Some facts are serious. Some are fascinating. Others are downright strange! Then, there are those facts which are just fun to read about. These are the interesting facts that you might share with your friends, or at dinner parties, or just to break the ice. The world is a lot weirder than we actually give it credit for.
So, here’s a stack of interesting facts you can take away and use to your heart’s content. They are plucked completely at random, so don’t try and find any kind of pattern here! Let’s dive into the fun world of interesting facts and see what we can learn about.
1. You probably have more hair than you think.
No matter the hairstyle and no matter the thickness, the average human being has around 100,000 hairs growing on their head at any one time. In fact, you lose some every day without noticing. Don’t let it worry you!
2. Each piece of spaghetti has a name.
What’s a ‘spaghetto’? It’s one strand of spaghetti!
3. There’s no ‘Q’ in the USA!
The states of the USA make use of most letters of the alphabet in their names, collectively. However, not one state possesses the letter ‘Q’.
4. We share an odd trait with some marsupials.
While we may not really know what fingerprints actually do, humans aren’t the only creatures to have them. Many of our ape cousins possess them, too – as do koalas, believe it or not.
5. Snakes can predict the future – to an extent.
Want to know if you’re likely to experience an earthquake? Talk to a snake. Snakes have a sixth sense when it comes to Earth tremors, so much so that they can predict them up to five days before they actually occur.
6. Egg storage is serious business.
How do you store your eggs? Plenty of us put them in the fridge, but many people don’t. However, in the US, they have to be refrigerated due to how their shells are washed.
7. Nuts aren’t always nuts!
Ever eaten a peanut? It’s not actually a nut at all, and neither are walnuts and pistachios. Nuts have hard shells which can separate from their interior.
8. Some birds are borderline tiny!
There is a species of hummingbird so small, people sometimes mistake it for a bug or insect. The species in question is the bee hummingbird, and it’s around 6cm long, making it the smallest bird on the planet.
9. Don’t go cactus chopping in this US state.
It’s illegal to fell cacti in the state of Arizona! That’s because the state treats them like protected growths, and you could face a spell in prison if you are caught.
10. Don’t ask us to say this out loud!
There is a word in the English language which is so long, it would take you nearly four hours just to pronounce it. It’s a type of protein, and it has almost 190,000 letters.
11. That’s a lot of spit!
We’re known to salivate a lot, but did you know that in your life, you will likely produce enough saliva in your mouth to produce over 50,000 litres? That’s enough to fill a swimming pool or two.
12. The Queen has never passed ‘Go’.
Very random this, but should you ever find yourself part of the British Royal Family, you might have to give up your favourite board game. British Royals are forbidden from playing ‘Monopoly’!
13. Star Wars was a slow burner.
Star Wars wasn’t a runaway success when it first launched in the late 1970s. In fact, it only opened in around 32 cinemas across the US.
14. Going for gold!
Statistically, you are probably more likely to win an Olympic medal than you are to win the lottery jackpot. Better start training now!
15. Octopuses have massive families!
If you thought mammals birthed big litters, have you ever met an octopus? The aquatic species can lay up to 56,000 eggs in a litter at once.
16. Be careful around MPs!
It’s illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament. Quite how they police that, no one’s quite sure.
17. Lucky for some!
Right now, around 0.7% of the world’s population is drunk.
18. Beethoven owed a lot to metal.
How did Ludwig Van Beethoven manage to compose so many symphonies after going deaf? He found that, if he bit down onto metal, which attached to a piano he was sitting at, he could hear the notes he was playing.
19. Ethiopia measures time a lot differently to us.
While many countries run to the Gregorian calendar as standard, Ethiopia actually has thirteen months a year. As a result, it is around seven and a half years behind the rest of the world!
20. The Tooth Fairy is pretty generous.
In the US, the Tooth Fairy pays around $3.70 per tooth to children who lose their milk teeth.
21. What’s the colour of strawberry? Think again?
Strawberries, much like peppers, come in red, green and yellow. Some are even grow white! However, green strawberries are merely the red fruits we know and love, just not ripe.
22. China’s English-speaking population is probably bigger than you think.
More people speak English in China than speak English in the whole of the US!
23. Men have it easy.
Women feel pain worse than men due to the number of nerve receptors they have in their body. However, they actually have higher pain thresholds, too.
24. Who you gonna call? Not Bill.
Any Hollywood buffs wanting to contact actor Bill Murray will have to leave a message on his unique 1-800 number. It’s supposedly notoriously hard to reach him.
25. Are you a chatterbox?
Think you talk a lot? You probably don’t. We only speak for around ten minutes per day, total, on average.
26. The loneliest town.
There is a town in Nebraska, US, which has only one resident. She holds the post of Mayor in Monowi!
27. Some cats are silent.
Unlike many other big cats, Cheetahs are unable to roar. Perhaps they don’t need to – they’re quick enough to catch their prey from a standing start!
28. 3D printing is going beyond our mortal realm.
3D printing is actively being used to help deliver tools to astronauts. Personnel at NASA on Earth can simply send instructions electronically for items to print and build up in the heavens.
29. Is there anything vinegar can’t do?
If you have a string of pearls you really want to get rid of, they will likely dissolve in everyday vinegar.
30. An empowering stat for all budding authors.
JK Rowling passed her original idea for the hugely popular Harry Potter series of books around 12 different publishers before someone finally accepted her brief. Therefore, it just goes to show – persistence will pay off in the end!
31. Be careful with your pig-naming habits.
If you’re a pig farmer in France, you’ll be arrested if you name any of your brood ‘Napoleon’.
32. Smell training seriously exists.
The US military is known to spray their medics during training with a foul-smelling liquid. This, it’s stated, is said to help them adjust to the potential smells they’ll face while attending to the injured in warzones.
