Month: October 2021

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People Break Down The Most Random Science Facts

I love science.

Although I hated it in high school, now that I’m old… I mean an adult, I love it.

Why you ask?

Because the more science you learn, the more you can understand what’s happening around you and live better.

But science has sadly been under attack for the last several years.

So let’s be our own Bill Nye and absorb a bit of science for our own good.

Redditor Look_Under_The_Bed went to Reddit for all the best science on offer and asked:

“What’s a random science fact that you know?”

So let’s talk science…

You never know when you’ll need to spit out some random facts to impress people at parties.

And if nothing else, we’ll be better prepared for Jeopardy!.

Cry me a River…

“When you cry really hard, your nose runs because it’s connected to the same pipes as your tear ducts, so your nose is also helping you get your tears out.” ~ Threspian

“On a similar note, your nose runs when it’s cold out because you have created a heat gradient.”

“Warm air can hold more water than cool air so as you exhale, the water condenses at the end of your nose and so your nose runs.”  ~ wolfmoral

LOOK OUT BELOW!!!

“Squirrels can survive falling from terminal velocity.”  ~ terrariapro117

“I learned this after witnessing a squirrel hit the ground after a presumably long fall.”

“It made a loud SMACK as it hit the ground, scared the crap out of me and the dog, then scampered away, up another tree like nothing happened.”  ~ _cocophoto_

Time after Time…

“Time is slightly slower between higher altitudes and lower altitudes, to infinitesimal fractions of a second.”  ~ Redditor

“The designers of the GPS satellites had to compensate for this, since the entire system is built around ridiculously precise timekeeping.”

“It was calculated theoretically first as a consequence of general relativity, and then confirmed experimentally.” ~ Murgatroyd314

 Strength in opposing directions…

“Muscles can only contract. Muscle tissue can’t push.”

“Doesn’t sound like a big deal until you realize that actions like sticking your tongue out of your mouth are completely the result of pulling, not pushing.” ~ fd1Jeff

“I teach anatomy. Always fun to watch students work through this information for the first time.”

“That is a series of pulling and relaxing and the opposite movements are also pulling and relaxing.”

“i.e…triceps vs biceps.”  ~ Warlock2017

2 every solar system turn…

“Venus the only planet to spin clockwise.” ~ siglawoo

“Sun’s axis rotates a full turn about every 27 Earth days but since the Sun is not solid but a ball of plasma the rotation speeds are different at different latitudes.”

“At the equator it’s surface rotates faster, every 24 days.”

“Another fun fact: the orbital plane of the planets is tilted about 7 degrees in relation to the Sun’s axis mentioned above.”

“This should not be the case because of the way planets form around a star.”

“Astronomer’s suspect that the orbital plane of the planets tilted as a result of the gravity of a large planet size object that is no longer around.”

“Existence of this planet is hypothetical so it was given a name Planet X (or sometimes Planet 9). Other anomalies had been observed that could also suggest existence of such an object.”

“Example: grouping of planetoids on the outskirts of the Solar System.”

“The reason that the planet hasn’t been observed directly is that it’s so far away beyond Neptune that it doesn’t reflect enough sunlight to be seen with available technology.”

“Another proposed explanation for the orbital plane tilt is existence of a nearby planet-sized black hole which orbits the Sun but hasn’t been detected yet.”

“The new James Webb space telescope that will be launched soon should help to answer those questions.”  ~ aykontakt

“Makes you wonder. What if something hit Venus?”

“In Dynamics if two objects hit each other and their center of gravities aren’t along the path each was traveling, one will spin clockwise and the other counterclockwise.”

“Maybe Earth and Venus are the same size because we’re the result of two roughly similar sized objects hitting each other in space. Idk.”  ~ detectiveDollar

Within Reach…

“You’re closer to space than you are to anything more than about an hour’s drive away.”

“Most folks take “space” to be “outside of Earth’s atmosphere.”

“There’s no precise boundary to where Earth’s atmosphere ends and space starts, but a lot of people take the Kármán line to be as good a point as any to split atmosphere vs. space.”

This line is 100km/62 miles up, which is roughly the distance your grandma can drive in an hour on the highway.”  ~ meatfrappe

I see the resemblance…

“Tyrannosaurus was closer in time to Humans than to Stegosaurus.”  ~ jsreyn

“That explains why my arms are so short.”  ~ TransientFeelings

“Haha same! When I sit on a chair, I never know what to do with my arms.”

