People Share The Most Terrifying Facts About The Universe

What life lies beyond the clouds?

What life forces dance among the stars?

What secrets does the sky hold?

What sort of ferocious creature is sitting on a planet waiting to evaporate us?

Or what sort of dark element hides in the vastness of the unknown, biding it’s time to unleash a dangerous fury over all the planets and lives in it’s path?

These are all the lighthearted thoughts I ponder when I think about the Universe and space. And what could possibly be out there.

Sometimes science and knowledge can be more anxiety inducing than fun.

Remember back in the days of middle school? We’d all learn about space and space travel and theorize about what lies beyond and it would be a fascinating process. That was cool.

Or do you recall enjoying films like Alien, Armageddon and Deep Imapct?

We’d watch them and laugh about how none of that could actually happen.

Now cut to 2021 and I’ve lost track of the number of asteroids I hear about that have barely missed us and or are coming for us.

Now who’s laughing? We know next to nothing about what is out there. And the more we discover, the less I want to hear.

And I’m not alone in this opinion.

Redditor ZenitsuCrybaby wanted to discuss all the things we may not want or need to know but do.

They asked:

“What is the most terrifying fact about our universe/world?”

The Big Burn Out…

“Every once in a while, our sun just emits a solar flare big enough to end civilization.”

“In 1859 we had one hit the Earth powerful enough that the telegraph system became self powered for a while before burning itself out.”

“Fortunately at that time, that was pretty much the extent of our electrical infrastructure, so the damage didn’t do too much to civilization.”

“If one hit today without any warning, every system on long spans of wire would be fried. We’d lose a massive amount of infrastructure.”

“No refrigeration for food distribution, large chunks of communication infrastructure gone, massive amounts of manufacturing capacity gone.”

“Pretty much every aspect of life would be affected. And without that infrastructure, we almost certainly don’t have the capacity to rebuild the infrastructure before people start starving to death.”

“And once people start starving, things are likely to go downhill pretty quickly.”

“You might be wondering what are the odds that we’ll ever see another solar storm that large, and the answer is that we already have.”

“On July 23 of 2012, a similarly sized solar flare missed the Earth by 9 days.”

“In the last few decades we’ve added in some early warning systems and protocols to give us a chance of surviving.”

“Basically we’ll get about 45 minutes warning to disconnect as much of the electrical grid as we can, then hope enough of it survives.”  ~ open_door_policy

Better Life Out There

“The universe’s opinion of us: Mostly harmless.”  ~ FredGruntbuggly

“What’s even scarier is that if there is other intelligent life out there, it could have stuff one million times stronger than all of the nuclear weapons on earth combined.”  ~ ThatOneDoveSlayer

Tiny, tiny bits…

“How unfathomably tiny our planet is in comparison to the continuously expanding universe.”  ~Grentis

“The way that the universe operates on such an infinitesimal small scale, but also an impossibly massive scale freaks me out.”

“Even if we can look at the numbers and know the scale, I feel like our minds can’t really conceptualize it.” ~ Reddit

“What’s worse is that not only is the universe continuously expanding, it’s accelerating.”

“Meaning that as time progresses that distant galaxies will literally fade from view, the light emitted from them will never reach us.”

“Eventually the inhabitants of our galaxy will never know of that the universe extends beyond our local group of gravitational bound galaxies.” 

“And even eons beyond that… the notion of other galaxies outside the milky-way will be myth.”

“Dark Energy is one cruel witch.” ~ GRVrush2112

The Grand Expansion…

“What’s outside the universe?”

“If it’s always expanding, what is it expanding into?”

“Any time I think about this for too long it reminds me about how little I understand about the existence of anything and it scares me.”  ~ businessgoose3000

Empty Spaces

“One of the largest “structures” in the universe is the Boötes void. A void is a region of space that contains very little celestial objects or matter.”

“It is a region of the universe 330 million light years in diameter. Despite this it has been found, so far, to contain only 60 galaxies.”  ~ NOVAQIX

We are so terribly young…

“I’ve posted this before but I think about it a lot. Our civilization is so, so early.”

“The universe is expected to continue star formation for 100 trillion years. We exist 13.7 billion years after the big bang.”

