Polar bears aren't white, strawberries aren't berries and the Earth isn't round—we'll have you rethinking everything you thought you knew!
75 Mind-Blowing Facts You’ll Think Are Made Up (But Aren’t)
Updated on Mar. 06, 2025
The U.S. government has an official plan for a zombie apocalypse
Think The Walking Dead is straight-up fiction? Well, it is—but the government wants to be prepared for a real-life version anyhow. The 31-page Counter-Zombie Dominance Plan, or CONPLAN 8888-11, was designed in 2011. Yes, the government bizarrely spent money creating this! And just in case you think it’s weird bureaucratic humor, the first line reads, “This plan was not actually designed as a joke.”
A strawberry isn’t a berry—but a watermelon is
Raspberries, strawberries and blackberries aren’t true berries. The scientific definition of berry is a plant that has three distinct layers: an outer skin (exocarp), a fleshy middle (mesocarp) and—here’s the key—internally contained seeds (endocarp). So because their seeds are on the outside, those fruits aren’t actually berries. However, watermelon, bananas, grapes and eggplants are all technically berries!
It’s totally legal to escape from prison in Mexico
Several countries, including Mexico, Germany, Austria and others, see the desire to escape prison as basic human nature rather than an unlawful act. Consequently, a prison break isn’t considered a crime. But before you start masterminding the perfect escape plan, know that the authorities will still try to catch you, and you may be punished for any criminal act you commit during or after your escape.
Froot Loops are all the same flavor
Sure, those sweetened o‘s are all different colors, but that doesn’t mean they are different flavors. W.K. Kellogg Co., the company that makes the fruity cereal, says Froot Loops all “share the same delicious ‘fruity’ flavor,” no matter which color you crunch on.
Anne Frank and Martin Luther King Jr. were born the same year
Anne Frank is an iconic symbol of Nazi brutality during World War II in the 1940s, while Martin Luther King Jr. was the face and voice of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. The two events seem so far apart in history, but both figures were born in 1929—Jan. 15 for King, and June 12 for Frank. If Frank had lived, she would have been the same age as King.
Most Canadians live south of Seattle
Canada and the United States are both large countries, which can make understanding the relative geography difficult. But the contiguous United States goes farther north than you think, and the majority of Canadians live near the southern border of their country. The result is a crazy U.S. geography fact: At 47 degrees latitude, Seattle is farther north than Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, which are located in the most populated area of Canada. Around 70% of Canadians live beneath the 49th parallel, which divides the U.S. and Canada in the west.
More French soldiers died during World War I than American soldiers during all of U.S. history
You don’t need to be an expert in the history of war to know that World War I was catastrophic on levels that most of us alive today cannot even comprehend. One example? The number of total deaths. During World War I, France lost an estimated 1,360,000 soldiers. In contrast, the United States has recorded an estimated 1,305,000 military deaths over every major war since 1775.
There is a species of jellyfish that can live forever
Think that immortality is just a fantasy? Well, it is for humans. But scientists have discovered that the Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish can basically live forever. How? It can revert back to its juvenile polyp stage after maturing, continuing in an endless cycle. Technically, it can live forever—if it doesn’t get snatched up by a hungry fish first!
There is a country with no capital
You might know that there are countries with no airports—but did you know there is just one country with no capital? Nauru is the only country in the world without an official capital city. The government offices of the tiny island nation in the Pacific are located in the Yaren District.
The “word of the year” in 2015 was a picture
Proof that internet culture has overtaken reality: In 2015, the Oxford English Dictionary chose the “smiling with tears of joy” emoji as its official “word” of the year. The pictograph “best reflected the ethos, mood and preoccupations of 2015,” it said.
King Charles had a car fueled by wine
In the search for more efficient fuel, Charles, at the time the prince of England, took a strange but entertaining approach: The heir to the British throne had his vintage Aston Martin reworked to use wine as its primary fuel. But would you really want to waste a good vintage on your car?
Eventually, a day on Earth will be 25 hours long
The Earth’s speed as it orbits the sun is not a fixed rate. No matter how constant it may seem to us mortals, it’s actually slowing over time. But don’t toss your clocks so soon. The length of a day will become 25 hours in … about 200 million years.
