Category: Facts

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People Share Their Best Medical Tips That Everyone Should Know

Medical science has come a long way in the last few decades—to say nothing of the last century.

The rapid innovations and near-constant shifts in the field have left some struggling to catch up.

So Redditor  ATOM-Tomzej decided to get some quick tips and facts about medicine in our modern age.

Of course, just as with anything else medical, please refer to your doctor and not an entertaining Reddit list for advice.

He asked:

“What’s a medical fact or tip everyone should know?”

Do not attempt!

“Please, don’t give an unconscious diabetic insulin.”

“You’re probably going to kill them if you do.”~733094

Also,

“When I complained about physical problems my parents often dismissed it.”

“Don’t ignore physical pain of yourself or others and listen if someone complains about pain.”

“I’ve walked around with a broken bone in my foot for multiple weeks as a child before getting medical attention and later had bells palsy and didn’t say a thing.”~Koroit_

Remember to really push.

“ER/ trauma nurse here.”

“When performing CPR, the compressions are substantially more important than the rescue breaths.”

“If you aren’t comfortable and properly trained in CPR, stick to compressions only.”

“And, you should go ~2 inches deep into their chest with each push.”

“You will be TIRED if you do it right.”~theperipateticnurse

Spotify to the rescue!

“The New York Presbyterian Hospital has a playlist on Spotify called ‘Songs to do CPR to’, which all have that kind of rhythm – it’s well worth a look, and a lot are very catchy!”~cortexaire

Some came with a list.

“First aid”

“Someone’s having a seizure – don’t restrain them, or put anything in their mouth, just move any objects away from them, and place some padding under their head.”

“Once the seizure stops if they’re still not fully responsive, then put them on their side into the recovery position.”

“Someone swallowed chemicals/poison – don’t encourage them to be sick.”

“This can make things far worse as you cause additional burns on the way back up, or they start choking on it.”

“Call an ambulance, try to identify the chemical/poison, and follow any instructions they give.”

“Injured people who can’t move themselves should be left where they are unless there’s an immediate threat to their safety.”

“Motorcyclists helmets – if they’ve been in an accident then as long as they can maintain an open airway and breathe leave the helmet on.”

“Only remove it if it’s causing airway or breathing difficulties.”

“Nosebleeds – you tilt the head forward now, not backwards.”

“This advice changed many years ago but the amount of people I still see saying to tilt head back is frustrating.”~GrumpyOldDan

And,

“Top four:”

“Vaccinations”

“Vaccinations again, because it’s that f*cking important”

“Not shitting in your drinking water”

“Washing your hands”~kjata

Learn the signs.

“Signs of a heart attack in women are not your typical ‘tight chest, arm pain’ symptoms as in men.”

“Women typically experience stomach upsets and cramping first.”

“Likewise, many people experiencing heart attack symptoms do not seek emergency treatment because they are in denial.”~Jay1313

Drink Wisely.

“On an alcohol note, alternate your booze and water. A hangover is your brain being dehydrated.”~I_SH*T_A_BRICK

See the answer clearly.

“If you are drinking enough water, and are still getting massive headaches, get your eyes tested.”

“There’s a good chance you can’t see right and it’s strain headaches.”

“This is how I found out I needed glasses.”~Smecomposers

Always communicate.

“Don’t be afraid to speak up.”

“Learned early on in my Husbands treatment that the Dr.s etc. had what I started calling ‘the go to drugs’ (and I’m not speaking of the chemotherapy ones).”

“Long story short…we had the majority of his drugs changed to benefit HIS goals…he was lucid enough to spend quality time with his family before he passed.”

“Priceless.”

“Don’t be afraid to monitor, question etc.“~f*kcancr

Tests that you can’t study for are still important to take

“Pap tests and prostate exams are harmless and very important.”

“They can save your fertility, can save you from a lot of pain, they can even save your life.”

“And they are so simple and easy.”

“Yes, there is some discomfort.”

“But something tells me cancer causes much more discomfort.”~Lactiz

Always follow the prescription!

“If you’re taking antidepressants, or you know someone who is, and you feel better, IT IS NOT A REASON TO STOP TAKING THEM.”

“You are feeling better because of them.”

“They are not bandaids, they are long haul drugs that really rejig your brain’s chemistry.”~Releaseform

Baking soda fixes everything.

“Mix water and baking soda (small amounts of each/till soupy) and put it on any kind of sting.”

“It soothes and removes some of the poison if there is any.”

“Not sure if everyone already knows this but I have not seen any of my friends do it when they got stung.”

“Your welcome people of Reddit.”~ImThe_RealDirtyDan

There are no shortcuts.

“Calling 911 and going by ambulance is not a fast pass to the front of the line!”

“Only call in a real emergency not for a stubbed toe at 3 in the g*d d*mn morning!”

“Hospitals will still send you to triage and you’re left with a wait to get in and a super expensive bill for a ride that could have cost you a thousand times less by taking Uber.”~jesus-christ-of-ems

There are better ways to lose weight.

“Don’t buy popular diet teas that guarantee weight loss.”

“It’s just a laxative and you’ll spend less money if you just get a laxative from the store.”

“Also don’t use laxatives for weight loss.”

“It can cause bad nausea, and massive stomach cramps that leave you curled up on your bathroom floor and wondering what end sh*t is gonna come out.”

“Only use laxatives as directed.”~volcanic-sass

Medical science has come a long way.

While there are plenty of nuggets of truth in this list, always remember to consult your own doctor for your own medical questions.

But without a doubt, laughter is the best medicine.

Maybe.