“If I put them on my legs near my hips, I end up slouching because I can’t sit straight and put my hands on my thighs.”

“So I cross my arms and then people say I look defensive.”  ~ Zealousideal9151

Human Waste in Orbit…

“If you bleed more than 100ml/min on the international space station, they write you off and say any medical supplies spent on you is a waste.”  

“It’s been years since I saw the article but I believe the only plan at that point was ‘get the astronaut to earth ASAP’ which, you know… isn’t done in a few minutes, soooo.”  ~ Wit-wat-4

Square cut or pear shaped…

“Diamonds aren’t forever. In fact, they are dust at 500 degrees in your oven for a few hours.”

“Diamonds aren’t pressure/temperature stable at the surface. If you heat them without also applying incredible pressure, they become CO2 and a little pile of carbon.”  ~ Driftmoth

Veggies keep you level…

“If you ever get a cut and it won’t seem to stop bleeding chances are you’re low on vitamin K as it’s the one that helps your blood clot. Vitamin K can be found in most vegetables.”  ~ orion284

“Especially leafy greens! Which is why people on warfarin (and certain other anticoagulants IIRC) need to be mindful of their greens intake… ideally.”

“They should eat them only in moderation and aim for the same amount every day to keep their warfarin levels stable.”  ~ sheepthechicken

Always Sunny, Everyday

“The sun rises on the ISS every ~90 minutes which is the time it takes to orbit the earth and so astronauts experience about 16 mornings everyday.”  ~ pseud0human

I feel like my IQ points just jumped exponentially.

There is definitely enough information there to make me look a tad more sophisticated at parties.

There is no such thing as useless knowledge! The more you know, the more you grow.

Maybe I should write for Hallmark…

Anyway, knowledge of science can be fun and keep us from making foolish mistakes or bad decisions.

Remember that kids.

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People Share Their Favorite ‘How The Hell Did They Discover That?’ Facts

Humanity, for all its faults, is pretty amazing. We’ve learned a lot of really cool things in our time on this planet.

But how did we learn some of it?

Like… who thought it’d be a good idea to prepare a venomous or otherwise dangerous creature for consumption? Didn’t the thought of some rather deadly trial and error frighten them away?

The answer to that is “nope,” in case you’re wondering, and we are referring to fugu, a dish prepared from a pufferfish that can be lethal for human consumption and can also sting when its spines enter the skin.

Fugu’s tetrodotoxin can be so lethal, in fact, it must be carefully prepared to remove the toxic parts and to avoid contaminating the meat.

The Japanese and other countries have strictly regulated fugu’s preparation, just in case you’re feeling adventurous.

But how did that first person grab the stinging, spiky fish blown up like a balloon and discover how to eat it without dropping dead?

Well, we don’t have an answer for that.

And what about other curious things human beings discovered?

Redditor Justoneaccount1234 asked the online community:

“What fact makes you think ‘What the f**k were they doing to discover that?’”

“She wasn’t too disgusted.”

“My mum was diagnosed with glaucoma a while back. She had to use eye drops which she said were derived from bull semen. She wasn’t too disgusted.”

“She was a nurse, she was just endlessly baffled with HOW anyone ever came up with that idea.”

“Like, you’d have to know a fair bit about semen to even think of its uses beyond the obvious one.”

“How do these people describe themselves on LinkedIn?” ~ SuzyJTH

“You know…”

“Hákarl.”

“You know, that shark that is usually poisonous unless you leave it to rot for months.” ~ ObscuraNox

“Chewing the nuts…”

“Coffee can be explained. Chewing the nuts gets you hyper, so someone distilled it.”

“Now black ivory coffee… that had to have been a prank, dare, or the most confusing chain of events for a bean farmer.”

“For those that don’t know, black ivory coffee is coffee made from beans passed through the digestive tract of elephants.”

“The enzymes in the elephant break down the protein in the bean, giving it a less bitter taste.” ~ chocki305

“I have an acquaintance…”

“I have an acquaintance who worked as a dog handler, showing purebred dogs in dog shows.”

“She swears that putting the tip of a wooden match into a dog’s anus is the preferred method for making the dog defecate before going into the show ring.”

“All I can think of is: Who was the drunk idiot that discovered that? How much alcohol was involved?”