“That’s 0.014 percent of the total “habitable” time of our universe.”

“If the big bang was January 1st, 1900 and star formation ends at January 1st, 2000. Then it’s currently January 6th, 1900.”

“What are the chances of that? Why do we exist now, so early, instead of any other point in the rest of time?”  ~ TheReaper42

We know nothing for sure…

“Humans can’t understand the concept of eternal and we can’t understand the concept of infinite.”  ~eggslocated

“That’s why I’m scared of the afterlife, If there is one. The idea of simply ceasing to exist scares me, but the idea of existing eternally also scares me.”

“I simply cannot comprehend the idea of existing forever and ever and ever and ever with no end in sight.”  ~ edd6pi

Anybody out there?

“There could be intelligent life on other planets or we could be the only form of intelligent life in the universe. Either scenario is pretty terrifying.”  ~ Thomas_Chinchilla

“To me, being all alone in the vast expanse of space is an extremely interesting possibility.”

“I scoff when people say it would be boring or a waste of space.”

“It would be absolutely fascinating if there was all of that out there, and then just us.”  ~ dubspace

And on Earth

“You can be born into a completely awful and nightmarish environment, and never escape it. You’ll be born miserable and die miserable.”  ~ DANYALKIM

“There’s also people born into these that do make it out and they’re much stronger for it and go on to ensure that many people don’t end up the way they were.”

“Doesn’t make it any better but at there’s a little glimmer in there somewhere.”  ~ Reddit

WARNING! DANGER!

“We’re not yet at the point of no return for the coming ecological catastrophe and we’re gonna sail past it anyway.”  ~ zomboromcom

“Considering the fact that our planet is the only one known to sustain intelligent life in the discovered universe.”

“It reminds you of how many things have to line up perfectly in order for that to be possible.”

“It is a very fragile balance, and certain ecological and atmospheric temperatures/resources/chemical concentrations are essential.”  

“Yet we look at the way we are carelessly screwing it up, but it is easy to imagine this one in a million planet becoming unlivable.”  ~ twilit_earth

Stop the Killing!

“We have millions of unknown living things on our planet, and most will never be discovered due to humans killing nature.”  ~ Cubsfan630

“Tbh it’s not even just humans killing nature. Humans are also just not capable of seeing or hearing tons of things.”

“There could be a giant 4 dimensional uv dragon sitting next to me and if I hear a fart my brain will blame it on the dog cause I can’t see the dragon.”

“Or that’s how I interpreted the other posts on this stuff recently lol.”  ~ raspberrykitsune

Well that is a lot to process. I don’t remember middle school and high school science classes being so full doom and gloom.

No matter what is out there, one thing is for sure. Humans… we have to do better!

We all play a part in the survival and the downfall, close to home and far and wide.

I’m going to stick to learning about English Lit now. There couldn’t be anything to worry about there.

Right?

People Who’ve Done Top Secret Work Finally Divulge What They Were Working On

Most of us will work a fairly wide variety of jobs over the course of our lives, and some of us walk away with some pretty interesting stories while trying to pay the bills.

The most fascinating jobs, though, have to be the ones that we’re not supposed to talk about.

Redditor Charcoals7 asked: 

“People who did super-secret work, what is something you can share now that you couldn’t before?”

Some had worked with dermatologists and plastic surgeons.

“Interned for a plastic surgeon who is very well known and does work on celebs. They sold their skincare line for hundreds of dollars and touted it as having highly advanced ingredients of the highest quality.”

“They bought most of it from a wholesale retailer who stuck their name on the bottle. The website looked sketchy tbh (to be honest).”

“They also had ’24k gold face masks’ that were purchased in bundles off of Amazon for cheap.”

“These fancy skincare lines are such a scam, don’t waste your money.”monkeylioness

“Dermatologists do this too.”

‘A lot, if not all, don’t really formulate their own products. They buy it in bulk at a discounted price from pharma sales reps, repackage, and mark up by a ridiculous percentage.”streakfolmlore

Others had experience with security.

“Friend had to get heaps of security clearance at one of his first jobs. Inventory reporting that fed into customs databases.”