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People Share The Most Frightening Facts About The Big Blue Ocean

Most of us have visited a beach next to the ocean at least once in our lives, and it’s fun to spend time there with friends, soaking up the sun, and splashing around in the water.

But also as the AskReddit pointed out, it’s unsettling to think about what else is out there beneath the waves.

Redditor matspud asked: 

“What’s the scariest thing you know about the ocean?”

Some were in awe of the sheer size of the ocean.

“How big it is in all directions. Most people ‘know’ this at least at a factual level, but haven’t really thought of how scary that must be if you ever find yourself in the middle of the ocean deep beneath the surface.” – vivianmay02

“Just how much water there is. If you punched a swimming-pool sized hole in the bottom of the Marianas Trench so that ocean water would drain through it, it would take hundreds of thousands of years to deplete the oceans.” – AdvocateSaint

“Everything about the Marianas Trench scares the s**t out of me. The fact that it’s 36000 feet deep (as far as we know), and that light doesn’t penetrate water past 3200 feet is mindblowing to me.”

“For reference, Mount Everest is 29000 feet tall, which means you could fit Everest into the trench (in terms of height, not necessarily mass) and light wouldn’t even hit it, it would be entirely submerged in darkness.”

“The thought of thousands of feet of cold, dark water is an absolute nightmare in my opinion.” – TheBlueHerron1

“There’s a spot in the ocean called Point Nemo, where on average the closest humans to you are the astronauts on the International Space Station.” – BaffledDonuts420

Others agreed and thought of what hasn’t been explored.

“The majority of the world’s oceans have NOT been explored, and deep-sea creatures of all types have never been discovered.”

“H**l, we don’t even know what whales do most of the time. It’s another world underwater and we know almost nothing about it.” – AAOG666

“That literally anything based on deep-sea monsters could be real in a sense.” – SteveManson4554

“The bottom of the ocean is less searched than the surface of the MOON.” – Shy-Guys-Toast

Some introduced terrifying and deadly sea creatures.

“Right off the coast of Baja, Humbolt squid that are about 4 to 6 feet long, have sharp serrated teeth in every sucker on their arms can take you from the surface and drag you to depths of 900 feet.”

“You would just disappear from the surface and no one would ever hear nor see you again and you’d be mercilessly eaten by their beaks tearing grapefruit sized chunks out of you.” – yoncenator

“Sea spiders exist and they can get to over 2 meters in length.” – Fearless-1265

“There’s this thing called the Pelican Eel which lives deep down. It’s the actual s**t of nightmares.” – Imanol0206

“There’s this f**king 10-foot worm that lives under the ocean floor, except its head, which is level with the ocean floor. It’s got feelers and pincers so if a fish swims over it, it grabs on with the pincers and drags the fish under to eat it.” – mrusmca

A few pointed out how close by some creatures actually are.

“If you frequent the ocean enough you’re bound to swim a few feet from a shark.” – Dannydevitz

“My teacher regularly visits Africa as he owns a safari resort there (real neat guy) and told me how once while swimming, he saw a huge a** tiger shark swim overhead. It was only about 3 feet above him, scary s**t.” – RogueDoodler

“There are blue holes in the Bahamas which are all connected by miles of underwater caverns. Only 8% of it has been explored by humans.”

“The blue holes serve as fun little swimming holes and the water is clear and you can see to the bottom (at least on some I’ve read).”

“Sometimes people just disappear from them while swimming with friends. Like, there are reports of people turning around, then back around and their buddy is gone.”

“There are rumors of tentacles pulling people under.”

“Fun fact: octopi don’t stop growing.”

“Another fun fact: they can fit anywhere their jaw/ beak can fit.”

“Another fun fact: they are bottom dwellers.”

“Not saying Lusca is real… But you’ll never catch me in a blue hole.” – Key_Refridgerator7725

Two were concerned about what’s happening to the ocean.

“I’m afraid its eventual acidification may render it uninhabitable.” – Trepang

“People can’t even wrap their heads around coral bleaching or algal blooms much less the severity of snails and such not being able to sublimate calcium into shells anymore.” – Emotionally_dead

Some urged others to be respectful of nature.

“It’s where the food chain starts. Mankind is full speed ahead, d**n the torpedoes doing our best to completely destroy it with absolutely no regard for anything, even ourselves.”

“Ultimately, we’ll get what we deserve for the arrogant and callous way we’ve treated this planet.” – IfIKnewThen

“As a scuba diver, the most important thing to know is that the ocean doesn’t care about you. It might not be actively out to get you, but it’s also not going to help you.”

“You aren’t really meant to be there and it’s of no consequence what happens to you. Nothing there is conducive to you staying alive.”

“It’s an uneasy truce that you’re the only real party to. So it follows that all the warnings about paying attention, knowing your equipment, and remembering your training are in fact not bulls**t.”

“You’re a visitor, so treat it and yourself with respect. The ocean will continue what it’s been doing for eons whether you’re there or not. You don’t have that luxury.” – bg-j38

Some of these facts, especially the stranger creatures that have been discovered in deeper parts of the ocean, are particularly unsettling, especially when we mostly think about sparkling water and bright, sunny beaches.

While this may not stop all of us from going into the ocean ever again, perhaps it will give us the pause we need to appreciate the vastness of nature and the respect we should have for it.

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Coolest Facts About Greenland You Need to Know

Greenland is not a common tourist destination, considering most of the island is covered in a massive ice sheet.

So in lieu of traveling there, here are some facts about Greenland that you might not know.

The name is not fitting but served a purpose.

We all know Greenland is not green, but did you know it got its name in order to lure people to move there?

