Learning doesn’t stop when you leave school. Luckily, though, once you go out into the world on your own, you have the chance to learn things that actually interest you (Instead of math. Why does math have to be a thing?).
Learning new things is how we keep the old noggin sharp. Even if what you’ve learned came from a random fact you saw on the internet. Like these surprisingly informative images.
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“Megalodon teeth I found diving in 90 FSW off the coast of North Carolina.”
You know megalodons? The shark ancestors that died out millions of years ago? Well, this is how big their teeth were. Every single day, I remain grateful that we don’t have to live with the weird, big dinosaurs and animals that roamed the earth way back in the day.
“If arranged correctly, all of the British coins create the British Shield of Arms.”
I feel like you can learn so much about other countries by what they have on their currency. Like how on the back of British coins, the designs kind of look a little random.
That is, until you put them together and find that each kind of coin contains part of an image of the Royal Shield. Pretty clever!
“A perfectly balanced Pepsi can.”
I’ll admit, I know very little about physics. So little, that I wouldn’t be able to explain to you how this Pepsi can is balancing on one edge like that. I’ll admit that it’s a pretty neat trick, even if I don’t know how it’s done.
“Ball of salt that I took out of the dead sea.”
I mean, salt water obviously has to have salt in it, but I can’t be the only one who wouldn’t expect to actually see the salt. A big old deposit like this is a little uncanny.
But sea salt is a thing you can buy, and they’d have to get it from somewhere.
“Before and after photos of pressure washing the stone wall in front of my house.”
I don’t know why, but seeing something super dirty that gets completely clean is just so satisfying. It really makes you wonder what old stone buildings would look like if all the moss and dirt was cleaned off of them. I guess there’s only one way to find out.
“These garbage cans that were across the street from a building that burned down.”
This just goes to show you how dangerous fires can be. They get so hot, that things in the surrounding area will get affected. These plastic garbage cans didn’t stand a chance, and they were across the street from the fire. Pretty scary stuff.
A scorpion under a UV light.
Scorpions are as dangerous as they are creepy. But they have at least one really cool trait: they glow under UV lighting. The craziest part of it is the fact that no one really knows why . They just kind of do.
At least it makes them easy to spot at night (if you happen to have a UV light on you).
“Left potatoes in my basement for 2 years, they started growing.”
I, for one, could never forget an entire bag of potatoes in a basement for two years . But I guess I can’t speak for everyone.
I would definitely prefer my forgotten potatoes to start growing than to start rotting, but it’s really amazing how they could survive untouched for so long.
“Stung by a wasp this morning. Progress of the swelling.”
Being stung by a wasp (or literally any bug for that matter) sounds like a crappy time. Not only does it hurt, but as we can see in this photo, it causes you to swell up like a balloon. Hopefully this doesn’t happen to you (or doesn’t happen again).
“Ice froze up the water coming from a water fountain.”
If there’s one thing I know, it’s that running water is a bit harder to freeze than still water. So it must’ve gotten pretty cold for that fountain to completely freeze over. Just another reason to hate winter, I guess.
“Solar car made by Staten Island Tech High School students spotted at Gateway Park, NYC.”
I know I said I know little about physics (which is still true), but I do love the idea of solar-powered vehicles. We have so much sun; how have we not created cars that run off its energy yet? It’s also pretty impressive that this was built by teenagers.
Narina, a cat with two faces.
Narina is what scientists call a chimera cat , meaning that she’s one cat with two sets of DNA. This is a pretty rare phenomenon, and it results in cool fur patterns like how this cat has two different colors on each half of her face.
“The “Black Crack” along Utah’s White Rim Trail, a natural fissure in the rock a few feet wide and deep enough to kill you.”
This is equal parts interesting and terrifying! It’s amazing how nature and the planet can create such incredible landscapes. But just knowing how much is out there that could lead to our demise isn’t always fun to dwell on.
As long as you stay safe, this could be a pretty fun road trip destination.
A beautiful Victorian aquarium.
I wonder why they stopped making fish tanks like this. Could it be because they could fall over way too easily? Because honestly, this looks amazing, and that’s really all that matters here. Well, that, and the fact that the fish have a nice amount of space to swim around in.
“Sometimes when certain crystals form, iron and manganese get trapped in the cooling stone, resulting in crazy tree like patterns called dendrites!”
I’ve seen dendrites before. They can appear on a bunch of semi-precious stones like agates and common opals. But I never knew how they were formed. Now that I do, that makes them so much cooler!
Alright, time to start a dendrite stone collection. They’re all too pretty and unique to pass up on!