“I had to speak to an FBI agent as part of his background check and the job really just amounts to tallying information almost like tick sheets.”tdasnowman

“Worked at an engineering department at a university that had an aviation engine testing shop. We got military surplus stuff all the time through industry agreements.”

“Some stuff that got dropped off were cruise missile engines with pretty advanced thrust vectoring and some stealthy design features.”

“All the aviation geeks were like, ‘We didn’t know that those missiles had that on them.’”

“Then some serious-looking men came to the department and took them back, and kindly reminded us not to talk about whatever it was we thought we saw but actually didn’t see because it had never happened.”

“I saw some of it published a few years ago in the open so I figure I’m good.”gunmedic15

“My grandpa worked for the NSA. Had to say he answered phones his entire life.”

“Went to the DC Spy Museum and they had his career on display. Wild. He cried a lot.”EepEekim

A few challenged the history books. 

“Dad (died 2016) was in the Navy and on one of the ships in the blockade that was part of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The official story is that no American ship fired any shots.”

“A few months before he died, Dad said his ship was one of several that fired shots.”xkulp8

“During the 1982 Falklands conflict, it was spread on the news that several British submarines were in the area, and this is likely what deterred the Argentine carrier Vientecinco de mayo from engaging the British fleet.”

“My father was a submariner at the time (didn’t go down there). When he was in the bar on base back home, it was announced on the radio that a certain British submarine was in the area. 

“The guy next to him said, ‘I hope not, I just walked off it an hour ago.’”

“Basically pulled the same trick the Royal Navy used against the Graf Spee in 1939.”EmperorOfNipples

There were gamers in the mix. 

“I was a QA tester on Half Life 2. At the time it operated under multiple code names outside of the main testing room: the two I remember was Red Rooster and Dirty Butler.”

“Security was INSANE. They had us in a small corner office with PCs and draped-out windows. Our lead kept the office locked at all times, and when we got into work each day we had to hand over all bags, cell phones, and any storage media we had.”

“If I recall, screenshots were only allowed with permission, and had to be sent in an email to the lead, then scrubbed from the computer.”

‘This was also during the time Vivendi Universal Games (where I worked) was having tensions with Valve over the whole Steam thing, so for a while, it didn’t seem like we’d get credited either: we eventually did, but only on Gamasutra.”

“The entire team got printed shirts that read, ‘I survived Red Rooster,’ and I’ve still got mine kicking around. It’s itchy, thick, and uncomfortable to wear, but I refuse to get rid of it, since it’s a memento I’m fairly proud of.”PatienceHero

“I worked at a printing company that made Magic The Gathering cards. It was insane.”

“There’s nothing quite like seeing uncut sheets of foil mythic rares stacked in a block 4 feet high 8 months before release.”

“I wasn’t allowed to play in tournaments during my tenure there and I had to sign an NDA.”feverishdodo

“I worked similarly at Hasbro, the parent company for Wizards of the Coast which owns Magic and I was given a free uncut press sheet of Japanese Rise of Eldrazi foil mythic rares. They also gave me a full set of the employee-only holiday cards and a bunch of other stuff.”

“Basically one of the higher-ups found out that I loved Magic and made a call to get a huge package of free stuff sent to me. I barely knew the guy but it was such an incredible thing to do that my whole department came out to watch me open the stuff.”

‘It’s one of my most cherished memories honestly.”

‘It makes sense though that a company made up largely of adults who love toys and games would retain that childlike spark of just wanting to give your friend a gift to make them happy, no strings attached.”

“If anyone here reads this and gets the chance to work for Hasbro, I can’t recommend it enough, TAKE THAT JOB!”

“I wish I still had the press sheet, but life gets in the way sometimes and I had to sell it along with all the other rare cards I had to make sure my wife and I could survive. I miss them, but making sure my wife felt a little more secure that month about money was easily worth all of my cards.”Itsfitzgames

There were wholesome secrets, too.

“Still secret: Sometimes I warn my dad about certain things and tell him how to react/ what to do (dad has autism so he can’t keep the truth from his expression) for my mom’s sake.”

“For example, my mom is older and got a shorter haircut and talked about how worried she was to show my dad because she knows he doesn’t like shorter hair on women.”

“I texted him to warn him and tell him to just smile and say it’s nice, DONT tell her you like it longer.”