While exiled on icey island, Erik the Red gave Greenland its name in hopes that it would attract settlers.

Most people living there are Inuit.

Today 88% of the island’s population are Inuit, who call their country Inuit Nunaat or Kalaallit Nunaat, meaning Land of the People or Land of the Greenlanders in Greenlandic.

It is pretty big.

Greenland is the world’s largest non-continent island, covering over 840,000 square miles.

That’s larger than France, Germany, Spain, the UK, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, and Belgium combined.

And it’s seriously frozen.

Almost 80% of the landmass of Greenland is covered by ice caps and glaciers. But the remaining 20% is nearly as large as Sweden.

The entirety of Greenland has a population of roughly 56,000. About 17,000 of those people live in Nuuk, the capital.

And old.

Scientists estimate that the Greenland ice sheet is between 400,000 and 800,000 years old.

The Ilulissat Icefjord is the most productive glacier in the Northern Hemisphere and has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

And, they like fishing.

The primary source of income for Greenlanders is fishing. Most exports are halibut and shrimp.

And golf.

In mid-March, Greenland holds the Ice Golf World Championships in Uummannaq.

The golfers play on a course cut between icebergs and in snow fields.

It is considered Denmark territory.

Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. As a result, grants from Denmark also make up a large portion of income. The island was a Danish colony until 1953, attained home rule in 1979, and began full self-governing in 2009.

The government is a constitutional monarchy, with a 31-member unicameral parliament.

The country sends two representatives to the Danish Folketing, and the nominal head of state is the Danish Queen.

The official language of Greenland is Greenlandic. Danish is a secondary language, and English is widely understood.

But a lot of people want to visit.

The tourism on the island is expanding as well, as climate change has made it easier to explore the region.

And, with good reason.

One of the most incredible phenomena in Greenland is the midnight sun.

Above the Arctic Circle in the summer, the sun doesn’t set for months.

Instead, in many places, it looks like early evening when it’s midnight. Many hotels are outfitted with blackout curtains for this reason.

Mainly to visit the springs.

Greenland is home to a number of hot springs. These springs average 98 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

There is so much history.

The Hvalsey Church, the first Christian church on the continent, is one of the best-preserved Norse ruins.

Geographically, Greenland is part of North America. But as a Danish territory, it’s considered part of Europe.

And, summers are beautiful.

July is the only month when Greenland’s temperature reaches above freezing.

The National Day in Greenland is June 21st. It’s celebrated with coffee, cake and, in many places, a big buffet. Many Greenlanders also put on a flag parade, complete with national costumes.

If you want to travel to Greenland, there are only two ways to get there:

By plane from Iceland or Denmark, or on a cruise ship sailing to the region.

It’s a secluded island, but it has a lot of marvels.

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People Share Little-Known Facts About Their Home State

The United States is a pretty a darn big country and each state is commonly known for some specific features like landmarks, spots of natural beauty or specific customs.

Sometimes the things a state is known for aren’t the most interesting things about that state, though.

Redditor FriendoAmigo asked:

“US Residents of Reddit: What is a lesser known fact about the state you live in?”

It Snows In Arizona

“Arizona isn’t all desert. The northern half is pine trees, lotsa greenery, & snow.” -ThatsMyOpiniiiooon

“This actually surprised me so much when I moved here a few years ago. I lived in the PNW before and was shocked that there are places here almost like it, just farther north. I live in the south though so we just have sand. Lots of sand. ?” -smc0303

“You can ski in Tucson! If they open the road after it snows.” -Redditor

Pennsylvania Used To Be Über German

“Until WWI German was the most spoken language in PA. Papers were printed in it, schools were taught in it, it was spoken in homes and businesses.”

“Then we soured on Germany and in a matter of years it was erased except for place names, last names, and the language of the Plain [Mennonite, Amish, Anabaptist] people.” -tehmlem

Apparently, So Was Texas?

“There is a dialect of German that is only spoken in Texas.” -Implicit_Hwyteness

“Really? What’s it called? Texan German?” -Oiltownboi

“‘Texasdeutsch’, yeah.” -Implicit_Hwyteness

“If you’re interested you can hear it on youtube. Wikitongues has an interview with an older woman speaking it.”

“As a German speaker it’s very strange to hear. She uses really antiquated words. It’s like someone from a time machine” -Fylfalen

Jersey Devil Territory

“New Jersey is home to the Pine Barrens, basically the cleansing apparatus for the entire Northeastern seaboard for the last few centuries. Interesting lore surrounding the New Jersey Devil living there too.” -Kin2monkey

Swiss Cheese Isn’t From Switzerland

“Swiss cheese was created in Ohio, the state ranks number one in swiss cheese production in the country.” -cheesecake_fiend

“Swiss cheese is any variety of cheese that resembles Emmental cheese, a yellow, medium-hard cheese that originated in the area around Emmental, Switzerland.”

“Baby Swiss and Lacy Swiss are two varieties of American Swiss cheeses. Both have small holes and a mild flavor. Baby Swiss is made from whole milk, and Lacy Swiss is made from low fat milk. Baby Swiss was developed in the mid-1960s outside of Charm, Ohio, by the Guggisberg Cheese Company, owned by Alfred Guggisberg.” -BryGuyB

“What !? I’ve been lied to! At least tell me it was invented by a Swiss man in Ohio?” -DatTF2

“Google tells me that a Swiss man named Alfred Guggisberg immigrated to the US and created the cheese in Ohio Amish country.” -cheesecake_fiend

“And if anyone is passing through this area I strongly suggest that they buy some Guggisberg baby Swiss! The best Swiss Cheese I have ever had.”

