WTF • Fun • Fact    ( /dʌb(ə)lˌju/  /ti/   /ef/ • /fʌn/ • /fækt/ )

     1. noun  A random, interesting, and overall fun fact that makes you scratch your head and think what the...

WTF Fun Fact 12742 – Your Corneas Need to “Breathe”

A lack of oxygen to the cornea can be a very dangerous thing. But we often don’t think about it, and many of us don’t understand why this is the case.

Our bodies need oxygen to function and we get it from our blood. Of course, the most outer layers of our skin and our eyes get some oxygen from the air around us, but there’s one one site on the body where ALL oxygen comes from outside – our corneas.

That’s because the corneas don’t have blood vessels, so there’s no way to get oxygenated blood to reach them.

Obviously, we don’t want blood vessels in that part of our eye anyway, since it needs to be transparent so we can see.

The very outer surface of the center of our eye is the cornea, and it’s in direct contact with the air. It contains cells that require oxygen to live and keep our eyes functioning properly, which is absorbed directly from the air.

This fact is most relevant to those who wear contact lenses, which block most oxygen to the cornea. This is why we’re told to give our eyes “a break” for a few hours each night and switch to eyeglasses. But not everyone does, and the results can be tragic and irreversible.

If our corneas are severely deprived of oxygen, we may experience watery eyes, burning, swelling, and blurred vision. But some vision loss can be permanent.

Without oxygen to your eye, your cornea may start to accumulate lactic acid and pull in more water, causing edema. Oxygen deprivation may result in the development of corneal hypoxia or corneal cysts, which can compromise our vision.

There is an anterior chamber in the eye that can use diffused oxygen and transport it to the cornea from behind, but in most cases, the best ways to keep your eyes safe is to make sure you don’t have them covered with contacts whenever you’re awake.

– WTF fun facts

Source: “Are there any parts of the human body that get oxygen directly from the air and not from the blood?” — Dr. Christopher S. Baird, West Texas A&M University

WTF Fun Fact 12741 – The Force of Teeth Grinding in Humans

Have you ever woken up feeling like someone punched you in the jaw? Or how about with unexplained headaches or even a loose tooth? You might be grinding your teeth.

Well, first, make sure your partner isn’t exhibiting some REM behavior disorder that makes them flail wildly in their sleep. If not, you might want to ask your dentist about bruxism because it can wreak havoc on more than just your teeth.

Bruxism

We all clench our teeth sometimes (like when we’re tense, for example, and it can even be subconscious). While this doesn’t typically do much harm, habitual teeth grinding can affect your jaw and all the muscles around it, leading to neck and head pain and dental issues.

Bruxism, as the teeth grinding condition is called, can also lead to facial changes (it can even change your facial profile) as you lose, chip, or wear down teeth. It can even cause your cheekbones to drop, making your face look droopy and prematurely aged.

Why we grind

According to The Cleveland Clinic, “Men and women get bruxism at roughly the same rate. If you have a family history of teeth grinding, you may face a higher risk. Other risk factors include:

  • Personality type, as people who are very driven may be more prone to teeth grinding.
  • Stress.
  • Cigarette smoking and caffeine use.
  • Certain anti-anxiety medications.”

As you might imagine, bruxism also affects getting a good night’s sleep. So if nothing else, it’s useful to solve the problem so sleep issues don’t cause other problems in your life.

Young children can have bruxism too, and the way they grind teeth it can be caused by anything from allergies to genetics. Often, they outgrow it as their jaws change.

Treatment usually consists of a nightguard, but if you habitually grind your teeth while awake, you may need to train yourself to stop and notice the habit and practice some stress relief techniques.

Two hundred and fifty pounds is a lot of force for a human jaw (most of the time, our molars have about 70 pounds of force, and a strong jaw tops out at about 160 if you’re really trying).

According to the New York Times, “By way of comparison, a well-publicized 1996 study of the tyrannosaurus, done at Stanford, estimated its bite strength ranged from 1,440 to 3,011 pounds, noting that this was fairly close to the power of an alligator’s jaws.”

Now just imagine being a T-rex with bruxism! Ouch. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Bruxism (Teeth Grinding)” — The Cleveland Clinic

WTF Fun Fact 12740 – The Master Switch of Life

The Master Switch of Life is a phrase coined by Swedish researcher Per Scholander in the 1960s.

