rock somewhere.

6

A bee sting can relieve arthritis pain.

bee stingSource: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Researchers discovered the venom in a bee sting can relieve the inflammation in arthritis. They’re hopeful the findings will help them discover a treatment which can prevent or relieve arthritis pain entirely.

5

In 1968, "#" was called an "Octothorp" as a joke.

Hash-transSource: http://www.svpal.org

It has many names. Number sign. Pound key. Hashtag. Hex. But at Bell Technologies in 1968, many called it an “Octothorp” as a joke, combining “Octo” and Gold Medal Olympian Jim Thorpe’s name together. There are several other hypotheses of how this name came to be, but we’ll just call it hashtag.

4

Medical schools in early American states practiced grave robbing.

Mortsafe_at_Logeriat_Church1Source: https://www.forbes.com

In the 19th century, high demand for cadavers from medical schools encouraged people to go grave robbing and sell the bodies. While states like New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Maine all made the practice of grave robbing illegal, it didn’t work. Most families had to put cages over graves to keep people from exhuming the bodies.

3

Tsar Peter the Great really liked pulling teeth.

Peter_der-Grosse_1838Source: http://historybuff.com

Besides ruling over Russia with an iron fist, Peter the Great considered himself something of a dentist. If he ever got the chance, he would gleefully pull out people’s rotten teeth. Afterward, he’d keep all the pulled teeth as a sort of token for his work.

2

Part of Einstein's brain was 15 percent wider than normal.

Einstein_brainSource: http://www.nytimes.com

When researchers examined Albert Einstein’s brain, they discovered his inferior parietal lobe was 15% larger than normal. Many believe this gave him a higher intelligence for math.

1

Americans eat 100 acres of pizza a day.

Pepperoni_pizzaSource: https://www.washingtonpost.com

While the French love snails, Americans love pie…pizza pie, that is. Americans eat 100 acres of pizza every day which is roughly 3 billion pizzas a year. It’s starting to make sense why heart disease is the number one killer in the United States.



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