“Pair it with some ‘trail’ bologna – you can probably find both in the same place if you’re shopping in the area.” -Labhran

Nuclear Oops

“In 1961, a nuclear bomb payload was dropped on Goldsboro, NC when a B-52 started coming apart midair. It was like one failsafe away from detonating, preventing the Piedmont from becoming a crater.”

“We don’t hear about that much and I’m surprised more people I talk to in our state don’t know about it.” -hangtight97

“The part about one of the bombs nearly exploding wasn’t declassified until 2013.” -CedarWolf

Alaska Isn’t All Frozen

“Alaska isn’t just frozen tundra. We also have the largest rainforest in the US, the Tongass.”

“Where I live, you can see old growth rainforest, ocean, fjords, glaciers, and snow capped 10,000 foot mountains all in the same view, while enjoying mild and stable temperatures that only occasionally dip below the 30s or above the 60s (Fahrenheit).”

“Also, because our summertime daylight hours are so long, we grow monster record setting vegetables!”

“I should say Alaska grows record setting vegetables in the Palmer area. Where I live in the rainforest, growing veggies requires cover and lots of fertilizer because there is too much rain.” -ghiagirl13

Iowa Really Is That Empty

“Many people think that Iowa’s emptiness is exaggerated in movies and TV, it’s not. I live in a town of 200 people and the nearest town (about 15 miles away) has 500, if I go to the edge of town, which takes like 3 minutes on foot, then I’d see nothing but corn fields and maybe a house” -Cayden5

“My favorite Iowa fact is that despite its low population, Iowa is actually the most developed state in the country because farm fields still count as development. We have very small % of wilderness left even compared to densely-populated states like NJ and DE.” -Dangerous-Ad-170

You Can’t Have It Back

“Minnesota was not a very populous state during the Civil War, but we sent hundreds of soldiers to fight, including the First Minnesota. The First Minnesota Regiment suffered 80% casualties at the Battle of Gettysburg, but for their sacrifice they won a Virginian Battle Flag as a trophy from the field.”

“Every so often Virginia asks for Minnesota to return it, and every time Minnesota tells them to f*ck off.” -CaptValentine

“I love that story. I read that Virginia sued them saying ‘that flag is part of our heritage!’ and Minnesota basically said ‘yeah, and taking it from you is part of ours ?‘” -incredible_mr_e

“Technically there has been a ruling in 1905 to return Civil War relics to their original states but I would like to point out that the CSA does not exist anymore, in part due to the First Minnesota’s sacrifice, so we actually can’t return it to it’s place of origin if we wanted to. Which we don’t. F*ck off, Virginia.” -CaptValentine

“Terrible governor, but I loved Jesse Ventura’s response to Virginia when they asked for it back, ‘why? we won’.” -air-bear1

“Oh Virginia, you silly sausage, that’s not how capture the flag works! (I’m from MN as well btw)” -2_cats_high_5ing

Texas Probably Isn’t Like You Think

“I’m from Texas, but I’ve lived/spent time in the northeast, midwest and Europe. These are the things that surprise people:

“1.Texas is one of the most diverse states in the nation. e.g.. People commonly assume Texas is very conservative, rural, and white, when it’s actually fairly purple, has large urban populations, and many ethnicities and cultures. Some people are surprised to learn Houston is almost as large (pop wise) as Chicago, and Dallas, Austin, San Antonio are some of the largest cities in the US.”

“2. Most Texans don’t have thick accents. If I had a nickel for every Minnesotan that said ‘you can’t be from Texas, you sound normal’ I’d have, idk, like a dollar or something. Only the most rural areas really have thick accents.”

“3. Texas isn’t really culturally part of the south. Louisiana through Texas forms a kind of cultural gradient between the south and southwest.”

“4. A noteworthy amount of Texans want to secede. It’s really rare actually, it’s more of a meme.”

“5. Texas has several varieties of bbq. It’s not just smoked brisket, but also varieties of barbacoa and direct flame grilling.”

“What is true:”

“Texans are willing to fight about bbq and smoking meat.”

“It’s hot as hell.”

“There are a lot of rural populations that have horses, even if most people don’t.”

“Texans are very proud of Texas.” -Fmeson

“The only show I ever saw that even got close to explaining the oddity that is Houston is Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. A lot of cities use ‘diverse’ as a tagline but Houston is on another level.”

“It’s more than the fact that it has a long history of welcoming immigrants from all over the world. Once you are there, you are a Houstonian.” -voice_of_craisin

The things everyone knows about states are often not their coolest or most interesting features.

There might even be cool facts or landmarks about your state that you don’t yet know.

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People Break Down The Most Mind-Blowing Facts About Space

Space.

It truly is the final frontier—a place so vast and unknown we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of truly knowing what awaits us out in the cosmos.

Space also has some things in it that are absolutely mind-blowing.  As space essentially holds the answers to the mysteries we humans seek about our existence, we explore—as much as physically possible in this day and age—even if it is dangerous.

Redditor TheLichB*tch asked some space fanatics:

“What are the most mind-blowing facts about deep space?”

Here are some of those answers.

Asteroid Fat, Pockets Full, I’m Going Shopping

“While NASA catalogs all the asteroids in the asteroid belt, they don’t actually take them into account when firing probes and such through it because it’s so spaced out that there’s a very low chance of them actually hitting the probe.”

“Densely packed asteroid fields where you’d have to dodge and weave through them are pretty much sci-fi.”-Tmaffa

“But there is enough mass there that calculations have to be made to account for small gravity perturbations.”