His research took place in the U.S. the United States where he studied just how being underwater would affect humans. He had already studied Weddell seals and found that the creatures seemed to gain more oxygen the longer they were underwater.

The water tank trials

To see if the effect might be the same in humans, he put volunteers in a water tank and monitored their heart rates as they dove to the bottom of the tank. Immediately, the volunteers’ heart rates decreased.

Then he asked them to do some exercise at the bottom of the tank to try and raise their heart rates but to no avail. Being underwater continued to lower everyone’s heart rate, meaning they also needed less oxygen (the opposite of what happens on land when we exercise). In addition, when the volunteers were underwater, their blood began flowing away from limbs and towards vital organs (which also happens in seals).

When blood flows to the heart and brain, they stay oxygenated longer, meaning we need less overall oxygen for our bodies to continue to function.

The mystery of water

That’s when he wondered why water has such an unexpected effect on us.

It turns out that the more we dive, the more blood can penetrate the cell walls of our organs to counteract external pressure.

And here’s the really cool part, according to TED:

“Scholander found that a person need submerge only his face in water to activate these life-lengthening (and lifesaving) reflexes. Other researchers tried sticking a hand or a leg in the water in an attempt to trigger the reflex, but to no avail. One researcher even put volunteers into a compression chamber to see if pressure alone would trigger a similar diving reflex. No dice. Only water could trigger these reflexes, and the water had to be cooler than the surrounding air.”

A splash of cold water

All we need to do is splash some cold water on our faces to flip what he called this “Master Switch of Life.” Cool water basically makes us more amphibious and produces a physical change in our heart rates. That certainly explains why cold water feels so refreshing!

– WTF fun facts

Source: “Your body’s amazing reaction to water” — TED Ideas

WTF Fun Fact 12739 – The Dreams of Men

Multiple studies have shown tend to have more male characters in their dreams.

We have very little control over what we dream about, even though many of us try to direct our dreams. (I know I do – if I could spend all night dreaming about being a wealthy villa owner on an abandoned tropical coast instead of reliving a made-up scenario about missing a vital exam and never graduating high school, I would!)

Studying dreams

Anyway, there are hundreds of studies on dreams. Most of them involve having people use dream journals where they write down the contents of their dreams any time they awaken. The journals are then processed by a researchers who looks for certain characteristics without knowing anything about the person the journals belong to (that’s why they’re called a “blind judge” in many research papers).

Researchers usually start with common themes and types of characters and count mentions of them. And a lot of the research has backed up the data we’ve collected over time. (However, there are some differences between cultures as to what we dream about.)

Demhoff’s dream research

For example, G. William Domhoff wrote one of the most widely-cited papers on the genders we dream about (nearly two decades ago, before talking about more than two genders was a cultural priority). It’s called “The Dreams of Men and Women: Patterns of Gender Similarity and Difference,” and it was published in 2005.

In the paper, Domhoff is very clear that “The study of gender similarities and differences in dream content has proven to be a dangerous mine field for dream researchers.” That’s because this kind of information has the “potential to stir up all the tensions that inevitably accompany any discussion of gender in a world where gender discrimination–and conflicts between men and women on many personal issues–are pervasive.”

Limited interpretations

In other words, it’s likely that a large number of people will dislike this “fun fact” because they somehow feel judged by it or don’t like whatever they think it implies (which is largely nothing).

Demhoff was also careful to not that variations across cultures and across genders make generalizations difficult. He’s just reporting on one characteristic that he found to be statistically significant – the gender of the characters in people’s dreams.

Demhoff concentrated on American subjects since he was most familiar with the cultural characteristics of Americans. But other researchers have studied other cultures and found some key differences.

To make sure everyone is categorizing things in a roughly similar way, Demhoff used a coding system developed in 1966 called the Hall/Van de Castle system, where most things fall into pretty simple categories like: men/women; indoor setting/outdoor setting, etc. But that system was created based on the dream journals of white, middle-class college students at Case Western in the 1950s and 60s. In general, other studies have found these categories useful too.

So, on to the results (because results don’t mean much without some context first!).