“The next day, my mom couldn’t stop looking in the mirror because my dad said he really liked her haircut.”

“She doesn’t know it’s because I warn him about things and she will never know.”

“I love my dad but he is horrible at lying with his facial expressions. Same as instructing him to order flowers and a gift for my mom to send to grandma’s house for Valentine’s Day because she was visiting her mom and would be away.”CorruptManatee

Some secrets are less interesting than the fact they were made to be kept secret at one point, but every once in a while, a person finds a gem.

The ones that make us question something basic about our lives, or that remind us to be thankful?

Those are the best kinds of secrets.

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.

People Share The Absolute Weirdest Facts They Know

In our primary school years, many of us took great pride in the weirdest, most fun facts we could spout out to our friends and family members on command.

Some of us, though, never lost that passion and continued collecting factoids about the world around us.

Redditor lovedump44 asked: 

“Reddit, what is the weirdest FACT you know?”

Some talked about the state of Maine.

“Maine is the closest U.S. state to Africa.”Donald_Keyman

“[Maine] is also the only state with one syllable in its name.”BatskyStarman

The state of Ohio had something going for it, too.

“Ohio is the only state to not share a letter with the word ‘mackerel.’”hunter07100

There was quite the unexpected fact about sea cucumbers.

“I know that sea cucumbers, to protect themselves from enemies, will hurl their own internal organs at anything threatening them.”

“Pretty wild, I think, but it doesn’t hurt the critter none. The sea cucumber can regrow whatever organs he lost with ease.”aintyourma

Penguins have an unexpected skill, too.

“Penguins have a gland above their noses that removes salt from seawater.”Servb0t

Some Redditors loved sharing facts about otters.

“Otters have a secret pocket where they carry their favorite rock.”theoldraven

“[Otters] also hold hands when they sleep.”jellyshoes11

“[Otters hold hands]…so they don’t drift apart. We can’t forget the adorable reason!”biospark02

LEGO was represented on a technicality. 

“LEGO is the world’s largest producer of tires.”UncensoredChef

This inspired a piece of trivia from the first LEGO Movie.

“In the LEGO Movie, they put fingerprints and scratches on pieces to make the legos looked like they were well played with.”hannakah_ham

Speaking of yellow characters, Pac-Man was also mentioned.

“If you put your finger in your ear and scratch, it sounds just like Pac-Man.”Donald_Keyman

And while we’re on the subject of scratching…

“Bonus Fact: If your throat is itching, you can make it stop by scratching your ear.”Rywell

Some startling timeline facts had to be shared, too.

“Cleopatra lived closer to the invention of the iPhone than she did to the building of the Great Pyramid.”Donald_Keyman

“More time has passed between 9/11 and today, than 9/11 and the fall of the Berlin Wall.”chicochic

“The Tyrannosaurus Rex was more likely to have gone to a Miley Cyrus concert than to have ever fought against a Stegosaurus (chronologically).”Baldybeardy

Two Redditors enjoyed thinking of how we’re all connected.

“Astronomer here! If you look at the large-scale structure of the universe, it looks an awful lot like a brain cell.”

“I always thought that was really weird, but also a neat coincidence.”Andromeda321

“We are more empty space than we are solid matter.”its_the_peanutiest

Three Redditors considered how fantastically small some things are.

“There are more stars in space than there are grains of sand on every beach in the world…”hotbuk**ke

“Russia has a larger surface area than Pluto.”Swaily_P

“You can fit 3 Jupiters in the space between the Earth and our Moon.”Question_4_you_guys

Two Redditors mentioned some surprising finds.

“A tomato plant was found on a 40-year-old volcanic island by the name of Surtsey. Scientists were baffled about how it got there.”

“Turns out a scientist took a dump which contained tomato seeds, and the plant grew.”speeds_03

“Antarctica has two ATM machines. However, only 1 of them is working…”Nebih

Three Redditors couldn’t choose just one factoid to share.

“Here are some interesting and odd facts:”

“Mammoths went extinct over 1000 years after the building of the great pyramid in Egypt.”

“A strawberry isn’t a berry, but an avocado is.”