“Why did they tell anybody what they’d done? (“Hey, you guys wanna see a trick? Here, Fido!”)” ~ NightmareGerbil

“Just to clarify…”

“I never understood why people started eating onions. I mean, I’m glad they did, but if I’m a caveman and try to eat a ‘food-like substance’ that if I break open makes me cry, I’m probably not ingesting it.”

“I mean, it doesn’t even want me to look at it and punished me for breaking it open. I don’t eat aggressive vegetables.”

“Just to clarify, I really love onions. I just wouldn’t have been the first one to try them.” ~ CanEyeBshy

“In the past two weeks…”

“Anything involving baking soda. In the past two weeks, I’ve used it to make banana bread and pretzels, as well as to disinfect a litter box and clean silver.” ~ _solarmax

“I mean, they figured out…”

“Toast. It had to be an accident, surely.”

“I mean, they figured out to grind the right grains, the right ratio of yeast and water and sugar, etc., and how to cook it to make beautiful beautiful bread.”

“I swear, it must have been an accident that someone was too close to a fire and because of, I dunno, poverty or ignorance, it got eaten and the nirvana that is toast was achieved.

“Who would ever think, ‘This bread is great, I’ll cook it again’?” ~ kiki73

“One presumes…”

“The ancient/medieval alchemists left a lot of records of the substances they studied.”

“They cataloged all the properties they observed for each one – including the taste. One presumes that for the data to be passed on, one had to record the taste test promptly.” ~ schleppenwolf

“The process to make it properly…”

“Chocolate. The process to make it properly is incredibly finicky and takes a long time from start to finish.”

“What’s more, it’s not like a lot of things mentioned here that were probably just the result of being desperately hungry.” ~ mechanate

“Maybe I don’t understand…”

“The complex chemical processes to make certain drugs.”

“Maybe I don’t understand chemistry well enough, but how would they have known the effect that certain drugs, like cocaine, would have on a person?”

“Or was it made for some other purpose and someone said, ‘Hey, this looks like a good thing to crush up so that I can snort it up through my nose.’”

“It just seems weird.” ~ goodietwoshoe

“For those who aren’t familiar…”

“Casu marzu.”

“For those who aren’t familiar with it, it’s a cheese made from sheep’s milk with live maggots in it.”

“It’s actually illegal under EU regulations but there is still black market production because apparently, people want to eat live maggots.” ~ adeon

“They were lucky…”

“When saccharine was first synthesized, the creators didn’t know it was going to be safe to consume.”

“And yet, against the most basic law of the chemistry lab (do not under any circumstances eat that thing you just created, everything can and WILL kill you), they decided that meh, a little bit couldn’t hurt.”

“They were lucky and it was sweet and safe, but seriously don’t eat the stuff you just made from tar – it literally didn’t exist an hour before.” ~ coelicolored

The funny thing about a lot of these responses, at least to me, is the number of people who rest on the assumption that starvation wasn’t a common way to die for many millennia.

You’d be surprised what human beings will eat—and certainly figure out is okay to eat—when they are hungry and there is no other option.

I suppose we should thank them for their discoveries.

Oh, and while we’re at it, be even more thankful we didn’t have to be the ones to do all of these experiments.

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People Explain Which Things They Think They’re Doing Wrong But Are Too Afraid To Ask

Parents and teachers mean well when they attempt to instruct us on the ways of the world.

But it doesn’t mean they’ll teach us everything we need to know, does it? Most of what they teach us is the basics: bathroom etiquette, tying our shoes, reading, writing and the like.

However, what about the more irregular stuff? The things you wish you knew about before entering adulthood?

Reddit user, Wijting, asked:

“What do you think you are doing wrong, but are too scared to ask somebody?”

Ride The Lunch Train Straight To Hell

“I have no idea if my lunch break is an hour or 30 minutes.”

“Where my office is located in my building, my boss and co-workers can’t see me leave for lunch. When I started, I just began taking hour lunches like I did at my last job.”

“Recently I heard a co-worker mention taking her 30 minute lunch.”

“I’ve been taking hour long lunches for 6 years and it’s way past the point of asking….” ~ spydervenom

Feel The Fury

“How to handle anger? I’m too embarrassed to ask” ~ Ok-Plastic-62

“Theres an excersise that i use sometimes when i get too angry:”

“First take deep, slow breaths. This evens out your breathing and calms you down (sometimes youll unconsiously start brething at a quicker pace when angry).”