The Earth isn’t round
Don’t get excited yet, flat-earthers! Though the planet we all call home isn’t round, it’s not flat either. Here’s a fact about the Earth you probably don’t know: Technically, the Earth is known as an “oblate spheroid” due to the bulge at the equator and the flattened poles.
One of the most painful “stings” known to mankind is from the platypus
Many people think cuddling this adorable cross between a duck and an otter would be fun. But beware to the person who tries it! The male duck-billed platypus has poison glands in its hind legs and can release the venom using a hollow spur on its heel. While generally not deadly, the pain is said to be incredibly intense and causes a large amount of swelling.
If you’re hit by a sniper, you could be dead before you hear the shot
The speed of sound at sea level is 1,100 feet per second. But a bullet fired from a rifle travels at 3,000 feet per second. This means that if you’re ever targeted by an expert marksman, you’ll probably be dead before you hear the gunshot. Which is comforting? We guess?
The City of London has a population of only 8,600
London may be one of the largest metropolises in the world, but when it comes to actual people, just under 9,000 reside in the City of London. How is that possible? The City (capital C) is the 1.12-square-mile financial district surrounded by the greater London region—which has 8.9 million people.
There are more trees on Earth than stars in the galaxy
You won’t believe these mind-blowing facts about space, but they’re actually true: There are 100 to 400 billion stars in the Milky Way. That’s a lot, yet it’s still nothing compared with the number of trees on Earth—about 3 trillion. Yes, trillion! Space is big but relatively empty, after all.
Polar Bears aren’t white—they’re just glowing
Polar bears may be known as being so white they can hide in snow, but the truth is they aren’t white at all. Their skin is black, and their hairs are hollow and clear. So why do they look white? Light hits their fur and is trapped inside the hollow part of the hair, causing a reaction called luminescence. In addition, salt particles stick to the bears’ fur and act as light-scattering particles.
You can hear rhubarb growing
Rhubarb doesn’t get a lot of love (unless it’s in a pie), but the stalky plant does have an amazing talent: Under certain conditions, it grows so fast you can actually hear it. When the plant is harvested, it’s put in a dark shed to continue growing. It uses its stored glucose to grow really fast, up to an inch or more per day—so fast, the bulbs and stalks “pop” as they get bigger.
Yoda and Miss Piggy were voiced by the same person
Here’s some fascinating pop-culture trivia for you: The crotchety green guru and the pink porcine diva were both voiced, at times, by Frank Oz, a multitalented actor, puppeteer, director and producer.
There is an “internal deodorant” that makes it so your gas and poop don’t stink
Devrom, the brand name for the chemical compound bismuth subgallate, can be used to make your flatulence and bowel movements completely odor-free. It may discolor your tongue and stool, leading to some surprising bathroom (and third date?) moments, so definitely talk to a doctor before trying it.
The Las Vegas Strip isn’t in Las Vegas
The Las Vegas Strip is probably the most famous thing about Nevada and the top reason tourists come to Las Vegas. But the strip is misnamed—it’s actually in the unincorporated city of Paradise. Las Vegas’s founders ordered all casinos be built outside city limits to avoid sullying their reputation. In an ironic twist, now that’s all anyone knows the city for.
Alaska is both the westernmost and easternmost state in the country
Thanks to its Aleutian Islands crossing the 180th meridian, the longitude line that delineates east and west, Alaska is both the state farthest to the west and to the east in the United States. (The international date line, though, zigzags to make sure all of the islands are on the same day and time.)
Shaking ketchup makes it 1,000 times thinner
There’s a good scientific reason for shaking your ketchup before you pour it on your fries: The more you shake it, the thinner the consistency gets. Why? Spherical tomato particles form into thinner ellipses when shaken, making your ketchup 1,000 times easier to get onto your fries.
There are no lakes in Maryland
Talk about a dubious honor—Maryland is the only U.S. state that has no natural lakes within its borders. The bodies of water in Maryland have all been the result of damming rivers, so they are reservoirs. Talk about a piece of extra-tricky geography trivia!
