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While social interaction has proven to be a major factor in improving cognitive health, other components of trivia, such as learning new facts and recalling older information, can also be significant, says Professor Scott Brown from the University of Newcastle.
"Practicing pub trivia helps maintain our cognitive reserve, which is especially important as we age because it can provide a buffer against cognitive decline and other forms of dementia. It's the 'use it or lose it' notion, where if we keep doing these activities to work our cognitive muscles, it keeps them from atrophying early," he explains.
Professor Brown adds that the rewards of getting questions right, or even better, winning, can boost your mental health, and the dopamine rush can be both rewarding and motivating to learn more.
So let's dive straight in! Reddit user Own_Championship7862 made a post on the platform, asking everyone, "What's an unusual fact that most people don't know?" Since the replies have been pouring in, we decided to compile some of the most surprising ones and help you expand your knowledge.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Wearing white wedding dresses only came into fashion after Queen Victoria started the trend. White isn’t meant to have any other meaning or represent purity as many people think. Before this trend most brides just wore their best dress of any colour as it was expensive to buy a dress just for the occasion.
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#2
Pink used to be a masculine color.
During the height of the British Empire, the soldiers in the far reaches of the world donned their red coats in battle and patrol. The newer recruits would look especially sharp with a bold red color. The rugged war-heroes though? Their coats were faded and worn into more of a pink color. If you saw a guy wearing a pink coat, odds are they have stories to tell with a thousand yard stare. This became a desirable thing to show off your experience and grit.
Hence pink was associated with combat prowess and ruggedness, and became a masculine color during that time.
#3
The tongue of a blue whale weighs the same as a fully grown African Elephant
#4
I have recently learned that Lobsters don't display senescence which is the deterioration of the body as it ages. Their bodies are continuously growing and their exoskeletons get heavier and heavier, hence when they molt into a new exoskeleton it takes more and more energy to take off the old one. Eventually they die because one day they just go, "Yeeeeeaaaah sooo like this exoskeleton is too heavy so imma just go meet Lobster God and head out from the mortal world."
Now a thought... If a group of people helped a lobster shed it's exo- skeleton... And if said lobster kept growing... Technically, a giant lobster could be brought into existence should the lobster not die from old age.
#5
Each time I read a question like this I am reminded of this,
If you made 10,000 dollars everyday since the signing of the Declaration of Independence in August 2, 1776, you still wouldn’t wouldn’t have 1 billion dollars.
And it is just mind boggling!!
#6
The Korean people have an enzyme that makes us have dry ear wax and a propensity to lack body odor.
For the first 20 years of my life I had no idea why my earwax was flaky when everyone else's was more like a jam or paste and why I didn't have to wear deodorant.
I'm not saying that Koreans are immune from body odor but it is much less prevalent and requires much more disregard for hygiene.
#7
Bald eagles are not actually bald. Balde is old english for white
#8
When basketball was first invented, at every game, they would have a man who would go up a ladder to retrieve the ball after every basket. It took them around 20 years to figure out maybe it would be a good idea to cut the bottom of the basket out to make retrieving the ball a lot easier. 20 years!!!
Mycroft1967 1 year ago
How long did it take us to figure out you could put the spout for ketchup at the bottom so you didn't have to shake it?
#9
Playing Tetris up to 6 hours after a trauma can help against PTSD
#10
I love when this question comes up because I get to talk about the thunder clappers.
When the Lewis and Clark expedition were exploring the west of North America, their diet of dried meat left them constipated. They were all taking these pills called thunder clappers to make themselves s**t. The active ingredient in thunder clappers is mercury, and historians can track the expedition because they left increased deposits of mercury in the soil.
#11
The male giraffe will continuously headbutt the female in the bladder until she urinates. The male then tastes the pee and that helps it determine whether the female is ovulating. If she is, it’s business time.
#12
For every single human being on Earth, there are 2.5 MILLION ants.
Yes, this means that there are about 20 QUADRILLION ants on this planet.
If the ants decide to take over, are you strong enough to handle the 2.5 million that you'll be responsible for killing? If you've got kids, you might have to kill more because a 2 year old isn't going to accomplish a god damn thing if millions of ants are marching towards them
#13
The fruit was called orange waaaaay before the colour was
#14
There are more tigers kept as pets in the USA than there are in the wild
#15
We are always seeing our own nose but the brain ignores it
#16
A day on Venus (one complete rotation around its axis) is longer than a year (a complete revolution around the sun) on Venus.
#17
LEGO manufactures more tyres than any other company on the planet.
#18
Iron is the most stable atom in the universe. When fusion in the sun's core 'burns', it fuses *up* the period table until it reaches iron. From that point, fusion really isn't generating any more energy and the core collapses.
From the other side of things, all elements heavier than iron eventually fission down to iron (though i grant you, it may take a *very* long time, even at cosmological timescales).
Atoms are perceived to be everlasting and timeless. That's technically not *really* the case over the very long term except for iron. This is why, if I ever get married I'm going to request an iron wedding band. If I want a timeless representation of my love I can think of nothing better, than something that will last, (even if only elementally) to the heat death of the universe.
#19
It’s possible to lactate without being pregnant
#20
A man named Wilmer McLean owned a farm in Manassas, Virginia USA where the very first battle of the US Civil War was fought. After the battle he's like "I'm outta here" and bought a farm way out in the country at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia...where Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses Grant in McLeans living room four years later
#21
When someone gets a kidney transplant they generally just cram the new one in and don't take out the old ones. So the person ends up with three kidneys.
More eels swim out of the Bermuda Triangle than swim into it
#22
McDonald's engineered bubblegum flavoured broccoli in an attempt to get kids to eat more vegetables.
They still didn't want to eat it.
