The world is full of some strange facts that people might not know. You’ll never believe what you are about to read and yet they still happened!
1. Russia has more area than Pluto! The surface of the Earth is 1.5 million times larger than that of tiny little Pluto and Russia takes up a whopping one-eighth of it, so at this point in our solar system’s history you’re pretty much guaranteed to find yourself under Russian jurisdiction sooner or later if you travel far enough out into space.
2. Oxford University is a living, breathing testament to the world’s oldest continuous university system. Founded in 1096 AD, Oxford boasts alumni like Benjamin Franklin and Stephen Hawking that have gone on to make significant impacts across history. Oxford has been around since before the Aztec Empire was established back in 1325 BC!
3. In 1977, when Star Wars: A New Hope hit theatres in France, the country was still executing people by guillotine. France is known as a modern and progressive nation with advanced technology but they were executing their citizens up until 1978!
4. Nintendo’s history began in 1889 when it was founded as a card company, but by the 1980s it had shifted its focus to video games.
5. If the sun were to be as small as one of our white blood cells then the Milky Way Galaxy would seem like a country on earth.
6. It is estimated that there are more stars in space than there are grains of sand on all beaches of the world put together.
7. You may think you’re the ruler of your own little world, but there are trillions just like you. Each human on Earth is outnumbered by 1.6 million ants – that’s a lot of bugs!
8. It’s a bizarre and wildly impressive fact that the weight of all those ants on Earth combined is about equal to the total mass of every human being alive.
9. Scientists have discovered that on Jupiter and Saturn rain contains diamonds. As a result, it is not uncommon for some to travel in hopes of discovering these precious gems during their visit.
10. It is estimated that 10% of all the photos ever taken are from a mere 12 months ago. With more than 2 billion photographs uploaded to Facebook every day, this could be tens or even hundreds of millions of pictures in just one year’s time!
11. Shakespeare is known for his clever wordplay and invented the name “Jessica” while writing one of his most famous plays, Merchant of Venice.
12. You’re twice as likely to be killed by a vending machine than bitten by a shark!
13. Was Humpty Dumpty really an egg? It is unclear that Humpty Dumpty, a character from the nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpy,” represents an egg. There is no proof of that in the song.
14. Armadillos are one of the only animals that never give birth to twins. It is typically an even number, and they almost always come in sets of four!
15. Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn! These mystical creatures are a symbol of purity, wisdom and strength. For centuries they have been depicted in art as white horses with one horn protruding from their head.
16. It’s a shame that there are more fake flamingos in the world than real ones. I always wanted to go see one for myself, but now it seems as though they’re all artificial and have been replaced by their synthetic counterparts.
17. John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States, was born only 190 years ago. Now he has a grandson who is alive today and going to college!
18. Some people might think that strawberries are berries, but they’re not! The definition of a berry is something the grows on a shrub or vine. Strawberries don’t grow in those places…they come from plants called strawberry fields because they have to be planted and tended so closely together like rows of crops.
19. A banana is a berry. You might be under the impression that a banana is not actually considered to be in the berry category. However, botanists have classified it as such and so technically they are berries!
20. Lake Superior is the largest of all the Great Lakes, and it contains enough water to cover North and South America in one foot. That’s a lot!
21. The octopus has three hearts, but two of them are very small and close to the head. The third heart is near their gills which help circulate blood in a similar way that lungs do for humans.
22. Your body is comprised of ten times as many bacteria than actual cells, and that’s not even counting the trillions upon trillions of microscopic organisms in your intestines. To put it lightly, you’re a walking petri dish!
23. There is only one country in the world between North Korea and Norway, which has a population of over five million people.
24. New York City is a city in the northeastern United States. It’s more south than Rome, Italy which sits on the coast of Europe about 2 hours north of Egypt and 3 hours east from France.
25. Maine may be the closest US state to Africa, but it’s not as close as you might think. It is only about fifty miles from there! That means if you’re in Maine and want a taste of what life on an African safari feels like then all your transportation needs are met just over that next hill.
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