A single tiger killed more than 400 people
A female Bengal tiger killed an estimated 436 people in Nepal and India over nearly a decade beginning in the late 1890s. Known as the Champawat Tiger for the area of India she hunted, she was finally brought down in 1907 by hunter and, later, conservationist Jim Corbett. Upon examination of her body, it was found that her upper and lower canine teeth had been shattered by a bullet, which likely made her go after slower humans instead of the usual prey, such as deer. Talk about a man-eater!
The largest desert in the world is covered in ice
Think the famed Sahara desert is big? At 3.6 million square miles, it’s definitely a monster, but it doesn’t even compare to the Antarctic polar desert. It covers the continent of Antarctica and has a size of about 5.5 million square miles. Surprised? The definition of a desert is simply a place that receives less than 10 inches of precipitation per year—it doesn’t have to be hot!
After a kidney transplant, you actually have three kidneys
Over 35 million people in the United States suffer from chronic kidney disease, the ninth leading cause of death, making kidney transplants relatively common. But how’s this for a mind-blowing fact: Most of the time, the surgeon doesn’t remove the diseased kidney. The doctor normally leaves the old kidney in place and puts the donor kidney in the lower belly on the front side of the body.
A witness to Abraham Lincoln’s assassination was interviewed on TV
Samuel J. Seymour was just 5 years old when he attended a play at Ford’s Theater on the fateful evening of April 14, 1865. He was seated on the balcony directly across from the president and says he heard the shot, saw Abraham Lincoln slumped over and watched John Wilkes Booth jump onto the stage before fleeing. On Feb. 9, 1956, two months before his death, Seymour recounted the story on the CBS TV show I’ve Got a Secret. History is more recent than you think!
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The longest work of English literature ever written by one person is Nickelodeon fan fiction
Forget War and Peace. If you’re looking for a nice, long read, you’ll want Jamesdean5842’s The Loud House: Revamped. This piece of fan fiction, based on a Nickelodeon animated series, is 16,777,215 words long—more than seven times the length of Leo Tolstoy’s masterpiece.
The fastest object ever just had a close encounter with the sun
When it comes to sheer speed, race cars and fighter jets have nothing on objects hurtling through the vacuum of space. The fastest human-made object ever, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, hit 430,000 miles per hour as it passed 3.8 million miles from the surface of the sun in December 2024—the closest a human-made object has ever gotten to our star. In contrast, the New Horizons probe maxed out at a sluggish 36,373 mph.
There are three ways to talk about more than one octopus
Hang around a know-it-all long enough, and eventually, you will hear someone corrected when they try to find the word for more than one octopus. Many people think the right plural form is octopi, based on the Latin; but because the word also has Greek roots, others believe it should be the very strange octopodes. No one says that, however, so English grammarians have settled on octopuses as the first choice for the pluralization of octopus. According to Merriam-Webster, though, you can keep using octopi if you prefer.
There’s a number that can’t be written—literally
Graham’s number is so large that it’s too big to be written down. Named after American mathematician Ronald Graham, it’s the largest specific, positive, whole number to be used in a mathematical proof—it even made the Guinness World Records book!
High-heeled shoes were originally designed for soldiers
High heels have become such an icon of stereotypical femininity that many women feel an outfit is incomplete without them. But this ultra-girly symbol was first invented for men. Persian fighters started the high-heel trend in the 10th century because it helped their feet fit better in stirrups while riding horses. The shoes were mostly considered masculine fashion until the mid-18th century, when women claimed them.
A chicken survived for 18 months without a head
In 1945, a Colorado farmer went out to kill a chicken for dinner, but when he chopped off the animal’s head, it just wouldn’t die. It’s not unusual for chickens to survive for a few minutes headless, but as the time went on, he realized he had narrowly missed the jugular vein, so while the poor creature had no head, it could still survive. The farmer named him Magic Mike and, instead of eating him, fed him with an eyedropper until he died 18 months later.
