Fun facts won't make you dinner. Fun facts won't pay the bills. Fun facts really aren't likely to improve your life in any serious way.
But you know what? Maybe I'm overthinking this. At the end of the day, learning something new and interesting provides an endorphin rush. It gives you some random knowledge to impress your friends with. And really, that's all that matters.
Most people know that sand is made from super-heated glass, and also that lightning is very hot. It stands to reason that lightning can turn sand into glass, but it's rare to see this phenomenon firsthand.
...no, not that kind of drinking problem. As it turns out, baby elephants don't know how to use their trunks until they're a little older, so they have to drink like this for the first few months.
This pic shows the band Queen indulging in one of their favorite hobbies: playing ultra-competitive games of Scrabble while on tour. Lead guitarist Brian May got the biggest-ever single score with 168 points for the word 'lacquers.'
This is a bowl of cucamelons, a type of fruit that looks like watermelon but tastes like cucumber. Despite the fact that it seems like a hybrid, it isn't. The cucamelon is its own fruit, unrelated to either of its namesakes.
It would be unthinkable to park directly on Daytona Beach in the 21st century, but this was a common sight for much of the 20th century. This 1957 pic shows a typical scene. Hopefully those drivers are aware of the tide.
During the Second World War, everyone pitched in — including the future queen of England, then known as Princess Elizabeth. She drove trucks and acted as a mechanic during World War II.
This chart shows the explosion of colors of Crayola crayons over the past century-plus. Back in 1903, there were only eight basic colors. But over the decades, the original eight became dozens.
You're looking at Lucy, the oldest cat who's ever lived. She died at the ripe old age of 39. If she were a human, this would have made her about 172 years old.
What looks like a fun architectural flourish is actually functional and thrifty. When brick walls are constructed like this, only one layer of bricks is needed, which uses fewer bricks overall.
The Ohio State University took a unique approach to making paths. Rather than arbitrarily laying them out, they simply waited for students to forge their own routes. Once the routes were known, they were paved over.
Cross-species cooperation is hardly unheard of, but it's pretty rare to see something like this. A wolf and a black bear, both apex predators, were observed hanging out and sharing food over a ten-day period.
Most flags are, y'know, flag-sized. But when you really want to make a statement, you need to go big. This is the actual flag flown on a Spanish ship during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
Egyptian pyramids are a sight to behold, thousands of years after they were first built. But when they were new, they were covered in white limestone and topped with a piece made of solid gold.
This train ticket spells out, with no abbreviations, the longest location name in the United Kingdom. This village, located in Wales, is known as Llanfairpwllgwyngyll for short. Either way, I'll never know how to pronounce it.
Scientist Marie Curie is known for winning the Nobel Prize, and also for tragically dying of radiation poisoning. Since her remains were and will remain radioactive, they're encased in a thick tomb lined with lead.
It's a cool effect to see a full-sized fruit in a bottle whose neck couldn't possibly accommodate it. The process is accomplished by simply growing the fruit inside the bottle.
Conspiracy theories about the possibility of Hitler surviving World War II and hiding out somewhere abound to this day. U.S. intelligence services created these images showing how he might disguise himself.
Cyclists generally travel 2000 miles over the 21-day race. 2021’s race stretched 2,121 miles, and covered 10 new sites and stage cities. That’s a lot of “21”s!
Sir Isaac Newton believed seven was a sacred number in occult practices. So he added indigo as a color between blue and violet. These days, many people leave indigo out.
This koi fish, known as Hanako, died in 1966 at the incredible age of 226 years old. That means she was alive two decades before the American Revolution, and almost lived to see the bicentennial.
This doesn't necessarily happen with shallow scars, but deep scars inhibit the regeneration of sweat glands. This means that the surface of the scar won't sweat, and therefore won't attract dirt and grime.
Koalas are not closely related to humans at all, but they have some unnervingly human-looking fingerprints. The zoomed-in view shows just how similar they are.