“I had a professor who had worked on the Voyager project on the team that plotted the trajectories.”

“He was disappointed that Voyager 1 reached Saturn on a path that was off by approximately 600 km from what they expected due to some incomplete information about objects in the asteroid belt. A discrepancy of 0.00000007%, so we forgave him.”-TheGooOnTheFloor

“Astronomer here! One thing I don’t think we discuss enough lately is that sharks are older than Saturn’s rings!”

“Explanation: recent research from the Cassini spacecraft indicate that Saturn’s rings are, in fact, very young- as young as 100 million years old.”

“(We can tell this because years of bombardment from essentially tiny soot particles would make the rings much darker than they currently appear.”

“They definitely weren’t around 4.5 billion years, the age of the Solar System.) Sharks, on the other hand, have been around ~450 million years. Ergo, sharks > Saturn’s rings!”

“As for what caused the rings, it was likely an impact of some sort, and people are now arguing over the various details.”

“Here is a simulation of one of my favorites, which involves a comet hitting a large icy moon. Pretty lucky for us though, because TBH Saturn would appear nowhere near as incredible without the rings!”-Andromeda321

 

Zoom Zoom Zoom

“There’s a large cloud of dust and gas near the centre of the Milky Way called Sagittarius B2.”

“It contains a significant amount of alcohol — non-drinkable forms, but also standard ethanol — and also high levels of a compound called ethyl formate, which is used as a flavouring in raspberry flavoured things.”

“It’s also about 150 light years across, which is pretty damn big. The centre of the galaxy smells like a giant raspberry daiquiri… maybe.”-Portarossa

“Hold up your hands and clap them together. Wait one second, then do it again. If you could plot the distance between the first clap and the second clap, it would be more than 800 kilometers.”

“This is because the Earth is moving around the sun, the sun is moving around the center of the galaxy, the galaxy is moving through the Virgo Supercluster, and the Virgo Supercluster is barreling through the universe.”

“When you add up all the velocities and compare the result to the cosmic microwave background (which is the closest thing we have to a universal frame of reference), it comes out to about 800 kilometers per second.”

“Sit still for an hour, and you’ll travel farther than you’ll ever walk in your life.”-RamsesThePigeon

A Big Ole Nothin’

“The concept of voids has always been mind-bending to me. For those who aren’t familiar – our universe is basically formed of galactic groupings called ‘clusters’ and ‘filaments,’ depending on whether they are groupings or long strands.”

“Voids are the space in between these groupings, and are essentially massive zones of near-total nothingness, with something like ten times fewer particles than even interstellar space. Sh*t’s wild.”-KyleAparthos

“If you snap a piece of metal in half in the vacuum of space it will weld itself back together seamlessly if you rejoin the pieces.”

“The only thing that stops it from happening on Earth is because we have a pesky oxygen rich atmosphere that ruins everything cool. Except fire. Fire is cool.”-Tmaffa

“Space is empty, like, really empty. If you flew a spacecraft from one side of the galaxy to the other, what are the chances you run into something?”

“What is ‘something’? If you go through the galaxy you’re guaranteed to hit molecular gas, dust, and maybe up to pebble-sized objects or something.”

“But if you mean hitting anything planet-sized or bigger, you have a 0% chance (within rounding errors).”

“Put another way, if the entire universe had stars as densely packed as they are in galaxies, you’d still have to travel all the way across the observable universe 6300 times before you’d expect to run into anything planet-sized or bigger by accident.”-Syradil

“To add onto how empty space is. When Andromeda and the Milky way collide, there is almost no chance of there being a collision of planets or stars.”

“It will impact gravity, but on a grand scale, not a scale where any solar system will be affected.”-jaytrade21

Out Of Known Space

“I’ll bungle the details, but that a man made object, Voyager, has left our solar system, has gone billions of Kilometers away and that we are able to receive info from it (via radio waves?)”

“This truly boggles my mind. That we can receive a message from that far away. I think someone pointed out that it’s largely because space is mostly empty.”-Tmaffa

“This image is the result of a 10-day exposure by the Hubble telescope pointed at the darkest point of the night sky, the size of Teddy Roosevelt’s eye on a dime held at arm’s length away from your eye.”

“Every blip of light is another galaxy with hundreds of billions of stars and planets.”-FlamingoJump

“That deep space is so ‘far away’ that if we (humanity) ever tried to go there, by the time we got there, we’d have already been there, colonized it, and possibly gone extinct there.”

“Imagine you’re a pioneer. You’re the first person ever who is about to move from the east coast to the west coast. You set out on a journey that’s going to take 10 years by horse and carriage.”

“(Moving very slowly with a family.) 1 year into the trip cars are invented. And so another family sets out and makes it to California in 1 week. By the time you show up, family B has already been living in California for nearly 9 years.”

“Take that scenario, and apply it to space. I’m blanking on the name of the theory but essentially it says that If we tried to travel anywhere of great distance, technology advances too fast for a faster means of transportation to not be invented before we get there.”

“So someone would always arrive before us.”-habeeb51

It’s probably on most of our bucket lists to get to space at some point in our lifetimes.  With the speed at which technology is advancing, that is absolutely plausible.

And once we can get there en masse, who knows what new facts will emerge.

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People Share The Coolest Mathematical Facts They Know

While many of us rushed through our required math classes as quickly as we could in high school and college, some people really found joy in those classes.

After spending several more years studying the subject, they also discovered there were many more fun facts to mathematics than Geometry and Calculus may have suggested.

Redditor xxTick asked: 

“What’s the coolest mathematical fact you know of?”