33. The bird has a word.
Twitter’s iconic bird logo has a name – Larry.
34. The original London Bridge is in America.
The London Bridge you see today isn’t the one that originally stood in the city. In fact, an older incarnation of the bridge was actually dismantled and shipped abroad to Arizona, US!
35. What’s the Sahara made of? Think again.
75% of the Sahara Desert has no sand in it whatsoever. In fact, you are most likely to find stone and gravel.
36. Pay your visits early in Switzerland!
Switzerland is very protective of people experiencing neighbourly noise. In fact, it’s against the law to flush a toilet, if you live in a flat, after 10pm.
37. The Swiss have interesting pet legislation.
Switzerland also has a curious law regarding guinea pigs. It’s illegal for you to buy and own just one. This, according to science and indeed Swiss law, is because the pets can get very lonely!
38. Better get grape picking!
If you want to crush grapes to make a whole bottle of wine, on average, you will need around 700 of them.
39. Pick your spots!
Jupiter, the huge gas giant in our solar system, has a big, red spot. However, scientists believe that the spot appears to be shrinking, but at the same time, it’s getting taller. Quite how this is possible – your guess is as good as ours.
40. Trailers used to be at the end of movies – hence the name.
Do you ever go to the cinema looking forward to seeing trailers for future releases? In years gone by, you would actually have to wait until the end of the movie to see them. Nowadays, most people wait until the end of a movie just to see a few extra Easter Eggs.
41. US firework purchasing is a largely governmental measure.
The US Department of Defense buys more explosives than anywhere else in the country, but who’s in second place? That’s because of all the fireworks they buy for their big celebrations each year!
42. Back you go!
If you escape prison while in Mexico, you won’t be reprimanded a second time if you are caught. You won’t even have to spend additional time in jail. You’ll simply have to go back and finish the sentence you started.
43. Moon footprints last forever.
It’s likely that footprints left on the Moon by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin could remain there for tens of millions of years.
44. Don’t try this at home.
You’re unlikely to sink into lava – if you fell into a volcano, you would float, due to lava’s incredible density.
45. Grass is more diverse than you think.
Believe it or not, there is more than one type of grass. In fact, there are more than 6,000 species!
46. Ever gone this deep?
There is a man called Tim Storms who is able to make a note so deep, and so low, that even he can’t hear it. Human hearing is only so adaptable. Tim is able to produce a note that’s only audible to specific species of animal!
47. Some rock stars are multi-talented.
Queen frontman Freddie Mercury was a trained graphic designer, and actually produced the band’s iconic logo. Queen guitarist Brian May, meanwhile, is a doctor in astrophysics, and actively campaigns against badger culling in the UK.
48. Try spelling this out loud.
There seems to be a fear or phobia for most things, even one for long words. But what is the phobia of long words called? Cruelly, it’s known as hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.
49. Chinese censorship goes above and beyond.
China’s government is known for its extensive censorship systems. So much so, that they have even censored the word ‘censorship’.
50. Deserts don’t have to be hot!
The biggest desert in the world isn’t made of sand. In fact, you’ll find it out in Antarctica!
51. It’s still the biggest social network.
At the time of writing, Facebook has over two billion users worldwide and counting.
52. How fast can you type?
While many people are able to type as quickly as 150 words per minute, the QWERTY keyboard we all know and love was built to slow down typewriter jams. Can you imagine how quick we’d all be at typing if we used a different system altogether?
53. Some dolphins are smarter than others.
Dolphins are known for being incredibly smart – however, pink Amazon dolphins may actually be smarter than any of us. It’s thought that they have 40% more brain capacity than humans!
54. Call the midwife – or maybe the gardener?
Chainsaws were actually invented to help during childbirth. Thankfully, we have moved onto more enlightened times!
55. Sid Monster doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Sesame Street’s iconic biscuit-munching beast Cookie Monster has a given first name – Sid.
56. Sloths take their time with food.
Sloths, known for their extreme lethargy and lack of speed, are also hardly likely to digest quickly, either. They are known to still be digesting food two weeks after they first ate it.
57. That’s a big cluster of cold!
The world’s biggest snowflake ever recorded was around 38cm in diametre.
58. Stilettos? Not always haute fashion.
High heels are extremely fashionable in the modern age, but they have been around since the 1700s. In fact, they were first developed for men, and there were even some children’s shoes made along the way.
59. Even paper bags are wasteful.
Think you’re doing your bit for the environment by using paper in your shopping bags rather than plastic? You’re not. In fact, it probably makes the same amount of difference. If you can, order online and ask for no bags!
60. Ostriches are beady, but bonkers.
Ostriches’ eyes are, on the whole, bigger than their brains.
61. It takes time to grow knees
Babies won’t have kneecaps, or at least the foundations for them, for some time. As with the fontanelle in a baby’s skull, it will take time for infant bone to grow and cover the knee.
62. More trees are growing in the US than you think!
The US is actively fighting against deforestation, and in the past 30 years, there have been more acres of new forest grown than lost.
63. The biggest tyre manufacturer in the world is surprising.
There are plenty of tyre specialists out there, but which company actually exports the most tyres per year? Believe it or not, Lego – who produces more tyres for their toys and kits than any other manufacturer on the planet.
64. How do bananas grow?
Bananas grow in a very strange way. They actually point towards the sky when they grow, which is why they are grown upside-down from trees. This sun-pointing is, of course, why you end up with bananas which are amazingly curvy.
65. Watch yourself around cows!
Cows are deadlier to humans than sharks, on average. There are around 20 people killed by cows each year, compared to very few killed by sharks!
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