25 Intriguing Facts That Aren’t Too Popular

A curious mind is always searching for something to keep it occupied. Little nuggets of information that are akin to pieces of a puzzle. If you’re a curious soul with a penchant for random information that not most people are aware of, scroll below. 

#1 In mid-2000s Kagoshima, Japan, an alarming rise in power blackouts was traced back to crows who were building their nests on top of electric poles. The power company formed a “Crow Patrol” in order to seek and destroy the crows’ nests. The crows responsed by building thousands of dummy nests as decoys. The war is ongoing.

Image source: Kaelri, Umar Andrabi/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#2 Lake Superior. On that lake is an island called Isle Royale. On that island is a lake. on that lake is an island. on that island is a pond, and on that pond is boulder. that boulder is the largest island on the largest pond on the largest island on the largest lake on the largest island on the largest lake in the world (by surface area).

Image source: Whiskey_Warchild, Anne Marie Peterson/Flickr

#3 The earliest known public museum dates to circa 530 BCE and it had archeological Mesopotamian artifacts on display.

Image source: Top_Manufacturer8946, historyofmuseums

#4 Chicago “The Windy City” is known for political wind not regular wind.

Image source: SonoranRoadRunner, Matt Turner/Flickr

#5 Solar eclipses are a completely random quirk of arbitrary factors. The sun is roughly 400x bigger than the moon. The sun is also roughly 400x further away from earth than the moon. Nothing created or enforces that ratio. It’s just a random happenstance that from our view, on the surface of this planet, the sun and moon seem roughly the same size, and can perfectly overlap.

Image source: Lemesplain, Sebastian Voortman/Pexels

#6 You can actually use the turn signal on your car to warn other drivers that you’re turning or changing lanes.

Image source: endless-reproachment, Inline Media/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#7 The Amazon River is over 4,000 miles long and doesn’t have any bridges that cross it.

Image source: rredline, Dennis Jarvis/Flickr

#8 Trees communicate.

Image source: green49285, veeterzy/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#9 Sharks predate trees.

Image source: LowReputation, GEORGE DESIPRIS/Pexels

#10 The emotion you feel when realizing, that the people around you are complex human beings like yourself with emotions, memories and “someone inside there”, is called Sonder.

Image source: mordeera, Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#11 Not mind-blowing but worth sharing: There are more libraries in the US than there are Starbucks.

Image source: Mariposa510, Pixabay/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#12 Switzerland, the country of neutrality, has unintentionally invaded its neighbor Liechtenstein 3-5 times…1968-2007.

Image source: mysticdragonwolf89, Maria Orlova/Pexels

3/4 times Liechtenstein didn’t know of it until Switzerland apologized.

The 1/4 was that one time Switzerland fired a missile and caused a forest fire, reparations were paid.

After one incident, the Liechtensteiners reportedly offered drinks to the Swiss soldiers.

A Liechtenstein spokesman said, “It’s not like they invaded with attack helicopters”.

#13 You have a holey face. Your sinuses are big empty cavities in your skull. The maxillary sinus is the biggest. It’s just under your eye (under the cheek bones) and I swear you could fit 3 grapes in each one. Except for when they are full of snot.

Image source: kimtenisqueen, Karolina Kaboompics/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#14 When you put a bumper sticker or decal on, spray a couple sprays of diluted soapy water or simple green on the surface of the car first, then put the sticker down…. And you can slide it around until it’s even and centered. Use a credit card to squeegee the moisture out from underneath, pat dry, and leave it alone. It’ll adhere as it dries. No more crooked stickers.

Image source: anon, Chris Yarzab/Flickr (not the actual photo)

#15 A compressed spring weighs more than when the same spring is at rest. The stored potential energy of the compressed spring makes it heavier. Really puts e = mc^2 into perspective.

Image source: chameleon28, cottonbro studio/Pexels

#16 The weirdest animal in the world is the jellyfish called the Portuguese Man ‘o War (also called a bluebottle in Australia).

Image source: Sir-Viette, Islands in the Sea 2002, NOAA/OER

It gives birth via a process called “budding”, where a new animal just sort of pops off a random place on the jelly. But it doesn’t give birth to whole other jellyfish. It gives birth to many different types of animal-like creatures called “zooids”. They live on the bottom of the jelly, live independently from each other, but can’t survive without the others.

For instance, there’s a zooid that can digest fish, but can’t catch them. There’s a tentacle zooid that can catch fish, but can’t digest them. There are also several other zooids like that. Scientists have been scratching their heads about how to classify this creature, and are calling it a colony rather than an animal.

And that leads to an interesting question. What is the organism? Is it the zooid, because it moves around independently, but can’t really survive very long on its own? Or is it the whole jellyfish, in which case the zooids are a bit like organs, except for the fact that they might go for a walk occasionally?

And if you say that the whole jellyfish is the organism, maybe bees aren’t an organism either, but a beehive is?

That’s the problem with classification systems. As soon as you make one, along comes some weird example that makes you have to start again.

#17 Squirrels can’t find 80% of the nuts they hide.

Image source: Tinmania, Pixabay/Pexels

#18 Modern postural yoga– the type and style predominantly practiced in Western countries– is about 100 years old. It was invented in India by Indians and is derived mostly from British calisthenics and Swedish gymnastics. It was *specifically marketed to affluent westerners by Indians* as a superior form of spiritual and physical exercise. It’s working as designed for its target market.

Image source: CunningRunt, Rui Dias/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#19 The brain is the only organ that named itself.

Image source: Lvivalentine, MART PRODUCTION/Pexels

#20 People aren’t persuaded to change their views with facts and this his been studied and proven. ETA there’s a YouTube video on the BrainCraft channel about this. It was put up in the last day or so if anyone is curious..

Image source: 6033624, Craig Adderley/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#21 Otters have pouches in their sides they keep their favourite rocks in for smashing open clams. It’s not just simians that use tools.

Image source: samwisethescaffolder, Pixabay/Pexels

#22 In Turkey (the country) turkey meat is called “Hindi” (India).

Image source: capricabuffy, Engin Akyurt/Pexels (not the actual photo)

#23 Shirley Temple led an extremely successful life as a diplomat after her childhood acting career. She was present in Czechoslovakia when the Soviet’s cracked down on them (as in, she seen people killed). Later after the fall of the USSR, she was the head of establishing diplomatic relations between the US and Czechoslovakia.

Image source: TheNinjaDC, kate gabrielle/Flickr

#24 The chainsaw was invented as a tool to aid in childbirth. Rotating blades to get through the pelvic bone…..

Image source: WeThePeeps2020, Sabine Salfer

#25 Each (human) cell in your body has over 2m (6ft) of DNA in it.

Image source: THElaytox, Chokniti Khongchum/Pexels (not the actual photo)