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Knowledge is something that can always be improved. At the same time, it's also a thing that no matter how much effort you put in, you'll have some blind spots because it's impossible to know absolutely everything, isn't it? There are things that we are doomed to never learn about. But today's list isn't about them. Instead, it's about the things many people don't know but can learn about. And when is a better time to start than now?
More info: Reddit
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#1
If you want to stop and have a chat, you won't die if you move out of the walkway.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 8 months ago
If you move to the side, a piano might fall on your head.
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#3
A burial plot is called a graveyard if it's part of a church lot. It's called a cemetery if separate.
David 8 months ago
According to various definitions I'd rate this as 'mostly true. True in that graveyard is more commonly associated with a church, but untrue in that both words are technically correct whether or not a church grounds is involved. So not a great hill for the grammar nazis to die on (pun intended). --- "The word cemetery (from Greek κοιμητήριον 'sleeping place') implies that the land is specifically designated as a burial ground and originally applied to the Roman catacombs. The term graveyard is often used interchangeably with cemetery, but a graveyard primarily refers to a burial ground within a churchyard."
Probably many of us have heard the saying that “knowledge is power” at least once in our lifetime. This phrase comes from the Latin aphorism "scientia potentia est" (the words can be placed slightly differently, but it doesn’t change the meaning). Commonly, it’s attributed to Sir Francis Bacon, former Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, as the expression "ipsa scientia potestas est" ('knowledge itself is power') occurred in his book “Meditationes Sacrae” (1597).
As you can see, Francis Bacon didn’t use the exact aphorism that’s assigned to the “knowledge is power” saying. The first time this exact Latin phrase was written was in the 1668 version of “Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes, an ex-secretary to F. Bacon.
#4
The only difference between chemistry and biology is life. If it's alive, it's biology, if it's not its chemistry.
#5
Scuba is an acronym, standing for self contained underwater breathing apparatus.
Spannidandoolar 8 months ago
I swear I learnt this from a TV show...I want to say Boy Meets World but I may be wrong, something of that era!
#6
A company called Warner Chappell Music collected licensing fees for use of the song “Happy Birthday to You” all the way until 2015. That’s why characters in movies often sing other songs like “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” and restaurant chains often have their own birthday songs they sing to customers.
AtMostAFabulist 8 months ago
I knew the song was still under copyright. Is it still, or did it go public domain in 2015?
Yet, even though knowledge is power, everyone carries different levels of it. And this leads to the phenomenon of the “curse of knowledge” or “the curse of expertise.” It’s a cognitive bias where people incorrectly assume that everyone knows as much as they do on a certain topic. This makes it hard for them to imagine what it’s like to not have that knowledge.
One of the most interesting experiments done about this curse, which also quite easily explains the phenomenon, was conducted in 1990 by a Stanford University psychology graduate student Elizabeth Newton. She created a game, where people were assigned roles of “tapper” and “listener.” Tappers had to tap out the rhythm of a well-known song on a table, while the listeners had to guess the song.
Out of 120 songs tapped out during the experiment, only 3 were guessed correctly. Yes, only 3! Apparently, when a tapper taps, they hear the tune in their mind along with the taps, while the listener only hears the uncoordinated tapping sounds. And due to the curse, the tappers couldn’t see why it was so hard for listeners to understand the tune.
#7
Irukandji jellyfish grow only to about 1 cubic cm in size, but have an incredibly painful sting. One symptom of the sting is a strong impending sense of doom. Victims have begged their doctor to be killed as they were certain they would die anyways.
#9
Mammals pee an average of 22 seconds, no matter if mouse or elephant.
Donkey boi 8 months ago
My wife pees for about 2 seconds (I'm not even joking, she pisses so hard that I worry she's gonna chip the porcelain), I pee for about 2 minutes. I think both of us are upsetting the average.
This works with any other type of knowledge. Knowing some piece of information makes it hard to understand how others don’t know it, hence the curse in the phenomenon’s name.
And it’s not the only thing that's so cursed about it. In fact, this phenomenon creates quite a few problems between people:
- Makes some teachers have difficulty understanding how their students can’t comprehend a topic;
- Makes it difficult to communicate;
- Makes it hard to understand or justify your own past behavior;
- Makes it hard to predict or understand the behavior of others.
So, be aware that as you learn new things from this list, you might fall for the curse of knowledge. After all, as the question that prompted this thread suggests, the majority of people don’t know these facts, so don’t forget that!
Also, maybe you know any other facts that not many others know that weren't mentioned in this list? Share it with us in the comments! And don't forget to upvote the most interesting facts you learned from this list!
#10
Squirrels run faster up trees than on flat surfaces.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 8 months ago
It's probably more difficult for anyone to run up a flat surface.
#11
Font describes the variation in style in which something is written: size, italic, bold, all caps etc.
Typeface is the variation in the style of letters (Arial, Times New Roman, Comic Sans) that most people refer to as fonts.
#12
Most the people involved in the Hindenburg disaster lived.
Major Harris 8 months ago
the last survivor of this disaster died 08 nov 2019, Werner Gustav Doehner. hr was 8 years old when he was on her.
