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WTF Fun Fact 12747 – Flamingos Eat Upside Down

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Because of the way their heads and beaks are built, flamingos eat upside down. Well, at least that’s how their heads are positioned.

Flamingo beaks scoop up water in the areas where they feed. Then, that water is processed through a structure called the lamellae, which acts as a filter. It ensures that water, sand, and other less tasty things are then expelled back into the water while the marine creatures (such as shrimp and brine flies) that flamingos eat are trapped inside. (Another fun fact: this food is also what makes flamingos pink!)

Flamingo anatomy

A flamingo’s tongue is designed to push the water back out through these filtration mechanisms.

According to the San Diego Zoo, “Greater and Chilean flamingos are larger and feed mostly on invertebrates such as brine flies, shrimps, and mollusks. They get these food items from the bottom mud by wading in shallow water. Sometimes they swim to get their food and sometimes by ‘upending’ (tail feathers in the air, head underwater) like ducks.”

It all happens quite fast, but if you take a look at how a flamingo is built, you’ll see that eating upside down is really the only way.

Of course, flamingos breathe air, which means that while they’re attempting to feed, they need to hold their breath – something they can do for up to a few minutes at a time. They need to poke their heads up every now and then to get more oxygen.

Flamingos eat upside down even on a zoo diet

According to the zoo, their flamingos get a special diet with all the nutrients they need. But even in these cases, they still use the same upside down stature to take in their food:

“At the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, the flamingos are fed a special pellet diet that is made for zoo flamingos. This food has all the nutrients the flamingos need and a pigment that helps keep them “in the pink.” To allow the flamingos to eat in their normal way (taking in water and then pumping it back out), a water source just for feeding is near their food so they can get a “beakful” of water and then food—just like they would in the wild.”

Flamingo mysteries

Flamingos are interesting creatures and there are still some habits we can’t explain – such as why they sometimes stand on one foot. No one has definitively explained that behavior yet. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Flamingo” – The San Diego Zoo

WTF Fun Fact 12746 – Owls Don’t Have Eyeballs

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Owls have eyes, of course. But owls don’t have eyeballs.

Instead, owls have eyes shaped like cylinders (with three eyelids!). Because of this shape, owls can’t roll their eyes around while keeping their heads still. That’s why they have to move their heads around too much to look around.

How do owls see without eyeballs?

According to the Office of Science & Society at McGill University: “Since moving their torsos would likely make noise that would alert their prey to their presence, owls have evolved to have necks that can spin up to 270° essentially silently.”

But why would an owl evolve to have eye rods instead of eyeballs? Wouldn’t it just be easier not to have to move your head at all in order to see to the side?

Well, perhaps, but the benefit of having eyes shaped like rods instead of balls is that not only does it allow them to see better in the dark but it’s the optimal shape for an animal with such a small skull.

The benefit of eye rods

As you may have noticed, nocturnal animals tend to have large corneas. That’s so any light can be collected more efficiently, allowing them to see in the dark.

As it turns out, these elongated eye tubes make it even easier for them to see the way they need to, even if they do have to make more movement in order to get a larger field of vision (also called binocular vision). Without moving their heads, their visual field is about 110 degrees (a human’s is 180 degrees, for comparison).

Binocular vision

Binocular vision also lets owls see objects in three dimensions (height, width, and depth). So, it turns out an owl’s eyes are pretty perfectly suited to its lifestyle.

While some believe all of this means that owls can’t see during the day because they’re blinded by too much light, that’s simply not true. Some owls can see even better than humans in the daylight as well, despite the lack of eyeballs.

At least you never have to worry about an owl giving you the side-eye. –WTF fun facts

Source: “Owls Don’t Have Eyeballs” — Office of Science & Society, McGill University

WTF Fun Fact 12745 – Billy Joel’s “Only the Good Die Young”

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While it’s hard to tell if a story about Billy Joel and Notre Dame is real or an urban legend, one thing we do know is that the seat of the Catholic controversy over Billy Joel’s “Only the Good Die Young” was Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

The offending verses

The song brings up a bit about Catholic guilt, but three verses, in particular, offended the Catholic dioceses in places like New Jersey and Boston:

“Come out Virginia, don’t let me wait
You Catholic girls start much too late
Aw, but sooner or later it comes down to fate
I might as well be the one”

“The stained glass curtain you’re hiding behind
Never lets in the sun”

“They say there’s a heaven for those who will wait
Some say it’s better but I say it ain’t
I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints
The sinners are much more fun”

Joel told the magazine Performing Songwriter in 2008 that he didn’t write the song to be anti-Catholic but rather “pro-lust.” But that was enough for the Church.