The world’s deadliest critter can be crushed between your thumb and forefinger
Mosquitoes—more specifically, the diseases carried by mosquitoes—kill more than 1 million people every year. The main culprit is malaria, a disease that may be potentially responsible for killing up to half of all the people who have ever lived.
The FDA once banned sliced bread
The first loaf of machine-sliced bread was sold in 1928. You might be aware of that, but here’s a mind-blowing food fact you’ve probably never heard: Americans were still getting used to this amazing modern convenience when, in 1943, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned it. The government cited the desire to keep the consumer costs of flour down and the fact that presliced bread used up too much wax-paper packaging that could be used in the war effort. However noble the reason, people were furious, and the ban lasted only three months.
The raptor sounds in Jurassic Park are actually mating tortoises
Ever wondered what mating tortoises sound like? No? Well, as it turns out, you probably know anyhow—that is, if you’ve seen any of the Jurassic Park movies. Prepare to ace movie-trivia night with this wild bit of news: “It’s somewhat embarrassing, but when the raptors bark at each other to communicate, it’s a tortoise having sex,” the sound designer confessed.
Cleopatra lived closer in history to cellphones than the Great Pyramids in Egypt
Cleopatra, the last active ruler of Egypt, was born around 69 B.C. The Great Pyramids of Giza were finished around 2500 B.C., about 2,430 years earlier. Cellphones debuted in 1983, so 2,052 years after Cleopatra’s birth. Yep.
Drug lord Pablo Escobar spent $2,500 a month on rubber bands to hold all his cash
It can be hard to imagine how much wealth is generated by the illegal drug trade, but the fact that Pablo Escobar had to spend over two grand on rubber bands every month just to keep his money together might help put it in perspective.
Saudi Arabia has had to buy sand and camels from Australia
When you think of Saudi Arabia, two of the first images that likely pop into your head are vast deserts of sand and lines of camels. It may sound like a case of selling ice to Eskimos, but Australia sold both sand and camels to the Middle Eastern country for decades. Australia has the largest population of wild camels in the world (they’re actually feral, as their ancestors were domesticated), and its sand is highly prized in manufacturing.
The inscription on the One Ring in Lord of the Rings isn’t Elvish language
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books have experienced a huge resurgence in popularity, thanks to film and TV adaptations. One of the most iconic images from Tolkien’s tale is that of the One Ring, with its glowing inscription. But while most people think it’s written in the beautiful Elvish language, it’s only the letters that are Elvish; the language is scribed in the Black Speech created by the evil Sauron, which has no written script.
There’s a mountain so tall that you wouldn’t know it was there if you were standing on top of it
The tallest known mountain in the solar system, known as the Olympus Mons, is found on Mars. The shield volcano is so big that if you were at the peak, you wouldn’t realize you were even on a mountain—it would seem as if you were standing on a gently sloping plain. Its base is the size of Arizona, and the highest point is over 16 miles tall (Everest is 5.5 miles above sea level).
Humans and giraffes have the same number of neck bones
Here’s a crazy science fact you never learned in school: The average giraffe’s neck is 6 feet, while a human’s neck averages just 4 inches. Yet both of us have the same number of bones in our necks: seven.
Experts say a painting bought at a garage sale for $50 is a van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh is one of the most recognized painters of all time, with his famous paintings decorating everything from coffee mugs to shower curtains, along with walls in the most prestigious museums. But would you know a van Gogh painting if you found one? An unidentified buyer picked up a painting for $50 at a garage sale in Minnesota, and an expert analysis confirmed it is a previously unknown work by van Gogh. But the ultimate authority, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, has yet to formally attribute it to the painter.
The modern keyboard was designed with marketing in mind
The QWERTY keyboard we all use today was first documented on a typewriter patented by Christopher Sholes in 1878. But just how did he come up with the arrangement of letters? One story says the keys were prone to jamming, so Sholes designed the keyboard to slow typists down by placing the most commonly used letters far apart. This may be a myth—after all, the letters e and r commonly appear together and sit right next to each other on the keyboard. Another scholarly study says the letter placement was based on telegraph protocol to make it easier for operators to transcribe Morse code.