Two Redditors joked about the Banach-Tarski paradox.

“Banach-Tarski paradox, in a nutshell what it says is that if you take a (let’s make it simpler) 3-dimensional ball, you can partition it in finite number of pieces (which is only true for 3-dim case, otherwise it’s countably infinite).”

“Then if you rotate and translate some of the pieces, you can get two exactly identical balls that we started with. So you might think we doubled the volume, indeed we did.” – I_luv_your_mom

“There was an old Reddit post about this that made me giggle. The user found out that if you order an extra tortilla with one of those massive Chipotle burritos, then separate the contents between the two, you will get two burritos of equal size to the original.”

“They called it the Banach–Tarski burrito.” – buggy65

Others were in awe over the power of doubling numbers.

“I had a coworker how refused to believe that if you multiply a penny by 2 every day for a month that you’d be a millionaire by the end of the month, even after I had walked her through it with a calculator.” – Old_man_at_heart

“This blew my mind, I saw something somewhere saying to start investing a penny on the first and you won’t believe what you’d get by the 30th. I was thinking like $500!! I was wrong.” – DranoDrinker

One Redditor wanted to talk about circles.

“I like to draw this one out to explain to people.”

“Circles (people) and lines (relationships) with every other circle. It’s easy to see how quickly the number of lines increase, which shows that adding more people is not a linear increase in probability, but a … exponential or multiplicative… I’m not sure which one at the moment.”

“1 person = 0 lines”

“2 people = 1 line”

“3 people = 3 lines”

“4 people = 6 lines”

“…”

“23 people = 253 lines”

“24 people = 276 lines”

“25 people = 300 lines”

“26 people = 325 lines” – SalAtWork

Some talked about the Birthday Problem and probability.

“The Birthday Problem.”

“If you have 23 people in a room, there is a 50% chance that at least two of them have the same birthday. If you put 70 people in, the probability jumps to 99.9%.”

“It seems f**king weird to me but I haven’t done math since high school so what do I know.” – honeyimsorry

“The reason this is confusing for most people is that they’re thinking of how many people they’d have to meet to find someone who shares their birthday. You need to think of how many potential pairs there are, which grows fairly quickly.”

“And, you need to do the calculation in negative: as we add each person, calculate the odds that no one shares a birthday, and the odds that there is a match are 1 – that.”

“You start with one. Obviously no match. Second one: 364/365 says they’re different. But when we add a third, there are two potential matches, so only a 363/365 chance he doesn’t match, and 362/365 for the fourth.”

“The odds there is a match are 1 – the product of the other fractions. Since the fractions are close to one, they almost equal one, but as each person comes in, we’re multiplying a number that starts to be significantly less than one by a fraction that each time is more notably less than one, so the odds there is no match start to fall quickly until they dip just below half at the 23 mark.” – TheAlpacaLives

Then there was the Collatz Conjecture.

“The Collatz Conjecture: It’s an unsolved mathematical conjecture that can be summarized as follows; Take any positive integer, or ‘n.’”

“If n is even, divide it by 2 to get n / 2. If n is odd, multiply it by 3 and add 1 to obtain 3n + 1. Repeat the process indefinitely. The conjecture is that no matter what number you start with, you will always eventually reach 1.”

“For example, start with 21. it’s odd so I multiply by 3 and add 1, to get 64. 64 is even so I divide by 2 to get 32, again to get 16, 8, 4, 2, 1. No one has found a number that doesn’t follow this rule.” – AsiaWaffles

One Redditor talked about Rubik’s cubes.

“The maximum number of moves needed to solve a Rubik’s cube from any configuration is a mere 20.”

“Expecting Numberphile subscribers to have a strong showing in this thread.”

“To clarify, I mean the OPTIMAL solution from any given configuration will require fewer than or equal to 20 moves to solve.” – AlexVX_

One Redditor loved talking about multiplication. 

“1 x 1 = 1”

“11 x 11 = 121”

“111 x 111 = 12321”

“1111 x 1111 = 1234321”

“And on it goes” – IAmSomewhatHappy

A few talked about Pascal’s Triangle.

“Also, Pascal’s Triangle gives you the powers of 11 if you look at each row as a number.” – Aurora320

“I realized that in algebra class and tried to explain to my teacher why I thought it was so cool and he just didn’t get it. F**k you, Mr. Chase.” – 1stonepwn

One Redditor talked about Shizuo Kakutani.

“Shizuo Kakutani”

“If you take enough random steps in two dimensions, you’ll always eventually get back to your starting point. The same cannot be said of three dimensions.”

“I just find the idea that you will always get back to where you started by making random moves absolutely mind-boggling, and the fact things change just because you can go up and down is even weirder.” – _9tail_

One Redditor shared how they got into math.

“As a PhD student in mathematics, this is not a sexy answer, but one of the reasons I fell in love with math was in my differential equations course when we discussed modeling epidemic using mathematical equations.”

“It was so incredible to me that back in 1927, Kermack and McKendrick came up with a simple formulation of how to model a disease.”

“This idea has been expanded greatly, but their original version of the S-I-R compartmental model is still one of the coolest things. And it can also model rumors as well!” – hpmetsfan

Mathematics and similar subjects may have not been everyone’s favorite subject while they were going through school, but it’s clear now there was more to it than addition, subtraction and solving for X.

With facts like these, it’s almost enough to want to study math a little more again.

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People Share The Most Obvious But Little-Known Facts That Will Make You Say ‘D’Oh!’

By the time we reach a certain age, we think we know everything. Some of us might even be overconfident in our wisdom.