What men dream of

Demhoff asked what percentage of dreams had a negative element “such as aggressions, misfortunes, failures, and negative emotions (anger, apprehension, confusion, and sadness)…” And the results were that “men and women are similar in that 80% of men’s dreams and 77% of women’s have at least one of these negative elements.”

When it comes to positive aspects, “such as friendly interactions, good fortune, success, and happiness, 53% of dreams for both men and women have at least one of those elements. Men and women also have an equal number of dreams in which food or eating is mentioned–about 17%.”

In addition, “Both men and women are more often victims than aggressors in the aggressive interactions in their dreams, and they face the same attackers, namely, men who are not known to them (“male strangers”) and animals. On a more positive note, both men and women are equally likely to befriend another character in their dreams.”

But we started with the most reported-on finding, which is that “men dream twice as often about other men as they do about women (67% vs. 33%), and women dream equally about both sexes (48% men, 52% women).”

What’s implied by the dreams of men? Not much

And here’s where people get offended. No one is implying that men fantasize about other men. They can be someone you fight on the street, your 5th grade math teacher, your dad…whatever.

Women may also have more of a character gender balance because their dreams tend to have more characters overall. This may be a result of women’s dreams being longer overall than men’s.

But Demhoff points out that this in not universal. Even among Black Americans, men and women tended to have an equal gender breakdown in dreams. Studies of Mexican and Peruvian teens as well as German college students also showed more of a gender balance. However, in each case there were slightly more men than women in everyone’s dreams.

– WTF fun facts

Source: “The Dreams of Men and Women: Patterns of Gender Similarity and Difference” — G. William Domhoff

WTF Fun Fact 12738 – Balance For Better Health

According to a new study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, your ability to balance on one foot may indicate better health and a longer life expectancy.

People in the study who were aged 51 to 75 and couldn’t balance on one foot for over 10 seconds were more likely to die within the next ten years.

According to CNN:

“While aging leads to a decline in physical fitness, muscle strength, and flexibility, balance tends to be reasonably well-preserved until a person’s 50s, when it starts to wane relatively rapidly, the researchers noted. Previous research has linked the inability to stand on one leg to a greater risk of falls and to cognitive decline.”

If you want to try it out, lift your foot and out the front of the foot behind your standing leg. Keep your arms at your side and look straight ahead (focusing on something in the distance often help maintain balance).

If at first you don’t succeed, that’s ok. You get three chances to get your body used to the task. You just can’t use anything to hang onto for support.

CNN explained the correlation between lifespan and balance in the study, citing one of the study’s authors:

“Being able to balance on one leg is important for older people for several reasons, and it is also reflective of wider fitness and health levels, said study author Dr. Claudio Gil Araújo at Exercise Medicine Clinic – CLINIMEX – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ‘We regularly need … a one-legged posture, to move out of a car, to climb or to descend a step or stair and so on. To not have this ability or being afraid in doing so, it is likely related to loss of autonomy and, in consequence, less exercise and the snowball starts,’ he explained.”

So, how did researchers get to their conclusion? One in five study subjects failed the test (balance is tricky!). Then the subjects were followed for seven years. During that time, 7% of study subjects died. But what was significant is that the proportion of people who failed the balance test was much higher than those who passed.

That doesn’t mean you’re doomed if you have bad balance. It just means that it may be indicative of other issues that may affect your health and long life. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Wobbly on one leg? Ability to balance is linked to a longer life, study finds” — CNN

WTF Fun Fact 12737 – Ornamental Hermits

We know about garden gnomes, but what about ornamental hermits? They weren’t made of concrete or resin – they were real people.

In the 18th century, wealthy people with gardens didn’t want to be tacky, so no garden gnomes would do. The fancy way to decorate your garden was with an actual person paid to dress like a Druid, skip the showers, dress in tatty clothing, and wander around the estates.

Very rustic!

A British custom

This was mostly a practice in England, but there were ornamental hermits in Ireland and Scotland as well.

Atlas Obscura took a look at a book written about these interesting professionals by Gordon Campbell, a Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Leicester. In a video explaining his monograph, titled The Hermit in the Garden: From Imperial Rome to Ornamental Gnome, he noted:

“Recruiting a hermit wasn’t always easy. Sometimes they were agricultural workers, and they were dressed in a costume, often in a druid’s costume. There was no agreement on how druids dressed, but in some cases they wore what we would call a dunce’s cap. It’s a most peculiar phenomenon, and understanding it is one of the reasons why I have written this book.”

