22 Woozy Facts About The World That Sound Like Fiction

The world is full of interesting facts that we may have never known before. In fact, the science classes we attended at school did not have time to teach us these surprising facts. Or maybe the world has just been changing way too fast for these books to keep up.

An Instagram account called Factourism loves to post interesting pacts about the world with simple but eye-catching illustrations. Green Lemon gathered the most interesting ones readers can learn from today!

1. Selfies have killed more than sharks.

There are 12 accidental deaths caused by people trying to take selfies in 2015 whereas only 8 were caused by shark attacks.

2. Tyrannosaurus Rex’s time is closer to us than to Stegosaurus.

Stegosaurus and its relatives lived about 150 million years ago while T-Rex 67 millions years ago. This means there is about 80 millions years of different between the two species and homo sapiens began appearing 66 millions years ago.

3. Planes fly slower than they did in the past.

A direct flight from NY to Houston takes 4 hours while it took less than 3 hours back in 1973. This is due to the cost of fuel that has increased significantly and can be cut down by flying slower.

4. Cleaning at home is as dangerous as smoking cigarettes.

That’s because chemical contents from cleaning solutions like detergents can cause asthma. They irritate the mucus along your nose, trachea, down to the lungs, leading to permanent damage to your respiratory system.

5. It takes 20 years to try all kinds of apples, one a day.

So far, we’ve know 7,500 varieties of apples around the world, so if you try one out every day, it’ll take more than 20 and a half years to do try every single kind.

6. The wine glasses we use today are huge.

Back in the 18th century, people drink wine from glasses that old holds 66ml of liquid. The size have increased by 7 times today where we can have half a litre of wine in our glass at one time.

7. Steve Jobs’ funny reason for choosing ‘Apple’.

It’s not his favorite fruit. It’s just because he used to work at Atari and he wants a name that can be listed above Atari on the phonebook.

8. Cows with names produce more milk than those that are not.

To be more precise, they produce 258 litres more milk annually if you just choose to pet them while calling them ‘Bob’ rather than ‘cow’. It reduces stress which can suppress milk production.

9. A single pencil can write 56 km far.

The average pencil can draw a 35-mile line or 45,000 words.

10. People used to pay with knives in China.

25 centuries ago, bronze knives were the ‘currency’ in China during back in Zhou dynasty.

11. 60hz refresh rates allow dogs to watch TV.

Dogs are able to see separate scenes at 75 Hz due to their high motion reaction. Thanks to our high resolution screen and higher refresh rates, dogs are more interested in TV than before because the motions look more realistic in their eyes.

12. Ancient Egyptians used to bowl.

Yes, it was a popular game 5000 years ago for Egyptians. Two people play at the same time on a 4-meter lane where one throws a big, while the other throws a small ball.

13. Europe has colonized many, but these 5 countries.

Colonization was pretty common and almost every country has that history since 16th century, but 5 escaped that fate: South and North Korea, Japan, Thailand and Liberia.

14. Rabbits can recognize their friends from predators’ feces.

Studies by scientists show that rabbits can sense a friend from the feces of ferrets, which help them avoid predators’ hunting grounds.

15. The amount of Nutella sold annually can cover 1000 soccer fields.

It’s such a beloved staple for breakfast with toast that since 1940 we can’t stop eating them.

16. A teaspoon of honey is the work of the entire life of 12 bees.

Bees live for 4 to 5 months and produce only about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey.

17. You can tell if a water is hot or cold by ear.

Condiment Junkie is a company that specializes in sound design. In their tests, they found out that 96% of people can tell the difference if water is hot or cold just by sound.

18. Yes, the human body contains gold.

Gold is a very much part of our body. Every 70-kg of a human contains about 0.2 mg of gold or a 0.22 mm long gold.

19. You can also eat gold.

You’ve heard of insanely expensive food that are served on gold and with gold. You’ve probably heard of Chinese traditional medicine where you dissolve an entire ball of herbs covered in gold, costing more than hundreds of dollars each and the price fluctuates with gold price.

24-carat pure gold cannot be absorbed by the digestive system, so yes, you can eat them.

20. Flamingos can drink hot water.

We’re talking about almost boiling water because flamingos live close to lakes with high salt concentration, so they have to drink water from geysers.

21. You’re born to be a bad driver.

A study reveals that driving is actually something that you can inherit. Study shows that those with good-driver gene perform 20% better than those who don’t.

22. Nazi Germany made Fanta because they couldn’t get Coca-Cola.

This Nazi drink appeared in 1940 apparently due to the lack of syrup necessary to make Coca-Cola. The shipment for that particular syrup was stopped, so they made a new one based on whey and apple.