Science is cool. Sure, if you’re anything like us, you’re not smart enough to work in it or anything. We struggled to pass high school biology and had to pray for a kind professor, a generous curve, and a pass-fail declaration to pass our college science requirements. But the knowledge that is born out of scientific discovery quite literally makes our world go round. The modern, advanced society that we all know and love wouldn’t be here without the technological advancements that have come from our knowledge of science as a discipline!
So let’s do a little bit of a touchdown dance for science today. In this list, we’ll cover ten fascinating scientific facts that don’t seem real—but are. These ten facts are true and verifiable, and even though it seems insane to consider them as being legit, they are. Enjoy!
Related: 10 Puzzling Mysteries Solved By Science
10 Heavy Skies
How Much Do Clouds Actually Weigh?
How much does a cloud weigh? They float up there so harmlessly high in the sky, and they appear as though they could just be blown away with a big, deep breath if only you could get up there to do it. And when fog and low, wispy clouds make it to eye level, they waft along smoothly through the air. So, a cloud must weigh nearly nothing, right? Wrong! Way, way wrong!
In actuality, a cloud weighs around a million tons. It depends a bit on the actual size of the cloud, of course, but they are massive and surprisingly heavy. The average cloud has a volume north of one cubic kilometer and a density of about 1.003 kilograms per cubic meter. That density is important because it’s about 0.4% lower than the surrounding air. That’s why they can float so effortlessly high in the sky. But they are still incredibly heavy! They look like puffs of smoke from down here, but they are very much not.[1]
9 Brains Eating Brains!
The Brain Might Start Eating Itself After Chronic Sleep Deprivation
There is a process by which living cells in certain parts of the human body ingest or engulf (read: literally eat) other cells or particles. The scenario is totally normal, and it’s called phagocytosis. In most cases in the body, the phagocyte in question is a free-living, one-celled organism, most often an amoeba. In other cases, it can be one of the body’s white blood cells. But in all cases, its job is to eat other dead or lackluster cells, remove them from the system, and make the whole body work better.
In the brain specifically, this phagocytosis is actually extremely common. That’s right: your brain constantly eats itself and pulls chunks of cells out to remove and replace. The process isn’t concerning at all in most cases. In fact, it’s meant to get weaker cells out of there so the brain can replenish itself and work better. Think of it like going in for a tune-up with your car… except it’s your brain, and it’s cannibalizing itself. But in a good way! Isn’t science weird?
Anyway, there is one concerning part of phagocytosis. If you don’t sleep enough on a consistent basis, the process ramps up, and the brain’s desire to eat itself goes into overdrive. That can border on unhealthy. But in most cases, the brain is just doing a little spring cleaning when its cells hunt for other cells to eat. In turn, that actually helps preserve your gray matter![2]
8 No Head? No Problem!
This Chicken Lived for Two Years Without a Head | History
The phrase “running around like a chicken with your head cut off” is known the world over (or at least in the Anglosphere). Still, just as with any crazy phrase like that, it actually comes from a place of truth. As many know, chickens can live for a while (like, minutes) with their heads cut off. But did you know that one chicken in the 1940s in the United States lived for a whopping 18 months without a head?! The chicken’s name was Mike, and it made its home in Colorado.
Poor Mike was almost completely beheaded with an ax, but the jugular vein and most of the brainstem were left intact. Because of that, he was able to hang out and go on living with just enough of his brain remaining to perform his most essential functions. The farmer who owned him was so impressed with Mike’s ability to show resilience that he opted to feed Mike with an eyedropper through the stump of his neck. That sounds absolutely gross and a little bit sad… but it worked for a year and a half![3]
7 Tied Down
A Tight History of Neckties | Ordinary Things
If your dad ever made you wear a tie to church growing up or forced you to learn how to tie a tie so that you could function at high-end events, you should send this list to him right now. That’s because, as it turns out, wearing a tie can reduce the blood flow to your brain by nearly 10%! A recent study found that the average necktie, as it’s tied around a man’s neck in this day and age, can very often reduce blood flow to the brain by a median of 7.5%.
In turn, that can make you feel dizzy and nauseous, and it can cause headaches. A tie tied too tightly could also increase the pressure on your eyes. Oh, and ties are great at carrying germs—even more so than regular clothing, because unlike regular clothing, ties very often go years without getting washed or dry cleaned. So, listen up, pops! Tying a tie isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.[4]
6 Shorten Up!
Why Does A Fear Of Long Words Have A Stupidly Long Name? – Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia
Are you afraid of using long words? We’re not… we think. Well, we should clarify that. We weren’t afraid of using long words until we learned that fear is an actually documented condition with a crazy name: hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. That’s a 36-letter-long word, for the record. And if you think somebody must have been playing a trick on the world when they came up with that word and its ironic meaning, well, you’d be right.
The first person on the record to use that 36-letter word to describe the fear of the lengthiest words in our vocabulary was the Roman poet Horace. In the first century BC, he used it to call out writers who had an unreasonable habit of using long words to prove their supposed intelligence. He wanted them to say it simply or not say it at all. Honestly, that’s not a bad take!