History of hermits

In his book, Campbell mentions an ad from Sir William Gell’s A Tour in the Lakes Made in 1797, in which he states that ”the hermit is never to leave the place, or hold conversation with anyone for seven years during which he is neither to wash himself or cleanse himself in any way whatever, but is to let his hair and nails both on hands and feet, grow as long as nature will permit them.” 

Apparently, the ornamental hermit can be traced all the way back to the Roman emperor Hadrian. His villa at Tivoli had a small lake with a one-person structure for hermiting oneself away from the world (which, we imagine, would be a nice thing for an emperor to do every now and them). Pope Pius IV may have also built one for himself.

But the structures built for ornamental hermits were mostly for show and not necessarily for spiritual reflection.

How to be a hermit

The hermits were also instructed to be rather dour in order to be authentic. No shoes, no guests, and no smiling.

Atlas Obscura found a 1784 guide to the Hawkstone estate in Shropshire describing how to care for your ornamental hermit:

“You pull a bell, and gain admittance. The hermit is generally in a sitting posture, with a table before him, on which is a skull, the emblem of mortality, an hour-glass, a book and a pair of spectacles. The venerable bare-footed Father, whose name is Francis (if awake) always rises up at the approach of strangers. He seems about 90 years of age, yet has all his sense to admiration. He is tolerably conversant, and far from being unpolite.”

We can’t decide if it sounds like a dream job or a really depressing life.

– WTF fun facts

Source: “Before the Garden Gnome, the Ornamental Hermit: A Real Person Paid to Dress like a Druid” — Atlas Obscura

WTF Fun Fact 12736 – When Cleopatra Lived in the White House

Presidential pets have their own history museum. And it’s totally worth exploring (even online) since there have been some interesting animals with interesting names living on those grounds.

The first president to live in the White House and therefore keep pets there was John Adams. (George Washington had many horses and dogs, but he never actually lived in the White House.)

John Adams’ Menagerie

John and Abigail Adams had some of the most interesting pet names – but the reasons behind those names are unknown. For example, they had two dogs – Juno and Satan – and a horse named Cleopatra. 

They were definitely dog people through and through. According to the Presidential Pet Museum, Abigail Adams was especially fond of June, writing to her granddaughter: “If you love me … you must love my dog.”

We’re not so sure how they felt about Satan, but the name says a lot.

Other Presidential Pets

The most popular presidential pet is a dog, owned by 30 of the 45 presidents. But there have also been pet raccoons, former circus ponies, billy goats, and more. There has even been a famous presidential cow named Pauline, who was often covered in the press.

But if you really want to know about the weirdest pet moments in presidential history, behold:

– President Martin Van Buren tried to keep a pair of tiger cubs given to him by the Sultan of Oman. But Congress made him send them to the zoo.

– President Andrew Jackson had a parrot named Poll, who was taught to swear.

– John Quincy Adams (not to be confused with John Adams) kept an alligator given to him by the Marquis de Lafayette in an unfinished bathroom. AND he let guests try to use that bathroom! (Ok, some have tried to debunk this, so it’s up to you whether or not to trust the official Presidential Pet Museum or not.)

– There were two more alligators who visited the White House during Herbert Hoover’s presidency in the early 1930s. His son Allan owned the animals and would often bring them by.

– Thomas Jefferson was gifted with two grizzly bear cubs who were caged on the front lawn for public viewing before finding a new home when they grew too big.

So, while there’s been much hoopla in the press over President Biden’s shelter dog Major being a bit of a menace to the Secret Service, he was certainly not the most dangerous presidential pet!

– WTF fun facts

Source: “An alligator, tiger cubs, and a dog named Satan — these are the weirdest presidential pets in history” — Business Insider

WTF Fun Fact 12735 – The Summer Solstice

The Summer Solstice happens at the instant the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer. That means it doesn’t really matter what your clock says – it can happen long before the sun even rises in your area.

In 2022, we know this moment will take place on June 21 at 09:13 UTC (that’s 5:13 AM EST) – and you should be able to do your own math from there.