But to those who are erudite and hold multiple degrees of higher learning, they have another think coming.

The truth is, we never stop learning in this thing called life.

Aside from examples of people who are book smart vs. having street smarts, there are common misunderstandings experienced by both camps, and they result in a head slap moment that makes them utter, for lack of a better expression, “D-oh!”

Curious to hear from strangers on the internet, Redditor TikiTC asked:

“What’s a little-known but obvious fact that will immediately make all of us feel stupid?”

English Is Hard

“Words that are spelled the same but pronounced with emphasis on different syllables is actually indicative of the part of speech it is.”

“Stress on the first syllable is a noun. Stress on the last syllable is a verb. Examples: CON-tract and con-TRACT. The former is a noun ( sign this contract) whereas the latter is a verb (the muscles contract). Same with record, address, impact, object, and a few others.” – Verlonica

What’s In A Name

“The words Laser and Scuba are actually acronyms and they stand for:”

“Laser- Light Amplification (by) Stimulated Emission (of) Radiation. Scuba- Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.” – Gerd-Neek

It’s Two Words

“The word ‘helicopter’ has two components. They aren’t ‘heli’ and ‘copter.’ They are ‘helico’ and ‘pter.’”

“‘Helico’ (helix) and ‘pter’ (wing, like with ‘pterodactyl’)” – kabukistar

It’s Casual

“Thee and Thou were actually the informal forms. The King James Bible used them so that the relationship with God would seem more personal.” – kkngs

Obstructed View

“Cats, dogs, and other similar animals can’t see directly below their faces.”

“Because their snout gets in the way.”

“(That’s why you have to point out the treat a million times, they’re not stupid, the damn thing is just in their blind spot)” – tinyhatonapumpkin

“My favorite thing to tell people: Penguins swim faster than Michael Phelps.”

“Remember that discovery special that pitted a shark against him to see who was faster? Completely stupid, because even shark FOOD swims faster than he does! (Sharks eat penguins, to clarify)” – mushupenguin

Join The Circus

“Everyone has seen shows or movies about traveling circuses, mainly in the 1930’s or 1940’s. During the Depression, running away to join the circus was a semi-reasonable option.”

“Many people scoff at the Florida law you must feed the meter where you park your elephant.”

“Those circuses had a travel season that heavily relied on summer and warmer months. They would spend the winter in Florida until the next travel season. AHS even had an entire season about this.” – UnihornWhale

A Lot To Unpack

“Elephants have some of the closest looking breasts to humans besides primates of course. Two of them.”

“You just kind of look at female elephants in the context you usually see them and whoop, there it is and you can’t unsee it ever again.” – breastronaut

Certain Introverts

“Antisocial means that you are hostile or harmful to organized society. As in being or marked by behavior deviating sharply from the social norm.”

“Asocial is rejecting or lacking the capacity for social interaction.” – OttoManSatire

Not For Aesthetics

“Covered bridges are designed with roofs to protect and preserve the wooden structure from the elements.”

“Without the cover they’d last about 20 years, with the cover they can last up to 100. They’re not built that way just to look charming.” – ghostofhenryvii

Do You Know Where You Are?

“911 operators have no f’king clue where you are instantly unless you’re on a landline.”

“You HAVE to say where you are. It’s not our fault movies made you think we have a spy level video of you in your car.”

“Know your location.” – BeardsuptheWazoo

Statistics Say

“Around 70% of all car accidents happen within 10 miles of your home……because over 70% of your driving is within 10 miles of your home.”

“It’s a statistic driving teachers love to toss out there, that most accidents happen close to your home. But if you think about it, most of your driving is close to your home.”

“Even if you drive 20 miles to work, 50% of your driving will take place 10 miles from your home. The average commute is around 15 miles, and most people shop close to home.”

“So it’s really common sense that the majority of your driving will take place in that 10 mile radius, even if you travel further for work or other activities.” – sebrebc

Spud History

“Potatoes didn’t arrive in Europe until the 16th century.”

“It’s so ubiquitous, you’d think it would’ve been a part of English culture since 10,000 BC. – chalkyWubnub”

You’ll Become Unhinged

“You don’t actually bite down. You bite up because of your lower jaw.” – Random_Weirdo_Girl

Fresh Specimen

“When extracting organs for donating, doctors need to keep the body alive, obviously through machines, but they need to keep the blood pumping.” – [deleted]

Let Them Flow

“Tear ducts drain tears, they don’t produce them.” – Katiesullivan01

Legend Of The Fall

“It was never mentioned that Humpty-Dumpty was an egg.” – YummyMango124

Contaminated Seasoning

“Almost all samples of Sea Salt that you can buy in supermarkets are contaminated by microplastics from all the crap in the ocean.” – Cockalorum

“When a nurse gives you an IV – they aren’t leaving the metal needle inside your arm – they actually remove that and only a soft plastic tube remains – so you don’t need to keep your arm that straight, relax.” – Snakes_for_Bones

When I was once told Alaska was considered the easternmost state of the United States, I looked at my informant like he was crazy.

It logically didn’t make sense because, in my mind, Maine was the furthest eastern point.

But then, he explained to me how Alaska’s Aleutian Islands cross longitude 180º, which would make Alaska’s westernmost part of the state fall under the Eastern Hemisphere.

Even though it wasn’t a “D-oh” moment for me, I was definitely enlightened. But I don’t think many people would know about this interesting trivia.

That’s one for discussion at your next cocktail party, I suppose.

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People Confess Which Things They Learned Embarrassingly Late In Life

They say it’s never too late to learn anything.