“The can opener was invented 50 years after the can. They used bayonets or smashed them open with rocks in the intervening time. The rotating can opener that we’re familiar with took over 100 years to finalize.”

“The spikes on a stegosaurus’ tail are known by paleontologists as the thagomizer, which is a term coined by none other than Gary Larson in the Far Side cartoons.”techniforus

“The world’s deepest postbox is in Susami Bay in Japan. It’s 10 meters underwater.”

“Light doesn’t necessarily travel at the speed of light. The slowest we’ve ever recorded light moving at is 38 mph (miles per hour).”

“In 1567, the man said to have the longest beard in the world died after he tripped over his beard while running away from a fire.”

“There are more fake flamingos in the world than real flamingos.”

“[Until 2016] the last time the Chicago Cubs won the baseball World Series, the Ottoman Empire still existed, and women did not have the right to vote in the United States.”

“John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States, has a grandson who’s still alive today.”Donald_Keyman

“Abraham Lincoln created the Secret Service on the day he was fatally shot. At the time, it wasn’t charged with protecting the President, but still…”

“John Wilkes Booth’s brother once saved Lincoln’s son’s life.”

“Furbies are banned from the NSA’s offices — as they may be spies. (They’re not really spies, but the NSA is being extra-careful.)”

“If your name is Richard Parker, stay the hell away from boats.”

“In March of 1951, both the US and UK were introduced to Dennis the Menace comics. But the two Dennis [characters] were totally different and their creators didn’t know about the other one across the Atlantic.”

“The US Civil War started on Wilmer McLean’s farm. He left the area shortly thereafter but couldn’t avoid the war, as it ended at the home he fled to.”

“The code names of the beaches used for the D-Day landings appeared in crossword puzzles before the campaign.”

“The people who make government pens will never see the words those pens write because all those people are blind.”

“Mountain Dew once admitted that mice would dissolve into a jelly-like substance in order to win a lawsuit.”

“There’s a massive, burning pit of natural gas aflame in Turkmenistan which has been burning since the early 1970s.”

“The US once considered nuking the moon, and Carl Sagan worked on the project.”MrDNL

From facts about space to the strangest finds on Earth, combined with animal oddities and surprising timeline overlaps, these facts left many a fellow Redditor stunned, as well as wondering what other odd trivia they could uncover.

People Break Down The Most Likely Reasons Humanity Will Go Extinct

We all know the story of the dinosaurs extinction. An asteroid hit the earth and caused great environmental impact that wiped out their world.

When we think about our world today and what could possibly cause the end of human life, there’s so many more possibilities beyond an asteroid.

Some scientists predict it could happen in 100 years due to the crumbling political and social climates, while others believe it will be climate related which places the end of days anywhere between 5,100 to 7.8 million years from now.

Redditor TwoTimeToj wanted to know:

“What is the most likely to cause humanity’s extinction?”

This question stirred up quite the debate.

Our own doing.

“Humanity.” ~ LopensLeftArm

“This reminds me of the time last year May 2020. When due to lockdown, a lot of pollution went away, and then everyone on the internet declared: ‘We, humans are the real virus.’” ~ tadxb

“It’s not worth arguing because that alone will bring us to the brink. its us fighting ourselves.” ~ Moglist

“I like to think that when the baby boomer generation currently in charge of companies and politics all die off, we’ll be in a better world because the millennials will take over who have more realistic views and understandings and actually seem to give a sh*t about the future, having had such a hard time for their own futures.”

“But at the same time I know it’s just a dream. ‘Man, I’ve had it so sh*t for so long but now I’m in charge and can screw everyone else over to live a really comfortable, extravagant life I always wanted? Why change the wheel when I can abuse it too and live on a beach driving fast cars?’”

“Aaaaaaand nothing’s changed. Big f*cking surprise.” ~ Dynasty2201

“‘We didn’t start the fire, it was always burning, since the world’s been turning.’ – Billy Joel” ~ Guardanapkins

Some think it’s not that easy.

“I think people really underestimate what it would take to actually completely exterminate our entire species. We already bounced back from a population collapse down to under 10,000 once, we could do so again.”

“Nuclear war, ecological collapse, incurable disease; I highly doubt that any of them could kill everyone. Even if it’s just a few isolated pockets in the outback or the jungle that survive, that’s still not extinction.”

