A local folk remedy in Boho, Ireland was to place soil from the local church under your pillow while you slept to cure infections. In 2018, a microbiologist found the soil contains a previously unknown strain of streptomyces which can be used to create antibiotics. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Ancient Fermanagh cure gets modern makeover – BBC News
A 2016 study found that high school students perform better on tests if they are in a classroom with a window that overlooks a green landscape. Their capacity to pay attention increased 13 percent compared to a windowless room or similar. – WTF Fun Facts
Sand is the most extracted material in the world, exceeding fossil fuels and biomass. Each year over 50 billion metric tons of sand is mined for construction, land reclamation projects, shale gas extraction, and beach renourishment programs. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Are We Running Out of Sand? | Earth.Org – Past | Present | Future
In 2017, Einstein Bros created the “Espresso Buzz Bagel” which combined cherry-coffee flour with espresso to make a bagel with 32 mg of caffeine (equivalent to a third of a cup of coffee) and 13 g of protein. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Caffeinated Bagels Espresso Buzz Bagel Einstein Bros. (today.com)
The movie term “blockbuster” was originally a military term to describe bombs in WW2 that could destroy an entire city block. Thus, it first entered the American lexicon as a metaphor for something explosive and shocking before becoming associated with movie success. – WTF Fun Facts
In 2006, an Athens court ordered the worship of the 12 gods of ancient Greece including Zeus, Hera, Hermes, Athena, and others was to be unbanned. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Greek gods prepare for comeback | World news | The Guardian
“Guerrilla grafting” is the illegal process of turning city maintained sterile fruit trees into fruiting trees by splicing compatible branches onto the sterile trees with branches from fruiting trees. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Guerrilla Grafters Bring Forbidden Fruit Back To City Trees : The Salt : NPR
In 1874, the Universal Postal Union exempted the United Kingdom from its rule which stated that a country’s name had to appear on their postage stamps because they were the original creators create a stamp. For all other UPU members, the name must appear in Latin letters. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamp_design
The word “poltergeist” comes from the German words poltern (“to make sound” and “to rumble”) and Geist (“ghost” and “spirit”), thus it literally translates as the term itself translates as “noisy ghost” or “loud spirit”. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: Poltergeist – Wikipedia