While that sentiment may be true, it doesn’t mean acquiring what others thought was common knowledge later in life isn’t an utter embarrassment.

Still, that shouldn’t prevent us from seeking wisdom no matter how old we are.

Some may argue that’s easier said than done.

Redditor keepcalmandbecalm provided an opportunity for strangers online to fess up about being late to the game of enlightenment.

They asked:

“What fact did you learn at an embarrassingly late age?”

Before The Feast

“I had to explain to my friend last year (28YO) that the turkey we saw in the farm park was the same animal as the turkey dinner she was eating.”

“She knew this about chicken, but… just never made that mental connection about turkey.” – pianobarbarian1

Airborne Sewage

“I thought piss and sh*t were just dropped out of airplanes mid flight and disintegrated in thin air.” – I_AmTheGovernment

Rinsing Process

“Shampoo goes on first. Made the mistake of arguing with a friend in high about how conditioner makes your hair all weird feeling, so you use the shampoo at the end to bring it back to normal. He’s never let me live it down.” – CeeCeeBABCOCK

Double Whammy

“I’ve got two.”

“Whenever I complained about any part of my body aching, my dad would say “oh that’s cause you’re growing”. And I believed him, right until I was 19.”

“In my culture we use water to wash our asses after pooping, and sure, we all learnt that. What I didn’t realise was that you’re still meant to wipe after, so I walked around with wet pants until I was 20 facepalm.” – yas9in

Growth Spurt

“Growing pains.Thats what my mom always told me when I was little and my legs hurt.I’m 6 feet tall now female.My son is constantly saying his legs hurt so I googled this assuming it’s growing pains.”

“When your a kid your muscles just get sore from over playing,sports,etc.This was maybe a month ago that I learned this,always assumed Growing Pains was a real thing.” – Wtfismypassword4444

Airborne Amphibian

“When I was 28 I learned that flying fish are a real animal. I thought they were pretend, like unicorns.” – fishnugget1

Hot And Bothered

“That the phrase ‘in heat’ didn’t mean they lived in a warm climate. I learned that when I was today years old.” – owestball

Black Hole?

“There was a big building called ‘The Space Center’ that we’d always pass by and for the longest time I thought it was like a space camp sorta place. I was well into the teens when it finally clicked.”

“It’s a storage facility. So yeah that was a major letdown on all fronts.” – WhenBuyIt

Not About Role Playing

“That I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus is about the mom kissing the dad who’s dressed up as Santa. I just assumed it was a little innocent cheating.” – PoolSharkPete

Two Articles Of Clothing

“I was somewhere in my 20s when I found out that the words “sweater” and “sweatshirt” aren’t interchangeable.” – Caitlen315

It’s Not A Mashup

“Mangopapaya is not a fruit, my mom just never remembered the difference between a mango and a papaya, so I grew up thinking a mangos real name is mangopapaya.” – Marosie

What Makes Them Puff

“Pufferfish puff up with water, not air. It’s so obvious and it never even occurred to me.”

“I only realised how stupid I was when I read a reddit comment about a year ago pointing the fact out.” – AgnosticMantis

Trimmed

“I learned at 13 I was circumcized.” – Pyromaniac64

A Safe Combo

“That eating fish and having milk won’t kill you. My parents seem to believe that the combination makes you sick but Google told me otherwise..” – healme_

Altered Snacks

“Pickles are cucumbers and raisins are grapes.” – foxtailavenger

A Pun

“Not a fact, just a realization. It wasn’t until recently (and I’m in my late 40s) that I realized the phrase ‘if I told you that you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me’ didn’t mean that you’d lose respect for me for the act.”

“It finally dawned on me that it meant what the rest of you all know it means. Thankfully this dawned on me privately and not in conversation or I’d have felt like the double the moron I do now.” – Prima13

The Argument

“I thought concur meant disagree till i got in an argument with someone and later found out they were trying to agree with me.” – Lord_Ikaros

Proper Pronunciation

“How rendezvous and dachshund are pronounced. I knew what the words were when spoken, obviously, but every time I’d see them written I’d get stuck. I’d try to sound them out.”

“I remember being stuck behind Buick Rendezvous in traffic and sound it out phonetically and think to myself ‘well that’s a weird thing to name a car.’ In my mid 20s.” – JaggedUmbrella

It’s That Month

“That the month is pronounced and spelled February and not Febuary despite being born in that month.” – jetpacksheep

Crunching The Numbers

“The twelve days of Christmas are from Christmas to the Feast of the Epiphany sometimes called Three Kings Day on January 6th. I was raised Catholic. It’s a holy day of obligation. I just never counted the days. I even wondered why it’s 12 days in the song.”

“The fact that it’s called epiphany stings a bit. I’m 45.” – prolific-lurker

You Only Get One Replacement

“Not me, but I was talking to my best friend about how I have a lisp since the accident last year that left me without several teeth.”

“He replied with ‘wait, it’s been a year why haven’t they grown back?’”

“Me- wtf do you mean, teeth don’t grow back?”

“Him-no no they don’t grow back but wouldn’t the new set have grown in yet or are they still coming in?”

“Me-new set? You only have one set of adult teeth.”

“Him-wait what”

“This man made it to 22 firmly believing you lose one set of teeth as a kid and then have TWO SETS of adult teeth.”

“God, I wish, then I wouldn’t be paying $4000 for replacement teeth.” – MidnightCiggarette

I really shouldn’t be laughing at any of these.

For the longest time, I was fully convinced I had to avoid swallowing watermelon seeds because I thought one would grow inside of me.

I was rightfully roasted for ages when I learned the truth when I was 12.