“Honestly, I think it would take a cosmic catastrophe (asteroid/comet impact, gamma ray burst, etc) to completely obliterate us and that assumes that it occurs soon enough that we don’t have viable populations outside of Earth.”

“I’m not for a minute saying that ‘Everything will be fine.’ If we nuke ourselves back to the stone age, or completely alter the planet’s climate such that agriculture becomes impossible, then of course human civilization would probably never recover.”

“The questions is explicitly outright extinction, which I think is big step further.” ~ GalacticNexus

“What’s the event that brought us down to 10,000 if I may ask?” ~ madmenrus1

“I believe it was a supervolcano eruption which initiated a mini ice age, correct me if I’m wrong.” ~ elik2226

A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

“A bad-tempered, bureaucratic alien species of space engineers deciding to construct a hyperspace bypass through our solar system.” ~ -o0_0o-

“I mean, the plans have been on display in Alpha Centauri for quite some time.” ~ itsf*ckingpizzatime

“On display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.’” ~ PeterLemonjellow

Genetic modification.

“I’ve always thought that humans will begin modifying DNA and making cyborg-like modifications to the human body until we reach the point that the concept of human will be so diluted that we will have to call ourselves another way, leading to the extinction of humanity as we know it.” ~ -exekiel-

“You should read the book Homo Deus basically the same idea.” ~ ZeusFarous

“The Omnissiah would be proud.” ~ ctank01

Climate change.

“Climate change, pandemics, etc will probably just make a dent of a smaller or bigger size. For an extinction level event, there’s fewer options:”

  • “Asteroid impact.”
  • “Global thermonuclear war.”
  • “Gamma ray burst.”

“…that kind of thing.” ~ arkaydee

“How about solar flares? What if there comes a solar flare that fries all electronics?”

“Suddenly, we’d have no transportation, no food because it relies on transportation, no running water, no pacemakers, etc.?” ~ 101st_kilometre

“We won’t go extinct, it will just collapse society.” ~ Elbonio

“Back to stone age.”

“Exciting.” ~ Entry-

“It won’t be the stone age. There is a lot of accumulated knowledge that would allow us to be way better off than any time prior to the 1800’s.”

“Just the idea of washing your hands before a medical procedure was revolutionary and not recognized by doctors until after the mid 1800’s.” ~ Alatain

“Can’t wait to get back to the good old days, when you cut your lawn using a giant lobster, and your shower was an elephant that complained a lot!” ~ TheAllyCrime

“If tech suddenly went awry there would still be plenty of people able to live in local farms. It would destroy our civilization but people would survive.”

“The only thing that would truly send humans extinct is the earth becoming entirely uninhabitable for us and the food we eat, like an asteroid boiling our oceans or something like that.” ~ tredli

Probably something so ridiculous.

“Probably the dumbest f*cking thing you can imagine.” ~ jks_david

“Like yogurt or giving cats opposable thumbs in love death and robots.” ~ fox_office

“The yogurt will leave us behind.” ~ uncalledforgiraffe

“At least we will be cultured.” ~ AdAny287

A rogue planet.

“Astronomical phenomenon like a rogue planet, or an asteroid.” ~ Tink2013

“I’m apparently fuzzy on the definition of a rogue planet. I believed they were simply planets that formed outside of or somehow escaped a star system.”

“Simply a planet without a star. How might that bring about humanities extinction? Through a collision?” ~ QiKS

“If one came close enough to disrupt our orbit around the sun and kick us out of the ‘goldilocks’ zone, we could die by heat or cold.” ~ spauldhaliwal

Ancient bacteria.

“Polar ice cap melts, releases bacteria from 5 million years ago and it’s p*ssed.” ~ tuscabam

“There’s a really good book about this. The trick is that it kills the livestock as well, transmitted by insects.” ~ KarmaEeleon

One just to lighten the mood.

“A.I. And by ‘A.I.’ I mean Auto Insurance.” ~ 6_String_Slinger

“Flo takes her job seriously. If you’re not on the plan, plan to die.” ~ yankstraveler

Whether it’s climate change or nuclear war, the end of humanity may come one day.