#13
The Amazon River is over 4,000 miles long and doesn't have any bridges that cross it.
Donkey boi 8 months ago
Technically, False. But also true. The Amazon river proper does not have any bridges. However, there are many small bridges crossing the distributaries, which are still part of the same river (as they leave and re-join the river). I know this for a fact because I have crossed them, just outside of Iquitos, Peru.
#14
SONAR stands for SOund NAvigation and Ranging.
Ai-Li Mae Sarvis 8 months ago
Yes. also RADAR means RAdio Detection And Ranging. LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
#15
The amount of [crimes] that happens on cruise ships. Most of them unresolved too.
#16
An 18 inch pizza is more than two 12 inch pizzas.
And to do the math, the surface area of a circle is pi x r squared.
Pi is the constant. 18 in pizza has a 9 in radius, or r. 12 inch has
6. 9 squared is 81, 6 squared is 36. 36 x 2 is 72. 81 is greater than 72.
#17
Kysman95 said:
When you get killed by army ants it's not the poison or biting that kills you. >!But the invasion of lungs!<.
IHateThisDamnWebsite explained:
Ants crawl down your mouth and you suffocate as they get to your lungs.
#18
If your nerve is broken in the wrong way, the nerve will send a pain signal to the brain and it won't stop.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 8 months ago
My best friend's daughter has extreme nerve damage in her stomach area, and is literally in constant pain. She's outlived doctor estimates from sheer cussedness.
#19
Centralia PA, Its a ghost town in Pennsylvania. Somehow they managed to set a coal mine on fire and its been burning since 1962. There are still a few people living there apparently but there are noxious fumes venting out of the ground so the government doesn't allow new people to go there.
#20
The difference between a million and a billion, is approximately a billion.
Tucker Cahooter 8 months ago
Note that this is a metric billion (1000 million); imperial billions are 842 million (US) or 876 million (UK)
#21
The bow-wow theory of language (aka the onomatopoeic theory), which states that our imitation of natural sounds is the basis of language development.
#22
Everything is made of chemicals and every single one of them will kill you with a sufficient dose.
#23
Your eyes have a separate immune system from the rest of your body. If they get damaged in such a way that it affects anything other than your eyes, your regular immune system can attack the damage and will not recognize them, meaning your own body can permanently blind you.
What's worse, your body cannot tell the difference between either eye. If one of them gets infected or damaged, your immune system can attack your healthy eye and take away your sight entirely.
#24
Sharks predate trees.
Major Harris 8 months ago (edited)
bull sharks are the only dangerous species of shark that can acclimate to fresh water. a bull shark was caught in 1995, 930 miles up the mississippi river near st. louis! and in australia, carbrooke golf course has a large water hazard/lake on the 14th hole that has several bull sharks that were swept into the lake from a river that overflowed its banks.
#25
The chances of a good recovery after CPR is abysmal.
ElfVibratorGlitter 8 months ago
CPR is to keep oxygen circulating until you can get actual medical help to restore a rhythm (if they even can). CPR alone isn't going to fix someone. Just keep someone's brain from dying from lack of oxygen.
#26
The only Spanish-speaking country in Africa is Equitorial Guinea. Its capital, Malabo, is on an island slightly northwest of the country’s mainland.
#27
The tip of a shoelace is called an aglet.
Firstname Lastname 8 months ago
Great, now I'm singing the Phineas and Ferb aglet song. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_DuY0CQUz4&ab_channel=DisneyXD)
Vonny 8 months ago
This was a Jeopardy show a few weeks ago. A contestant answered it correctly. So I've now heard the word 'aglet' twice this year whereas I can bet $ I'd not heard the word even once in decades.
Rinso The Red 8 months ago
Which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice.
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Ken Beattie 8 months ago
For some reason my last two puppies have been fascinated by the aglets. They won't chew the shoes, they won't chew the shoelaces, but they crunch the damned aglets off every single shoelace they could find.
Daya Meyer 8 months ago
A nice German word for scrabble: Senkelblech. Yeah, so many letters for just a small piece of plastic or metal.
#28
Water doesn't conduct electricity.
Edit cuz I should probably explain; pure water doesn't conduct electricity. Getting water to that level of purity is relatively costly however.
mysterious(all pronouns) 8 months ago
Adding any salt (ionic compound) will make water conduct electricity. These salts are referred to as electrolytes.
#29
If you get a tooth abscess on the maxillary (top arch) canine to canine. It needs to be taken care of ASAP. The area is called the triangle of death when it comes to abscess or infections.
Source: Dental Hygienist
Also
AtMostAFabulist 8 months ago
i honestly thought that mirror was actually a hook that was pulling the teeth up. Yikes
#30
Migatte-no-Blakae said:
A broken clock is right twice a day, but a clock ticking in reverse is correct FOUR times a day.
peckx063 explained:
Start one at midnight going forward and one backward. After six hours they'll both be at 6, after another six hours they'll both be at 12, after another six hours they'll both be at 6,after another six hours they'll both be at 12.
#31
You can collapse your lungs from laughing.