“Mayombe the Gorilla, holding her newborn baby. Her baby, born on June 13th, is the first ever baby Gorilla born in the wild from parents who grew up in captivity.”
This is pretty cool. Gorillas are endangered species, so seeing one born is always a good thing. But this gorilla mom lived in captivity, and gave birth to her baby in the wild . This apparently has never happened before. Here’s hoping they live long, happy lives!
“The Guarana plant, a common ingredient found in energy drinks, look like creepy eyeballs.”
Uh, wow. That’s super creepy. It’s hard to imagine that something that goes into our food can look absolutely terrifying. Then again, it’s not like those are actual eyeballs…right? Yeesh, I can’t stare at this picture for too long.
“Cucamelons or ‘mouse melons’ look like grape sized watermelons but have a citrus flavor.”
There’s a lot going on here. They’re cucumbers that also look like melons that are the size of a grape but taste like citrus. Yeah, sure, that makes sense.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen these guys in the grocery store before. They must not be available everywhere. If you ever see them, maybe give them a try!
“A tiny Origami cactus I’ve made from one uncut square of paper.”
Origami is such a cool art. You can cut and fold paper in so many different ways. In the case of this paper cactus, it was all made out of a single uncut piece of paper, which is even more impressive! It looks like it probably took hours to make.
“My husband got a microscope. Here’s my hair, his hair and our pet rabbit’s fur under it.”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen hair that zoomed in before. It’s amazing how it looks so sturdy, but for a lot of people, it can be super brittle and easy to break. Honestly, the more I look at these pictures, the weirder it is.
Motely Golden Child Reticulated Python that looks like a rainbow.
I guess I can understand why people would want to have snakes as pets. At least, if they looked like this, then I’d have less of a problem. Still, snakes are, well, snakes. Even if they are pretty.
“This coin was rusty and oxidized when I found it at my grandpa’s house. Me and my mom tried cleaning it and we discovered it’s an English East India Company coin minted in 1808. 213 years old!”
It’s not everyday that you find an old coin. But it seems like finding a coin from a couple of centuries ago is probably even rarer. This one is definitely from an era long passed, which is what makes it so cool! I bet it would sell for a lot of money these days.
“I was digging in my garden and found a wild carrot.”
Do you ever just think about how every plant we grow in gardens and farms today was once a random wild plant people decided to eat? How did we know which ones were the safe ones? Was it trial and error? That sounds kind of awful, actually.
“This watch shows what constellations are above you right now!”
This is so cool! I wonder how it works. Is it magnets, like in a compass? Or, like, tiny satellites or something? Either way, it’s pretty awesome.
Despite not knowing a thing about most constellations, I’ve never wanted something so badly in my life. Time to start saving up for one.
This bat.
Yeah, no thanks. No offence, but we don’t need big bats (regular-sized bats are bad enough).
This big boy is called a Giant Golden Crowned Flying Fox, and it’s native to the Philippines. Even though they look like they could take you down, they’re actually harmless to people.
“This is how big a redwood is.”
Redwoods are really big trees. Like, really big. They can easily be bigger than a house. I’ve never seen one in person, but I know that they exist, and that’s both exciting and terrifying.
Then again, we have buildings that are even bigger than these trees. In some ways, it’s actually kind of normal.
A mountain turned upside down.
Optics can really make things look super different. The curve of the glass sphere is bending light in such a way, that it flips the image of whatever it’s facing completely upside down. Or, something like that.
Not only does it make for a cool science project, but an amazing shot, too!
“Canadian IGA grocery store has a 25,000 square foot rooftop garden and is distributing the goods directly in store.”
The more you think about it, the more this makes so much sense. Since grocery stores sell produce, it literally doesn’t get any fresher than this! And it’s a really great use of otherwise empty space.
Seriously, we should have rooftop gardens on every building that can handle them. Bring back a bit of greenry.
“The dog on the Left is award winning showdog named Arnie an AKC French Bulldog.”
“The dog on the right is Flint, bred in the Netherlands by Hawbucks French Bulldogs – a breeder trying to establish a new, healthier template for French Bulldogs.”
French bulldogs, pugs, and any other dog breed with a shallow snout will face a lot of health complications in their lifetime. That snout may be cute, but it’s not great for the dog. It’s nice to see these breeds being bred to be healthier.
“You can clearly see my dogs favourite peeing spots.”
Well, I guess I’d rather a weird patchy backyard than a house full of dog pee. It’s kind of funny how the patches where the dog would’ve been doing its business looks so drastically different from the rest of the lawn.