Hopefully, none of us will be around to see it.

People Divulge The Coolest Facts About The Human Body They Know

It’s easy to dismiss everything going on inside of us as unimportant and anyone who didn’t pay attention in high school biology class might agree with that statement, but the human body is a wonder of science and nature.

 

By all accounts, we all appear mundane on the outside.

We are all of us just a walking, talking bag of bones, electrical impulses and chemical reactions in a meat suit with an appetite for excellent television and an addiction to overpowered, miniature super computers we carry with us everywhere.

But there’s more to us than that.

For example, did you know your liver is capable of regenerating itself like Wolverine or that you can produce enough spit in a lifetime to fill up two entire swimming pools?

WARNING: some of it is kind of gross to those with weak stomachs.

Just when we think we know everything about the human body, the internet goes and surprises us with a bit of blood and gore.

Redditor Actionkat63 asked:

“What’s a strange, but true fact about the human body?”

We’re All Queens

“The acid in your stomach could burn your skin! I always thought that was pretty interesting, and reminds me of the scene in Alien, where the alien blood burns everything.” ~ RebaRocket

Get Your Running Shoes On

“Humans can outrun almost every animal on long distance.” ~ WantedJOCZ

“Long distances only. Humans have been known to jog for days at a time without sleeping, and we seem to have evolved as endurance predators (ie, jog after an animal until it’s literally too tired to fight back).”

“In cold weather the only animal that beats us is huskies, and in hot weather we can be outdistanced by camels and IIRC kangaroos, but otherwise we tend to win in the end.” ~ Pseudonymico

They Can’t Wiggle Out Of This

“Your intestines are in near constant motion, wiggling like a worm.” ~ EasilyForgotten1

But Are We Still Allowed To Lick Things?

“We know what everything would feel like on our tongues without even licking it.” ~ meh2557

“I’ve read this before and it blew my mind looking around at everything and realizing how weirdly, fascinatingly true it is. I’m assuming it’s a combination of you know textures from your fingers and that stage of infancy when babies put everything in their mouths.” ~ ablondedude

Care Package: Incoming!

“When pregnant, if a mother suffers a heart attack or other large physiological issue, the fetus will release a swarm of stem cells that move to the affected area, greatly helping in survival and healing.” ~ SugaBear9001

Flip The Switch

“that the brain operates on the same amount of power as a 10-watt lightbulb” ~ boringg-moon

Shut It All Down!

“Our immune system is so strong it can kill our own bodies’ cells: so techinically we do have a self destruct sequence” ~ SheepSh-t2525

“Our cells have a self destruct sequence also. If things start getting weird, your mitochondria send a signal to the brain which sends a signal to the cells lysosomes which then burst open and destroy the cell.”

“It’s called apoptosis or programmed cell death.” ~ callisstaa

Every Adults’ Kneecaps Feel This One

“Until the age of like 2 ish babies don’t have real kneecaps, they are made of a squishy cartilage type thing” ~ Bunchnivski

Lots of their bones are squishy cartilage stuff, and only grow into bone as they age. Compare this baby hand with this adult hand x-ray.”

“We can actually use this development of cartilage into bone in the wrist to figure out roughly how old somebody is.” ~ elcarath

We Just Need To Keep Believing And Soon We Can Also See Over Tall Walls

“We have the same number of bones in our neck as a giraffe.” ~ Team_Captain_America

“Giraffes’ neck vertibrae are just really big.” ~ KaityKat117

It Truly Is Liquid Gold

“Human breast milk adapts it’s nutritious content to fit the need of the offspring. Baby lacks iron?”

“Next dose of milk will contain more iron. It’s amazing.” ~ Grimms_tale

“how does that work?”

“like.. how does the body of the mother know what the baby needs?”

“or is it more a ‘the ingredients of milk change over time, as the baby goes through different stages of grow’?” ~ Chepi_ChepChep

“Breastmilk is SO cool!! There’s a reason why it’s called liquid gold!”

“More fun facts:”

“1- breastmilk can be dripped into babies eye/ear/nose to treat infections (as mentioned by someone below, it works best as an anti-inflammatory, which can help! Also, it’s more of a preventative than a cure.)”

