All Facts
Florida Carpenter Ants Are the Only Insects Known to Amputate Limbs
animalsFlorida carpenter ants (Camponotus floridanus) save injured nestmates by biting off infected legs — the only known case of surgical amputation performed by a…
This Spider Runs on an 18.5-Hour Day and Shrugs Off Jet Lag Instantly
animalsThe trashline orb weaver spider operates on a natural circadian rhythm of just 18.5 hours — the shortest ever recorded in the animal kingdom. While most…
Tomatoes Were Feared as Poison for 200 Years Because of Aristocrats' Plates
foodEuropean elites avoided tomatoes for over two centuries, believing them deadly — but it was actually their pewter plates that were killing people. The high…
The Netherlands and a Tiny Island Group Were Technically at War for 335 Years
historyThe Isles of Scilly — five small islands off Cornwall — and the Netherlands were technically at war from 1651 until 1986, a conflict lasting 335 years with…
Woolly Mammoths Were Still Alive When the Pyramids Were Being Built
historyContrary to the popular belief that woolly mammoths went extinct around 10,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age, a population survived on Wrangel…
The Blobfish Looks Like a Normal Fish Underwater — We Made It Ugly
animalsThe blobfish, voted the world's ugliest animal in 2013, only looks like a grotesque pink blob because of the trauma of being dragged from the deep sea. In its…
A Mantis Shrimp's Punch Is Hot Enough to Briefly Match the Sun's Surface
animalsThe smasher mantis shrimp strikes its prey so fast that it creates a cavitation bubble collapsing at temperatures around 8,000°F — briefly hotter than the…
Cleopatra Lived Closer in Time to the Moon Landing Than to the Pyramids
historyCleopatra, who died in 30 BC, was born more than 2,400 years after the Great Pyramid of Giza was completed around 2560 BC. The Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969…
Australia Is Wider Than the Moon
geographyAustralia stretches roughly 2,500 miles from its east coast to its west coast — wider than the Moon's diameter of about 2,160 miles. The Moon is vastly larger…
Olympic Gold Medals Have Not Actually Been Gold Since 1912
sportsThe Olympic gold medal is one of the most coveted prizes in sport — but it has not been made of solid gold since the 1912 Stockholm Games. Modern gold medals…
Cats Purr Without Their Brains Telling Them To
animalsScientists long assumed cats actively contracted their laryngeal muscles around 30 times per second to produce a purr — a feat requiring constant brain input.…
Vanilla Is the World's Second Most Expensive Spice and Was Named After a Vagina
foodReal vanilla is the world's second most expensive spice after saffron, grown on orchids that can take years to bloom and must be hand-pollinated within a few…
Jesse Owens Broke Four World Records in Just 45 Minutes
sportsAt the 1935 Big Ten Championships, Jesse Owens set or equaled four world records in a single afternoon — despite having injured his back just days before. He…
Oxford University Is Older Than the Aztec Empire
historyTeaching at Oxford University began in some form as early as 1096 AD. The Aztec civilization — which most people think of as ancient — only founded its capital…
People Worldwide Instinctively Link Nonsense Sounds to Shapes They've Never Seen
scienceAcross 25 languages and 10 different writing systems, about 72 percent of people associate the nonsense word "bouba" with a round, blobby shape and "kiki" with…