Bernie Krause, founder of the scientific field called “soundscape ecology,” believes that bird songs, wolf howls, and even insects footsteps have become quieter over the last 50 years. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/10/151006-nature-sounds-science-animals-music/
The unique nose of the Shinkansen 500 bullet train prevents sonic booms whenever it exits a tunnel. It was designed based on the shape of a kingfisher’s beak, which allows it to hit the water at high speed with very little splash. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/sunni-robertson-on-how-a-kingfisher-inspired-a-bullet-train
Wax worms, which have evolved to live in bee hives, produce an enzyme that allows them to eat and break down one of the most common plastics (polyethylene) into organic compounds. – WTF Fun Facts
Sphenopalatine Ganglioneuralgia is the scientific term for a “brain freeze,” which occurs when cold hits two arteries in the back of the throat causing them to dilate and contract. This is a sensation that the brain interprets as pain. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130522095335.htm
“Old-person smell” was confirmed by scientists as real. In a research study, participants were able to single out old-person smell much better than the odors of other younger age groups. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://healthland.time.com/2012/05/31/old-person-smell-really-exists-scientists-say/
By the 17th week of pregnancy, a child’s unique fingerprints have already formed and the pattern won’t change. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.livescience.com/30-lasting-impression-fingerprints-created.html
The phonautograph was invented by a Frenchman in the 1850’s and was the first device to record sound. Researchers played back these early recordings as sound for the first time in 2008. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89380697
Dutch researchers have created artificial leaves that produce drugs using sunlight. In testing, they successfully produced artimensinin, which is a drug to treat malaria, and ascaridole, used against certain parasitic worms. – WTF Fun Facts
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It is estimated that the Earth as a whole is struck by an average of more than a hundred lightning bolts every second. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/6/flash-facts-about-lightning/
Oxford University researchers found that when blindfolded, people have a difficult time identifying which toe is being poked, especially the two toes next to the big toe. This misidentification phenomenon is known as agnosia. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150922114946.htm
A 2013 study found that chewing gum boosts visual memory tasks and concentration. This study focused on the potential benefits of chewing gum during an audio memory task. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130308093933.htm
Thousands of years ago, people were performing a form of surgery called ‘trepanation’ that involves boring holes through a person’s skull. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: http://www.theindependentbd.com/arcprint/details/58114/2016-08-30
The 6 quarts of blood in the human body circulates through the body three times every minute. In one day, the blood travels a total ~12,000 miles – that’s nearly half the circumference of Earth. – WTF Fun Facts
Anatoli Brouchkov, a Russian geocryologist, injected himself with a 3.5 million year old strain of bacteria known as Bacillus F, which he found in a permafrost sample, just to see what would happen. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/yp3gg7/meet-the-scientist-who-injected-himself-with-35-million-year-old-bacteria
If you took out all of the empty space from between and within the atoms making up each human being, the entire human race would fit into the volume of a sugar cube. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: http://www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/can-the-entire-human-race-fit-inside-a-sugar-cube.html
According to cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Jacob Jolij’s research, Queen’s 1970s hit Don’t Stop Me Now was the top feel-good song of all time. Abba’s Dancing Queen came in second place. – WTF Fun Facts
Boys born in winter are more likely to be left-handed than those born during the rest of the year in what scientists say is indirect evidence of hormonal mechanism.– WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/07/140703102940.htm
In 2013, NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover hummed Happy Birthday to itself by vibrating its sample-analysis unit to the musical tune, but did so only on its first “birthday”. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/why-the-curiosity-rover-stopped-singing-happy-birthday-to-itself/536487/