“2- breastmilk does change depending on babies needs and as they grow”

“3- breastmilk contents differ depending on babies gender”

“4- breastmilk can help with cradle cap”

“5- it works on mild eczema!”

“6- the components of breastmilk could lead to treatment for cancers! possibilities still under trial”

“7- it’s “made” out of the mother’s blood”.

“Milk is made inside glands from the blood stream. Breast milk is NOT made from the mother’s stomach contents”

“The foods mom eats are broken down in the digestive system. Blood reaches the milk glands where it delivers carbohydrates, nutrients, white blood cells, enzymes, pro- and pre-biotics water, fat, and proteins into the gland. link!”

“8- mothers can detect issues with the baby through all of that kissing, which tells her body what to produce (like more antibodies ect) whoa!“~ Exotic-BlueBird

And That’s Enough For Today…

“It’s possible for your bowel movements to go backwards, causing you to poop from your mouth” ~ ipakookapi

“Just a way your body adapts to changes. If, for some reason you can’t poop, your body will attempt to expel it like its other waste products. You’ll find your breath will go rank, you’ll throw up poop and you urine will smell strong.”

“This will happen shortly before you die of sepsis, since all of these methods collectively aren’t good enough to dispose of everything you need.” ~ Gh3rkins

Never forget the human body is a fascinating and marvelous wonder of biology, chemistry and physics.

Just never be surprised when it does something surprising and/or upsetting to learn about.

We’re only human, after all.

Out Of This World Facts About The International Space Station

Space, the final frontier, which few have been lucky enough to experience first hand and even fewer have called home.

The International Space Station (ISS) is home to astronauts from all over the world, demonstrating that the global community can come together for science and progress.

Here are some out-of-this-world facts about the ISS that everyone should know.


Let’s talk basics

The International Space Station (ISS) has been orbiting the planet for more than 20 years, since November 2000.

It is the single most expensive object ever built. The cost has been estimated at over $120 billion!

An international crew of between three to six people live and work aboard the ISS while traveling at a speed of five miles per second, orbiting Earth about every 90 minutes.

In 24 hours, the space station makes 16 full orbits of Earth, traversing through 16 sunrises and sunsets.

It’s a small world after all

240 individuals from 19 countries have visited the ISS so far.

But one has been there the longest

Peggy Whitson holds the record for spending the most time living and working in space. She was there for 665 days.

For anyone with 20/20 vision

Thanks to the acre of solar panels that power the ISS, it can actually be observed with the naked eye from Earth as it flies overhead.

Which is pretty amazing because it flies at an average altitude of 248 miles above Earth.

No place like home

Speaking of home-y, the ISS really is.

The living and working space in the station is larger than a six-bedroom house. It has six sleeping quarters, two bathrooms, a gym, and a 360-degree bay window.

Space takes a toll on your body

Astronauts must exercise for two hours a day to combat the loss of muscle and bone mass that occurs while in space.

It took a lot of work

The largest modules and station pieces were delivered on 42 separate assembly flights.

Since it is huge

The ISS is 357-feet end-to-end, only one yard shy of an American football field including the end zones.

There’s nearly 8 miles of wires making up the electrical system.

That’s longer than the perimeter of Central Park!

So, it takes a lot to power it

More than 50 computers control all the systems on the space station.

And the ISS computers aren’t immune to viruses, in fact they’ve been infected 52 times and counting.

Sniff, sniff

The ISS is likely one of the only places you can actually smell space.

Astronauts have described it as a “metallic-ionization-type smell.”

And, soon we can all smell it

And, for most of us, the ISS has seemed way too far out of reach. Especially if you never got to go to Space Camp. But NASA has announced plans to change all that, and allow regular tourists to actually visit!

The first visits won’t come cheap, likely costing more than a million dollars for the first trip.

But you can’t beat that view!

In 1996 a physicist submitted…

In 1996 a physicist submitted a paper full of word salad and gibberish to a postmodernist journal and it actually passed peer review and was published. This is known as the Sokal Affair. “feminist and poststructuralist critiques have demystified the substantive content of mainstream Western scientific practice, revealing the ideology of domination concealed behind the […]

The post In 1996 a physicist submitted… appeared first on Crazy Facts.