The ‘Weird Facts’ Instagram project eventually grew so large that its founder decided to branch out and create a trivia learning app. There are over 900 random, interesting, and genuine facts that you can learn and then wow your friends and family over dinner with. Some trivia might sound strange, true, but it’s all been double and triple-checked by ‘Weird Facts.’

Bored Panda has analyzed the topics of media literacy and how we can distinguish between true and false facts in quite a lot of detail before. Last week, I spoke to Steven Wooding, who is a member of the Institute of Physics in the United Kingdom, who elaborated on what kind of mindset a true, curious, impartial scientist ought to have.

 "Scientists have to be curious about how the world works and persistent in their work, as it may take years for it to pay off. Creativity to imagine what might be possible and attention to detail to gain knowledge are also very important," Steven told Bored Panda during an interview.

"We have to be open-minded to new facts and let data guide the way, rather than just what we think. On the other hand, we should also be critical of data. One experiment doesn’t make a fact. A fact comes from experiments that can be repeated and verified many times over."

According to the researcher, the advent of internet newsfeeds and platforms like TikTok and Twitter has shortened our attention spans. As a result, we tend to have a lower tolerance for long-form content that requires more focus and energy from us.

"If you feel you are time-pressured, it’s probably only natural that you don’t want to invest a chunk of time on one article but instead scan the headlines to get lots of little bits of information. I have certainly noticed myself being less likely to read a long article unless it’s something that genuinely interests me," he said that on the one hand, we’re saving time, but on the other hand, we’re staying at a very superficial level of information.

"The negative impact is that we won’t reach a deeper level of understanding of something and end up missing out. This is ironic, as people today rush around trying not to miss out on things," Steven told Bored Panda.