News
Only a quarter of the Sahara Desert is sandy
Most of it is covered in gravel, though it also contains mountains and oases. And he…
Thanks to 3D printing, NASA can basically email tools to astronauts
Getting new equipment to the Space Station used to take months or years, but the new t…
Cows don’t have upper front teeth
They do have molars on top, in the back of their mouths, but where you’d expect uppe…
The current American flag was designed by a high school student
It started as a school project for Bob Heft’s junior-year history class in 1958, a…
The man with the world’s deepest voice can make sounds humans can’t hear
The man, Tim Storms, can’t even hear the note, which is eight octaves below the lowe…
Most Disney characters wear gloves to keep animation simple
Walt Disney might have been the first to put gloves on his characters , as seen in …
Turkeys can blush
When turkeys are scared or excited—like when the males see a female they’re interest…
That tiny pocket in jeans was designed to store pocket watches
The original jeans had only four pockets: that tiny pocket , plus two more on the f…
Blue whales eat half a million calories in one mouthful
Just try to wrap your brain around the second part of this animal fact : Those 457,…
Kleenex tissues were originally intended for gas masks
When there was a cotton shortage during World War I, Kimberly-Clark developed a thin…
Cats have fewer toes on their back paws
Like most four-legged mammals, cats have five toes on the front, but their back paws…
Some octopus species lay 56,000 eggs at a time
On average, a giant Pacific octopus will lay 56,000 eggs at the end of a pregnancy, …
“Running amok” is a medically recognized mental condition
Considered a culturally bound syndrome, a person “running amok” in Malaysia starts w…
The longest English word is 189,819 letters long
We won’t spell it out here, but the full name for the protein nicknamed titin would …
Firefighters use wetting agents to make water wetter
The chemicals reduce the surface tension of plain water so it’s easier to spread and…
Armadillo shells are bulletproof
In fact, one Texas man was hospitalized when a bullet he shot at an armadillo ricoch…
Peanuts aren’t technically nuts
They’re legumes. According to Merriam-Webster , a nut is only a nut if it’s “a hard…
The Windy City nickname has nothing to do with Chicago’s weather
If you live in Chicago, you might already know this random fact, but we’re betting m…
Samsung tests phone durability with a butt-shaped robot
People stash their phones in their back pockets all the time, which is why Samsung cre…
Scotland has 421 words for snow
Yes, 421! Some examples: sneesl (to start raining or snowing); feefle (to swirl)…
Johnny Appleseed’s fruits weren’t for eating
Yes, there was a real John Chapman who planted thousands of apple trees on U.S. soil…
A cow-bison hybrid is called a beefalo
You can even buy its meat in at least 21 states.
There’s only one letter that doesn’t appear in any U.S. state name
Can you guess the answer to this random fun fact? You’ll find a Z (Arizona), a J (Ne…
The first oranges weren’t orange
The original oranges from Southeast Asia were a tangerine-pomelo hybrid, and they we…
Some fungi create zombies, then control their minds
The tropical fungus Ophiocordyceps infects ants’ central nervous systems. Once it …
McDonald’s once made bubblegum-flavored broccoli
This crazy McDonald’s fact will have your taste buds crawling. Unsurprisingly, the…
Professional athletes used to perform in vaudeville during the off-season
Before today’s big-league salaries, professional baseball and football players often…
Lemons float, but limes sink
Because limes are denser than lemons, they drop to the bottom of a glass, while lemo…
Japan has one vending machine for every 40 people
Japan is thought to have one of the highest densities of vending machines in the wor…
The first person processed at Ellis Island was a 15-year-old girl from Ireland
On January 1, 1892, Annie Moore was the first passenger to disembark at Ellis Island…
People once ate arsenic to improve their skin
You’ve probably heard about how a lot of the Victorians’ favorite cosmetics were riddl…
It takes a drop of water 90 days to travel the entire Mississippi River
Spanning 2,340 miles, the Mississippi River is the third-largest watershed in the wo…
The brand name Spam is a combination of “spice” and “ham”
This is one of those interesting facts you probably thought you knew but actually di…
Wally Amos is responsible for making more than just cookies famous
You may be familiar with Wally “Famous” Amos, thanks to his packaged chocolate chip …
Human beings can use only a small fraction of Earth’s water
In school, we were taught that most (specifically, 71 percent) of the planet’s surfa…
Cleveland was once the country’s fifth-largest city
Data from the 1920 U.S. census indicates that Cleveland, Ohio, was one of the most h…
There’s enough gold inside Earth to coat the planet
Turns out, there’s quite a bit of gold on—or, really, in—our planet: 99 percent of t…
The Golden Girls was supposed to have a different theme song
That’s right: Instead of Andrew Gold’s iconic “Thank You for Being a Friend,” the sh…
A one-way trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway involves crossing 3,901 bridges
Not only is the Trans-Siberian Railway the longest railroad in Russia, but it’s also …
The Philippines consists of 7,641 islands
The Philippines is an archipelago, which means it’s made up of a group of islands—7,…
Marla Gibbs continued to work as a flight attendant for two years after being cast on a hit TV show
Prior to taking her place on the stoop of 227 , Marla Gibbs played the housekeeper …
German chocolate cake was invented in Texas
The “German” part of German chocolate cake comes from an American man—not a European…
The world’s first animated feature film was made in Argentina
Even if you know a lot of Disney trivia , you might assume that the honor of first …
The cornea is one of only two parts of the human body without blood vessels
The cornea is the clear part of the eye that covers the pupil and other parts of the…
There are parts of Africa in all four hemispheres
For people whose education was largely focused on the Western world, it may be surpr…
The circulatory system is more than 60,000 miles long
If a child’s entire circulatory system—we’re talking veins, arteries, and capillarie…
The bumblebee bat is the world’s smallest mammal
Weighing in at 0.05 to 0.07 ounces, with a head-to-body length of 1.14 to 1.29 inche…
Sudan has more pyramids than any country in the world
Not only does Sudan have more pyramids than Egypt, but the numbers aren’t even close…
Dead skin cells are a main ingredient in household dust
Here’s an interesting science fact for you: According to researchers at Imperial C…
The world’s oldest wooden wheel has been around for more than 5,000 years
It was found in 2002, approximately 12 miles south of Ljubljana, the capital of Slov…