Then, in 2000, the American poet Aimee Nezheukumatathil brought the term back into favor by coining it (or re-coining it) to mean how we use it today. We sort of assume that Nezheukumatathil was preoccupied with her lengthy last name, and that’s why she pulled out all the stops to slam long words with an official term. Wise move on her part![5]
5 Good Old Pets
‘World’s oldest dog’ stripped of title | BBC News
The oldest dog that ever lived (whose claim was verified, at least) was an Australian cattle dog named Bluey. Amazingly, Bluey lived to be an astounding 29 years old. He was a working dog on a farm Down Under, and he was remarkably talented at his job and loyal to his family. He worked well into his 20s before he was allowed to rest a bit—and then he lived a few years even longer than that!
After he died in 1939, he went straight into the record books. Briefly, in 2023, his record was challenged by a Brazilian dog named Bobi, who was supposedly 31 years old. However, Guinness World Records eventually suspended his claim in January 2024 after its legitimacy was questioned.
Cats can live a very, very long time, too. Generally, a healthy indoor cat can regularly live upward of 15 years, with some making it as far as 20 years into life. But the oldest cat ever recorded lived nearly double that incredibly long length. That would be Creme Puff, a Texas cat born way back in 1967 and lived for 38 years and 3 days before dying in 2005. Amazingly, Creme Puff’s owner—a man named Jake Perry—actually owned a second cat previously named Grandpa Rex Allen. He, too, held the world record for the oldest cat ever until Creme Puff broke it. What was Jake Perry’s secret?![6]
4 Chainsaws for… Children?
It’s hard to believe that we are even going to write this next sentence, but here we go. Chainsaws were invented in Scotland in the late 18th century to help as a childbirth aid. No, you are not hallucinating. Chainsaws were originally invented to speed up the process of symphysiotomy, which is a fancy medical term that means to widen the pubic cartilage. A device with a moving chain like what we know on a chainsaw turned out to be the perfect way to help women push their babies out safely and quickly. Furthermore, these primitive chainsaws also helped remove bone and disease-laden cartilage during birth.
Fast forward more than 100 years from there, and suddenly, chainsaws would become a key tool in the toolbag for lumberjacks, landscapers, and other outdoor workers. Of course, these new chainsaws had much more powerful motors and much larger teeth than those originally intended to help birth children. The new and much-improved chainsaws could chop wood and cut down trees. And that’s how they truly became popular worldwide. Just don’t use these outdoor chainsaws on a woman giving birth. That would be very, very bad.[7]
3 Seeing Red
The Color Effect – Why Red Wins More Often
The former professional baseball-slash-football superstar Deion Sanders used to say, “If you look good, you play good, and if you play good, they pay good.” The media and fans alike ate that comment up and thought it was the funniest and wackiest thing. But as it turns out, Deion was dead right. And whether he knew it or not at the time that he infamously used that phrase, science actually has his back!
According to a recent longitudinal study taking a deep look at all kinds of professional soccer (that would be football to those not reading this in America) clubs, those who wear red jerseys consistently play better and win more. Over the last 55 years, teams wearing a red kit, as opposed to literally any color, played significantly better in home matches than other clubs who wore other colors. What is it about red? Well, the study wasn’t entirely sure about that. But whatever it was, nearly six decades of data doesn’t lie. If you want your team to win, make ’em wear red![8]
2 Sleep Signing
A Few Things to Know About American Sign Language | NPR
Like how you and I occasionally talk in our sleep, did you know that deaf people sign in their sleep? It makes sense. After all, they use sign language to communicate with others, just like the rest of us use our words. And because we use our words all day, every day (and for deaf people, sign language is an all-day thing), it is sensible that the brain continues to use it even after we go down for the night and enter the dream world.
Scientists figured all this out for the first time a few years ago after doing a case study of a 71-year-old deaf man. He had rapid eye movement disorder, and so sleep scientists wanted to study how he did (or didn’t) fall asleep. Well, once slumber overcame him, they noticed something interesting: He was using fluent sign language in his sleep. And, of course, for the sleep scientists who could read sign language, they could figure out exactly what he was dreaming about. That’s very cool… and also very creepy.[9]
1 Nipped in the Bud
Embarrassing Illnesses | Third Nipple | Channel 4
Do you have a third nipple? We’re not playing around—we really want to know. That’s because some studies have found that as many as one in every 18 people actually has a third nipple. Now, that may come as quite a surprise to you. After all, think back to the last time you were at the community pool or the beach. Did you notice any people there with three nipples? No? Well, maybe you’ll look more closely next time. (Just don’t get slapped by a woman who thinks you’re getting fresh with her!) In fact, we’ll do you one better: the next time you go to the grocery store, just imagine how there are multiple people in there with more than two nipples. Creepy!
To be fair, the “one in 18” stat doesn’t always involve a traditional third nipple like the first two. In many cases, the people who have that third nipple actually have a mole somewhere on their body that is technically a nipple, even if they don’t realize it. In many cases, the mole is hidden so well as a mole, and not a nipple, that people go their entire lives without realizing they are one of the humans with the condition.
As far as a true, traditional, stereotypical nipple is concerned, that happens in about one in every 500 people. Still surprisingly common, to be honest. And in case you are wondering, the third nipple isn’t a cause for concern. No real health issues are associated with it, and it wasn’t created by anything life-threatening or scary. It’s just a medical condition called polythelia, a minor mutation in inactive genes before birth.[10]
fact checked by
Darci Heikkinen
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