Dr. Barry J. Marshall proved to the medical community that ulcers weren’t caused by stomach acid by drinking Helicobacter pylori bacterium. He developed stomach ulcers within days, treated them with antibiotics, and went on to win a Nobel Prize. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4934498
A disgruntled businessman in Vermont, who was upset with the local officials for denying a building permit for his proposed business, got revenge by building a giant, illuminated middle finger statue on his property at a cost of ~$4,000. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2018/12/10/middle-finger-sculpture-westford-vermont
Researchers traveled to Antarctica and put 10 king penguins on a treadmill. They found fat king penguins are more unsteady on their feet while waddling compared to their slimmer counterparts. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/25/penguins-on-a-treadmill-study-shows-fat-ones-fall-over-more-often-than-slim-ones
Climate change is turning the world’s oldest mummies into black goo. For 7,000 years, these mummies have survived in Chile’s Atacama Desert, but humidity in the area has risen enough to cause rapid mummy decomposition. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2015/03/saving-chilean-mummies-climate-change
Women are better at discerning shades of colors, while men are better at tracking fast-moving objects and identifying detail from a distance. These are evolutionary details linked to our hunter-gatherer past. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120907-men-women-see-differently-science-health-vision-sex/
Artist Max Siedentopf is creating an installation called “Toto Forever” at an undisclosed location somewhere in the Namib Desert, Africa. The solar powered installation will consist of six speakers and an MP3 player with Toto’s Africa on repeat. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: http://maxsiedentopf.com/toto-forever
It’s an urban legend that driving a vehicle barefoot is illegal in the US. None of the states have a law that requires you to be wearing footwear while driving. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/is-it-illegal-to-drive-barefoot/
A recent study of biomedical papers published through May 2015 found 213 references “unequivocally citing” Bob Dylan. The singer/songwriter’s most popular songs referenced were “The Times They Are a-Changin’,” which had 135 citations, and “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which had 36 citations. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/why-so-many-dylan-lyrics-medical-studies-answer-my-friend-n480466
Old-time ‘high-wheeler’ bicycles were also known as ‘penny farthings’, because people thought they looked like the largest (penny) and smallest (farthing) English coins of the day rolling along one after the other. – WTF Fun Facts
Source: https://curiosity.com/topics/why-did-old-timey-bikes-have-one-giant-wheel-curiosity/