#23
The Eiffel Tower can be 15 centimeters taller during the summer due to thermal expansion
#24
Bluetooth is named after Danish King “Harald Bluetooth “
#26
The raw image we see with our eyes is actually upside down. Our brains subconsciously flip it back to the correct way.
#27
Marriage between pirates were common and where the term Matey comes from. the French word for Matey is “Matelot” or “Matelotage” which was an agreement between two pirates to share their income and even inherit the other’s property in case of death
Max Fox 1 year ago (edited)
I absolutely HATE when people repeat these dumb things without doing even the most basic fact-checking. Pirates did not talk like that - it all comes from fictional stories that included pirates. Moreover, there were very few English speaking pirates until the 18th century, and the British Navy had been using "mate" since the 14th century for crew members, and as officers from the 15th century..
HappyShannon 1 year ago
The fact that marriage between pirates is true whether the word "Matey" existed or not
Load More Replies... Vix Spiderthrust 1 year ago (edited)
*cough* bollocks *cough*. It's from the old German "mate" for "friend". The term "matelot" doesn't arise until the mid-1800s, long after the heyday of piracy. Don't believe everything Taika Waititi tells you, he's an entertainer not an etymologist.
Riley Quinn 1 year ago
This is a popular term of endearment with Australian and British boys/men, meaning "habitual companion, comrade, partner".
Steph 1 year ago
Cool fact: „marriage“ between men were perfectly accepted amongst pirates. It practically ensured that the deceased was able to legally leave his belongings to his best mate or lover. As far as I am informed, this marriage did not legally count on the mainland, as most of the laws at sea, but was fully respected/accepted.
Marley Nachi 1 year ago
Pirates were more open to mixed races, democracy and gay relationships
Cosmologist wannabe 1 year ago
Because of your religion, homosexuals have been wronged and mistreated.
Load More Replies...
#28
Medical students commonly learn how to administer pelvic exams by practicing on unconscious patients, often without first obtaining explicit consent from patients to do so. While 21 states currently have laws that require teaching hospitals to obtain consent from patients to participate in this educational experience.
#29
A quarter of the population of Iceland is part Native American because when Lief Ericsson landed in Newfoundland, he brought one Native American woman back with him.
Jorgen Bjerke 1 year ago
His name was Leif, not Lief, and it is pronounced almost like the English word "life". The name is still common in Norway.
#30
The Atari 2600's release date and the last execution by guillotine happened less than 24 hours apart
#31
Pirates are why the US isn't on the metric system
Jill Rhodry 1 year ago
And there's been no other chances to change since that happened in 1793.
#32
Octopuses have a brain in each of their tentacles as well as a main one in their body.
#33
T-Rex is closer to us than Stegosaurus. Curse your sudden yet inevitable betrayal
#35
Male rhesus macaques will pay to see pictures of female monkey butts. Payment is in the form of trading their juice rewards
#36
The average fully grown horse puts out around 14 horsepower
#37
Bone marrow transplant, it’s possible blood type may change to the donors blood type
Katie Lutesinger 1 year ago
I know a woman who had leukemia and who got a bone marrow transplant from a male donor. She said after that, mosquitos never touched her again. Very odd.
#39
Frogs swallow with their eyeballs. They use their eyes to help them push the food down.
#40
A species of frog, the African clawed frog, was the most reliable pregnancy test for a few decades before at-home tests were widely affordable and accessible
#41
A bone “break” is the same as a “fracture.” Fracture is just the medical term. It does not have any correlation with the severity
#42
Cereal was invented to make people less horny
Sky Render 1 year ago
Specifically one of the founding brothers of the Kellogg cereal company was anti-sex to the extreme and believed that bland food would reduce sex drive. The other brother rightly noted that most people don't want bland food and started sweetening their offerings.
#43
Cleopatra is closer to the invention of the iPhone than the building of the Giza pyramids
Edgar Rops 1 year ago
By a thousand years, or so. Pyramids are roughly 5000 years old, Cleopatra lived in 1 century BC, so it is 2000 between her and us, and 3000 between her and the pyramids.
#44
Warm lemons rolled between the table and your palm give the most juice.
BeepBoop is Lonely (she/they) 1 year ago
I always juice a lemon both ways, when you use squeezer thingy, out it skin side up then also skin side down. This started with me not knowing the right way to fo it anf you'd be surprised how much more juice comes out 🤷♀️
#45
There are more possible chess positions than atoms in the universe
What do you think ?
DB 1 year ago
At least nobody did the "It's a law that pickles have to bounce in Connecticut" one, which is a total myth, by the way.
Cloakred_Is_Bored 1 year ago
As a resident of Connecticut I can confirm that my pickles do not bounce
Load More Replies...
GB 1 year ago
Fun fact: The digits in all multiples of 9 add up to 9. For example: 9x7=63 6+3=9 / 9x128=1152 1+1+5+2=9
BlueBlazer999 1 year ago
99? 9+9 does not equal 9. This trick only works up to 9x10.
Load More Replies...
Jaybird3939 1 year ago
My favorite is neither icky or weird: Moose antlers can grow up to an inch a day. See? No ick.
DB 1 year ago
At least nobody did the "It's a law that pickles have to bounce in Connecticut" one, which is a total myth, by the way.
Cloakred_Is_Bored 1 year ago
As a resident of Connecticut I can confirm that my pickles do not bounce
Load More Replies... GB 1 year ago
Fun fact: The digits in all multiples of 9 add up to 9. For example: 9x7=63 6+3=9 / 9x128=1152 1+1+5+2=9
BlueBlazer999 1 year ago
99? 9+9 does not equal 9. This trick only works up to 9x10.
Load More Replies... Jaybird3939 1 year ago
My favorite is neither icky or weird: Moose antlers can grow up to an inch a day. See? No ick.
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