While June 21st is usually the day people remember and mark on their calendars as the solstice, it can actually happen on the 20th or 22nd. But the latter is rare. In fact, the last June 22 solstice in UTC time was in 1975 and it won’t happen again on the 22nd until 2203. So, sorry if you missed it.

The word “solstice” actually comes from the Latin words sol and sistere. If you’re thinking that means soul sister, you’re wrong, but we were kind of hoping the same thing. It actually means sun and standing still, which makes a lot more sense.

North and South, Summer and Winter

Of course, lands south of the equator are welcoming winter. June 21st is their Winter Solstice. So, if you’re a fan of cooler weather (and are one of the millions experiencing a heat wave today, you can always celebrate in solidarity with your friends in Australia).

In the Northern Hemisphere, the Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year in terms of sunlight, while in the Southern Hemisphere it’s the shortest day. That’s because at the precise time of the solstice the earth is tilted either the minimum or maximum towards or away from the sun. In summer, you’ll see the sun stay at its noontime elevation for what seems to be a bit longer than usual, and that effect will last a few days. However, the earliest sunrise and the longest sunset take place a few days before and after June 21st.

There are two other interesting things to note here. The tilt of the Earth doesn’t really change, it’s the rotation of the Earth that changes and points our already tilted planet’s Northern Hemisphere towards the sun. And Summer Solstice is actually the time of year when the Earth is farthest away from the sun (or on its aphelion). So, it’s not really the distance that matters. It’s all about how the planet is positioned.

For those ready to jump on the whole Earth axis thing, please note that in our lifetimes (and those of everyone we’ll ever know or remember), the tilt of the Earth will be the same. Technically, the tilt of the planet does vary between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees, but this cycle takes about 40,000 years.

Solstice Celebrations

People around the world celebrate solstice or “midsummer” in many different ways, but most include festive meals, traditional songs, bonfires, or reconnecting with nature in some way. In England, the so-called modern-day Druids (and tourists) like to hang out at Stonehenge to see the stones align perfectly with the sun. In Sweden, families raise the maypole for traditional dances and music. – WTF fun facts

Source: “11 Things About the June Solstice” — TimeandDate.com

WTF Fun Fact 12734 – Man Wins Horse Race

For only the third time since 1980, a human has won the annual Man vs. Horse race. Ricky Lightfoot beat 50 horses (and 1000 other human runners) finishing the 22.5-mile course in 2 hours, 22 minutes, and 23 seconds. He won about $4200 for his efforts – as well as bragging rights amongst friends and foals alike.

IFL Science humorously recounted the beginning of the Man vs. Horse race:

“The idea for the race came, as you might expect, from a drunken argument in a pub. Landlord of the Neuadd Arms in Llanwrtyd Wells, Wales, overheard two customers arguing (as you do) over the benefits of people vs the benefits of horses. 

After a few more pints, as was inevitable, one of the men proclaimed that over a long distance people could equal the performance of any horse. Not satisfied with mere speculation, the landlord – Gordon Green – decided that there should be a public competition where this slurred theory could be tested. Every year since then – bar a few years where the event was canceled due to the pandemic – people have raced against horses in a constant battle for supremacy.”

Even more striking is the BBC report that “The winner of the grueling Man v Horse race has revealed he had been awake for 29 hours before the event after flying from Tenerife to claim victory…Landing at 04:00 he travelled to Wales, arriving at Llanwrtyd Wells, Powys, at 09:00 for the race start at 11:00. Crossing the line, the 6ft 4in athlete had no idea whether he had won as the people and animals take slightly different routes.”

The 37-year-old firefighter and father of 2 beat the first horse by over 2 minutes. So much for horsepower.

Apparently, Lightfoot’s family couldn’t believe he managed to win the race.

“I called my partner and said: ‘I beat the horse’. And she said: ‘You’re joking?’.
“And I said: ‘No, I did.’ She was like, ‘oh my God!'” he told BBC News.

Prior to the race, Lightfoot said he didn’t have much experience around horses.

“I’ve never rode a horse in my life. I once rode a donkey at Blackpool Pleasure Beach though,” he told the BBC.

After winning, Lightfoot headed right back home to Cumbria to report to work at 7:30 am the next day. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Man v horse: Powys race won by runner Ricky Lightfoot” — BBC News