Joel told the magazine:

“The song came out on The Stranger and was no big deal. But then Columbia decided to put it out as a single, and that’s when there were problems. There was a radio station at Seton Hall College in New Jersey. They banned it.”

After that, it got banned in Boston and Joel got a mini-reputation as being anti-Catholic. But that only made the song more popular.

Billy Joel’s “Only the Good Die Young” gains steam

“The single had been out a short amount of time and wasn’t doing well. The minute they banned it, it starting shooting up the charts, because nothing sells a record like a ban or a boycott. This record would have died out. Nobody would’ve heard it if they hadn’t tried to cut people off from it. As soon as the kids found out there was some authority that didn’t want them to hear it, they bought it in droves and it became this big hit.”

But some adults weren’t amused and sent the singer death threats. Of course, that didn’t stop him from playing it at concerts AND on Saturday Night Live. As Billy Joel recalled of “Only the Good Die Young”:

“I did it on Saturday Night Live and everybody was all freaked out,” Joel said. “They were saying, ‘You can’t do that on TV.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ Some people took offense at it, but there were all these novels written about Jewish guilt, so why not a song about Catholic guilt? Every Catholic I know is still recovering from this incredibly guilty upbringing they had. The song was supposed to be lighthearted. It was taken out of context with the rest of the album.”

The rumors that might be true

Joel also told the magazine that he “ wrote letters to the arch-bishops and the president of Seton Hall saying, ‘Please ban my next record.’”

As for the Notre Dame story/urban legend, people still tell the story that Joel was invited to play a concert at the university in the 70s on the condition that he did not play the song. Then, he proceeded to play it 6 times in a row, earning him a ban from campus. While that latter part is not true (he visited for a talk and played a concert on May 25, 2022), he certainly did play the song in the 70s – but it may only be the case that he played the opening notes about 5 times throughout the concert before playing the whole song in one of his encores (and even changed out some lyrics to specifically address “Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s girls”).

Oh, and another fun fact: the song was originally written as a reggae song, but Joel’s drummer hated it so much that he threw his drumsticks at the singer after they played it for the first time. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Billy Joel’s ‘Only The Good Die Young'” — Performing Songwriter

WTF Fun Facts 12744 – Laughter Yoga

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Laughter yoga was first introduced by Dr. Madan Kataria, a physician in Mumbai, India, in 1995. Using research that showed laughter can have beneficial effects on physical and mental health.

Since it was introduced, it has spread all over the world and has been shown to help improve mood through the release of serotonin and dopamine, improve cardiovascular function by improving blood flow to the heart, and reduce stress by suppressing cortisol levels.

Better yet, it’s free and doesn’t require anything but feeling a little bit silly.

What is laughter yoga?

You can do laughter yoga on your own, but doing it in a group setting (even via Zoom) has been shown to have further beneficial effects as it increases feelings of belonging and reduces loneliness.

According to Healthline (cited below): “Most sessions begin with simple breathing techniques, clapping, and chanting to help people relax. For example, you may begin the class by clapping rhythmically 1-2, 1-2-3 while chanting ‘ho-ho, ha-ha-ha.'”

We tried it. It does feel totally ridiculous at first. But eventually (and especially if you’re in a group), the fake laughter leads to real laughter. And your body doesn’t seem to know the difference anyway. Nothing actually has to be funny for you to get the mental and physical benefits that laughter brings.

Studies on the health effects

In addition, Healthline cited many studies pointing to proof of the benefits of laughter yoga:

“A 2019 review found simulated laughter lowered depression rates and improved mood. The authors stated that laughter exercises require little cognition and don’t rely on subjective humor, meaning most people can easily participate (Source 1).