“Make sure your in a comfortable position, one that you can be in for a minite of two, and imagine that your body is slowly being filled up with ‘liquid sunshine’ from the bottom up, like an hourglass.”

“Sounds odd, but give it a try! It has helped me out more than once.” ~ TroospooK

You Just Pucker Up

“Kissing. I’ve had no complaints but it’s not really something your parents taught you to do properly (unless you’re into that)” ~ BenignFrustration

“You and your SO will learn from one another what they like/you like and what they don’t like/you don’t like.” ~ Gianca16

It’s The Hardest, Simplest Decision You Can Make

“My finances – no idea how to properly manage my money.” ~ FinnbarMcBride

“Figure out exactly how much money you bring in during an average month.”

“Take your last x months of expenses (I did 3 but if you had a full year of normal expenses that’d be best)and break it down into categories of what you spent money on [i.e. loans, food, gas, fun stuff]”

“If you have more expenses than income take a honest look at your expenses and make some cuts, id mostly focus on stuff like gaming, going out, drinking.”

“Try to put as much money as you can into your 401k, usually 10-15% of your monthly income is advised (but also doesn’t have to happen if that would put you into the res)”

“If you have cc debt pay that off first, then car loans then long term loans like student loans and mortgages” ~ pspspsprjrjejdjdjdj

Tongue-Tied Argument

“I feel like I’m really articulate when I’m going about my day especially over text, but as soon as I get into a verbal disagreement it’s like my f’king brain shuts off and I forget how to think. Like a deer in the headlights.”

“I don’t remember it always being this way but it’s like I’ve got this huge amount of social anxiety in those situations now and I struggle to accurately express myself.” ~ The_Splenda_Man

“That’s totally normal. You don’t have the same amount of time to think about your response in person.”

“I think that it is really more important to listen to what the person is saying rather than trying to come up with a response. Remember, it is always valid to say ‘I need more time to think about this’.” ~ kitskill

Are They Still Breathing? Probably A Good Start.

“Babysitting. I babysat a few times when I was 13 or 14 and I wasn’t sure if I was just supposed to check in on the kid or play with them or just like, make sure they don’t die.”

“I’m really good at kid sitting but babysitting (or for me watching a kid under 7 years old) is just hard.” ~ Teabeany

“If it’s new parents they’ll inundate you with instructions.”

“If it’s not new parents they’ll be happy as long as the kids are alive and the house hasn’t burnt down.” ~ IAmJohnny5ive

I Thought I Was Being Friendly?

“Flirting. Let’s face it.”

“I don’t even know what the heck that is, how it works and what the difference between talking and flirting is.”

“Funny enough apparently that leads to me being constantly flirty without wanting to be. At least I often get told that I flirt with almost every single person I met.” ~ OverlyShyEnby

We’re All Envious Of You

“Showering. I have very very long thick hair and I just kind of blast shampoo and conditioner at it.”

“People ask me what I do to keep my hair so nice and I have no idea what to say. People seem to have such complex hair rituals and I’m here just aping it up.” ~ SkylordZoey

Who’s Supposed To Teach You This? Honestly?

“I’m a girl. Not sure if I’m supposed to shave the thin blonde hairs in my thighs or not.”

“Sometimes they look darker, but sometimes they look blonde.”

“I shave the rest of my legs ( below the knee), but I’m in my 30s. Feels like I should know this already….” ~ busycleaning

“Out of all the women I’ve slept with, I genuinely can’t remember if there were hair on their thighs.”

“It never even occurred to me until I saw your comment, and I can’t imagine other people would care unless they were particularly squeamish about that specific thing.”

“But would that still matter to them in the heat of the moment? Idk. I don’t think so” ~ DandyBubbles

Not As Complicated As You Think

“Life.”

“Like what am I supposed to be doing? I have about 80 years total.”

“So far, I’ve learned stuff, got married, and got a good job. Am I just grinding out the rest of my years?” ~ OPmeansopeningposter

“Help others, improve the world.”

“You’ve listed a bunch of stuff you’ve gotten out of life. Now it’s time to think about what you can give.” ~ orange_avalanche

When in doubt?

Just ask.

Someone.

Anyone.

Or JFGI.

Better to know than not know, right?