25 Science Facts That Are Far More Disturbing Than You Might Expect

Science often fills us with wonder, but some discoveries are unsettling enough to stick with you long after you’ve learned them. Beneath the fascinating headlines and fun facts lies a darker side of knowledge that can make even the most curious minds uneasy.

In this collection, we’ve gathered some disturbing science facts from Redditors answering the question, “What’s the scariest science fact that the public knows nothing about?” From facts that challenge how safe we think the world is to truths that make everyday life feel a little more fragile, these revelations prove that science can be just as chilling as it is fascinating.

More info: Reddit

#1

Image source: Jaded-Special1206, freepik That your brain can make up entire memories that feel 100% real. and you’ll never know the difference.

#2

Image source: Congenital0ptimist, Getty Images The CDC has been eviscerated. Global cooperation & preparedness are at a 60 year low. The next major contagion will make Covid-19 look like a Disney story.

#3

Image source: Phobic_octopus, Getty Images A lot of the food you eat requires care that has to be provided by veterinarians. Veterinarians who have to take on crippling debt to go to school to do this job. We don’t have enough of them and it’s bigger than just nit enough vets to see puppies and kittens… it’s a shortage that also concerns food safety on not only a national but global level.

#4

Image source: PeachMiddle8397, James Fitzgerald If yellow stone erupts again like the last time it’ll take north America with it.

#5

Image source: TheManInTheShack, DC Studio In 1945 when the scientists on the Manhattan Project tested the very first atomic explosive (the trinity test) some of them had concerns that the blast might ignite the nitrogen in the atmosphere and burn the entire planet to a crisp. My uncle was one of those scientists. He told me about this during a visit when I was a teenager. He said, “The math said it wouldn’t happen but on the other hand, no one had ever set off an atomic explosive before.”.

#6

Image source: Cool_Hand_Lute, Diego Madrigal For every human on earth there are 4 million ants.

#7

Image source: Leakyboatlouie, EyeEm A volcanic eruption on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands could cause a landslide that would produce a megatsunami that could be over 300 feet high. It could travel all the way across the Atlantic and affect the east coasts of North and South America.

#8

Image source: deliriousfoodie, A Chosen Soul The end of the Earth is inevitable. Eventually the sun will burn out and when it does it expands, and when that happens, Earth will no longer be in the habitable zone and will be too hot to sustain life.

#9

Image source: Stormdrain11, Jo Kassis Permafrost is thawing rather quickly and releasing ancient pathogens.

#10

Image source: gutwyrming, freepik I'd say the general public has no idea about prions, or really understands rabies.

#11

Image source: Liveitup1999, NASA Hubble Space Telescope A gamma ray burst could wipe out most life on the planet. The gamma ray burst can be dangerous even from several thousand light years away.

#12

Image source: Tall-Warning3135, freepik Some strains of the Bird Flu have a 50% take out rate.

#13

Image source: ShinyTarnish409, Priscilla Du Preez Color is not an inherent property of an object. A red apple for example is not actually inherently red. It just absorbs all colors but red and reflects red light which then shines into your retina which your brain interprets as the apple being red. But it isn’t actually red.

#14

Image source: JJJHeimerSchmidt420, NASA A solar flare on the magnitude of the Carrington Event now would crumble most power grids on Earth for months to years. This one is probably the worst of the "most probable of the improbabilities" I have come across.

#15

Image source: omni1000, Rhjphotoandilustration Cockroaches ? can live a week without their head.

#16

Image source: KibboKid, engin akyurt Half the population is on anti-depressants, HRT, birth control, and a host of other meds that show up in noticeable concentrations in urine. Those meds end up in sewerage, and ultimately back in the environment (including in human drinking water). We are microdosing the planet, including the entire human population, and we have no idea of the long term consequences.

#17

Image source: livelongprospurr, Chris Barbalis The "frozen methane ocean problem" refers to the risk that warming oceans could destabilize and melt large deposits of methane hydrate (methane ice), releasing methane into the ocean and potentially the atmosphere. This is a concern because methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and its release could accelerate climate change.

#18

Even if we fully stopped all carbon emissions today, the earth would still keep warming. We need to actively remove carbon from the atmosphere or we're done. Image source: bi_smuth

#19

Image source: iPutMilkNbowlB4Creal, EyeEm More sad than scary, but the fact that we will never reach the stars no matter how good technology gets is unfortunate. Even if we manage to travel decently fast, we'll get to a few nearby stars at best (there's maybe two dozen, with no earthlike planets). Not only is intergalactic travel utterly impossible, but we'll never even reach the end (or center) of our own galaxy. On an unrelated note, Marburg virus is pretty scary, if it were to mutate to be more transmissible...ditto for Ebola.

#20

Image source: Runnnnnnnnning, CDC Scariest - the amount of viruses that lurk in other animals that could jump to humans and almost literally wipe us out. If you paid any attention during COVID your eyes should have been opened to this fact.

#21

Image source: KDoggity, Timur Garifov The Cascadia Subduction Zone will likely produce an 8.0 or above earthquake in our lifetime and will wipe out the economies of Portland and Seatle as well as inundate the coasts of Vancover, Washington, Oregon and Northern California which will take out 14,000 people before the tsunami.

#22

Image source: midnight-on-the-sun, Vladimir Fedotov The Ebola virus was brought to the USA by infected scientists and workers as well of infected monkeys. If that ???gets lose it will make Covid look like a bad cold.

#23

Image source: OdinsGhost31, NASA The atmosphere is only like 60miles.

#24

Image source: Dizzy_Beginning1441, Getty Images You're told your entire life "oh my god, you have to learn to CPR!" And sometimes "you can't even work here until you learn CPR". The truth is that outside of the hospital, CPR only works 10-12% of the time, meaning 88% - 90% of the time the person is going to be gone no matter what you do. These statistics only go down the older a person gets. So, when you're pumping on a person who 70+ you're usually blowing into the mouth of a body. Ask a doctor, ask a nurse. Look it up if you don't believe me. Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't do it, unless they're old or have a DNR order, then you shouldn't. But you're led to believe that it's like a 50-50 outcome or better, and it's most certainly not. Now your odds are better in A-fib situations where you have access to an AED. A jolt of electricity is much more effective. But in flat-line situations, you're very often pumping on the body of a gone person, and it's going to traumatize you.

#25

Image source: joka2696, Anna Tolipova If the Rabies virus gets into your blood, there is nothing that can be done to save you. Only one person has ever survived being infected.