Donkey boi 8 months ago
Not quite right. People with certain conditions can suffer a form of attack as a result of laughing (such as an asthmatic having an asthma attack, and narcoleptics falling asleep), and smokers can have a phlegmatic attack which can cause blockages in the lungs and airways. The act of laughing forces air from the lungs (including stale air), which is why a good laughing session always includes a large intake of breath. The collapsing of a lung occurs when air gets trapped between the lung and chest wall, which would not occur when laughing. *Unless there was another force/injury, such as a broken rib, which is rare, but possible.
#32
The human body has no means of sensing "wetness", and thus doesn't know what "wetness" is. It can only sense temperature and pressure. Put on a latex glove and submerge your hand in water, and it will feel wet.
The movie The Fifth Element is the only movie to reach general audiences, in which the protagonist and antagonist are never made aware of one another, let alone meet on screen.
Domestic cats have what's known as a "Non-Fatal Terminal Velocity". Which means that, provided they are of healthy age and weight, you could punt one out of a 747 at cruising altitude and it would hit the earth with no measurable damage.
To temporarily reduce, or remove entirely, the symptoms of tinnitus, cover your ears with your palms as hard as you can, and ensure you middle fingers are touching behind your head, then rapidly tap the entire length of your fingers against the base of your skull.
You may own your phone, as in the piece of hardware in your hand, but you own exactly none of the things it can do. Remember that when texting, taking pics, posting online, or anything else you do.
#33
Your immune system has at least 1 cell to combat every single infection that could ever exist. Your T-cells are cells that, when created, go through a sort of training phase in the thymus where they are allowed to change their genetic code at random, in order to be able to battle 1 random very specific disease. During this, the body also kills any T-cells that are accidentally adapted to kill human cells. Then the T-cells are sent to lymph nodes, to be found later by presenting an antigen (a part of a pathogen) to it. Basically you have something for everything in your body, the problem is just finding it, as it takes a good few days for your body to locate the specific one.
What do you think ?
PFD 8 months ago
Would have been nice to have some fact-checking before reposting this lot, as most are either total b******t or pretty trivial.
General Stukov 8 months ago
Agreed. Please do your own tradeable and don't just believe this as facts
Load More Replies...
Christine Graves 8 months ago
Fact checking is a thing. If it isn't a fact didn't post it as one.
Member_389 8 months ago
'Anyone can write on Bored Panda. Start writing!' That appears pretty obvious when you read this load of garbage. Most of it is inaccurate, at least the parts that were actually finished before posting it.
Casey Payne 8 months ago
Fun fact: Humans are capable of natural flight, as long as they strongly disbelieve in the concept of gravity. That disbelief can be achieved under moments of extreme stress but also extreme ignorance and youth. Scientists have almost achieved results by dropping babies off of the Empire State building in a series of tests in the 1950s. Unfortunately due to the ratio of success/failure and the optics of the situation, they did not publish any of their research. Anti-flight authorities are still looking for them to this day. Believe it or not.
Casey Payne 8 months ago
Just in case, I have to publicly state that this is complete sarcasm and should not be taken seriously. No babies have been harmed for this joke, but some intelligent people have hurt their eyes by rolling them.
Load More Replies... Becky Samuel 8 months ago
Wut? Tarantula owners are absolutely paranoid about dropping them because they have a tendency to break open when they hit a hard surface and this is inevitably fatal.
Load More Replies... Smart writer 8 months ago
Holy s**t bp. This wasnt your usually rubbish and often repeated fact.
Becky Samuel 8 months ago
Oh. They're never happier round here than when they're having a good whine about something or picking holes in it.
Load More Replies... PFD 8 months ago
Would have been nice to have some fact-checking before reposting this lot, as most are either total b******t or pretty trivial.
General Stukov 8 months ago
Agreed. Please do your own tradeable and don't just believe this as facts
Load More Replies... Christine Graves 8 months ago
Fact checking is a thing. If it isn't a fact didn't post it as one.
Member_389 8 months ago
'Anyone can write on Bored Panda. Start writing!' That appears pretty obvious when you read this load of garbage. Most of it is inaccurate, at least the parts that were actually finished before posting it.
Casey Payne 8 months ago
Fun fact: Humans are capable of natural flight, as long as they strongly disbelieve in the concept of gravity. That disbelief can be achieved under moments of extreme stress but also extreme ignorance and youth. Scientists have almost achieved results by dropping babies off of the Empire State building in a series of tests in the 1950s. Unfortunately due to the ratio of success/failure and the optics of the situation, they did not publish any of their research. Anti-flight authorities are still looking for them to this day. Believe it or not.
Casey Payne 8 months ago
Just in case, I have to publicly state that this is complete sarcasm and should not be taken seriously. No babies have been harmed for this joke, but some intelligent people have hurt their eyes by rolling them.
Load More Replies... Becky Samuel 8 months ago
Wut? Tarantula owners are absolutely paranoid about dropping them because they have a tendency to break open when they hit a hard surface and this is inevitably fatal.
Load More Replies... Smart writer 8 months ago
Holy s**t bp. This wasnt your usually rubbish and often repeated fact.
Becky Samuel 8 months ago
Oh. They're never happier round here than when they're having a good whine about something or picking holes in it.
Load More Replies...
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