Other studies have shown that laughing yoga may help temporarily reduce cortisol levels and stress, improve mood and energy levels, and induce a more positive mindset. In fact, it may be as effective as aerobic exercise at reducing self-reported stress (Source 2, Source 3, Source 4, Source 5, Source 6).”

Despite all the research, more large-scale studies need to be done to confirm the benefits. But in the meantime, a little laughter yoga probably wouldn’t hurt!

Check out the video below to see how you can get started. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Laughing Yoga: What Is It and Does It Work?” — Laughter Yoga

WTF Fun Fact 12743 – Laughter is the Best Medicine

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We’ve always had lots of anecdotal evidence that “laughter is the best medicine” and studies have shown correlations between laughter and happiness and laughter and better life satisfaction. But in 2005, the first study showed some of the physiological effects laughter has on the body’s cardiovascular system.

So when you say “laughter is the best medicine” to someone and they roll their eyes, you can now hit them with some facts (unless you’re at a funeral or something, then wait a few weeks, please).

The first study

The results of the study were first presented at the Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology, on March 7, 2005 by researchers from the University of Maryland. It kicked off a whole slew of studies backing up the evidence and providing yet more clues that you can laugh your way into old age.

But first, let’s see how this works. The first study used movies to look at the immediate effects of laughter on subjects’ endothelium – the tissue that forms the inner lining of blood vessels and that dilates or expands during blood flow. (And if it’s been a while since you’ve had a biology class, the better blood flows around your body – and to your heart – the more oxygen and other vital molecules get where they need to be.)

The approach

There were two groups of subjects – one watched a movie clip known to cause mental distress (for example, scenes from Saving Private Ryan – a great film, but not exactly a “cinematic joy ride,” aka it’s sad). The other group watched scenes from funny movies (one example was King Pin, which we have never seen, but we’ll trust that the researchers found a good clip).

Ok, so the goal was really just to make one group laugh and the other get kind of mired in sadness and then measure their blood flow. And you can probably see where this is going.

The results

The distressed group’s blood vessels showed an unhealthy physiological response of the blood vessels called vasoconstriction (a narrowing of the vessels that impedes blood flow). That had been suggested by many other studies before – when we’re stressed, our blood vessels constrict. Not good.

On the other hand, those who laughed showed great blood flow. That’s good. But it’s not just good in the moment, it’s good in the long term because the endothelium helps tone our blood vessels, adjust coagulation rates, and secretes chemicals that help heal wounds and respond to infections.

The researcher’s commentary

In an interview about the study, the lead investigator Michael Miller, M.D., director of preventive cardiology at the University of Maryland Medical Center said: “The endothelium is the first line in the development of atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, so, given the results of our study, it is conceivable that laughing may be important to maintain a healthy endothelium, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. At the very least, laughter offsets the impact of mental stress, which is harmful to the endothelium.”

The impact of laughter was so strong that they compared it to the benefits one may get from exercise (thought warned against trying to replace exercise with laughter).

“The magnitude of change we saw in the endothelium is similar to the benefit we might see with aerobic activity, but without the aches, pains and muscle tension associated with exercise,” Miller said. “We don’t recommend that you laugh and not exercise, but we do recommend that you try to laugh on a regular basis. Thirty minutes of exercise three times a week, and 15 minutes of laughter on a daily basis is probably good for the vascular system.”

Further evidence

Since 2005, there have been many studies that show laughter is good for health, including:

  • A study of older Japanese people which found that those who laughed more had fewer heart attacks and stroked.
  • A 2020 study showing that overall mortality, as well as cardiovascular disease, were significantly higher among subjects with a low frequency of laughter.
  • A review essay noting that “many kinds of studies, using different methods, conclude that happiness has a positive causal effect on longevity and physiological health.”

So, ask your doctor today about what a funny movie or a night out with fun friends can do for you. And if they look at you funny, just tell them you read that laughter is the best medicine on the internet. They love hearing that. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Laughter Helps Blood Vessels Function Better” — Science Daily

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

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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

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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

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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

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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