Although its origins are unknown, what’s certain is that the manufacturers of the patented QWERTY typewriter started offering “touch typing” courses, which quickly spread the manner of typing we still use today and cemented the company’s arrangement of letters.
Nearly half of all emails sent are spam
If you dread looking at your inbox, you’ve got a good reason. In December 2023, researchers found that spam emails accounted for 46.8% of all email traffic worldwide. But cheer up! Back in April 2014, the number was 71.1%.
The arches at the base of the Eiffel Tower are just for decoration
The original design of this Parisian landmark used the four large pylons at the base to provide all the structural support. However, the people providing the funding felt that it looked too rickety and worried the public would be too afraid to go in it, so they added the iconic arches around the base. While they look beautiful, they are only decorative.
A war was started by a soccer game
In 1969, the soccer teams of Honduras and El Salvador were competing for a spot in the 1970 World Cup. Tensions were already high between the two governments, thanks to a border dispute and reported mistreatment of migrant Salvadorans. Fighting between fans occurred after the first two games, and the best-of-three series was tied 1-1. A third match would decide their fate.
That day, El Salvador broke off diplomatic ties. When El Salvador won 3-2, newspapers in the U.S. reported that it had won the “Soccer War,” but the real fighting was about to begin. El Salvador invaded Honduras in a full-scale war, and over four days of fighting, thousands of people died. The war ended a few days later when a ceasefire was brokered.
It could rain diamonds on Jupiter
Marilyn Monroe would have loved the outer solar system because of this amazing astronomy fact: According to some scientists, it actually rains diamonds. How? The high pressure and heat in the planet’s dense atmosphere can squeeze carbon into diamonds.
Diamonds may be a girl’s best friend, but they’re not forever on this planet: They eventually melt as they get pulled down toward the planet’s core. But in the process, it rains liquid diamonds.
Hippos sweat “blood”
Hippos may be large and in charge, but they lack one thing: sweat glands. Instead, they have mucus glands, which release an oily secretion frequently referred to as “blood sweat.” Technically, it’s neither blood nor sweat but a combination of two acids that form a secretion, which turns orange-red in the sun, giving hippos the appearance of sweating blood.
If there are 23 people in a room, there is a 50% chance two of them share a birthday
With 365 possible birthdays, it seems unlikely that, in a group of 23 people, you could find two with the same birthday. But it’s true! Even stranger, with 75 people in the room, there’s a 99% chance of shared birthdays. Called the Birthday Paradox, this is based on the compounding power of exponents.
Pistol shrimp can make a sound louder than a gun and kill prey using bubbles
Snapping shrimp, also known as pistol shrimp, have a biological mechanism that allows them to “fire” bubble bullets. That alone is enough to make them memorable, but the resulting sound is a screaming 210 decibels. In comparison, an actual gunshot is only around 150 decibels.
There are only two escalators in the state of Wyoming
Wyoming is known for being sparsely populated. After all, there are 1.26 million cows to just under 590,000 people. But perhaps the funniest illustration of this is the fact that there are only two escalators in the entire state. Both escalators are housed in banks.
People called 911 when they saw the Milky Way for the first time
In 1994, Los Angeles experienced citywide blackouts. But it wasn’t the loss of electricity that had residents scared—it was the “strange, glowing light in the sky.” Hundreds of people called in to report it, only to be told they were actually seeing our galaxy, the Milky Way, for the first time. Light pollution has become so prevalent that people can live their entire lives without ever seeing the natural night sky.
The owner of Segway died while riding a Segway
Those fancy two-wheeled scooters may look benign, but in 2010, Segway owner Jim Heselden was killed when his Segway rolled off a cliff near his home.
You can taste garlic with your feet
Garlic lovers, rejoice! There’s another way you can enjoy the pungent food. If you rub a clove of garlic on the bottom of your bare foot, you’ll be able to taste garlic in your mouth. It’s all thanks to allicin, the chemical responsible for garlic’s unique smell. You can absorb it through your skin, and from there, it passes through your bloodstream and into your mouth and nose, making you “taste” the garlic even though it never went into your mouth.
A woman collected a Civil War survivor pension until 2020
The Civil War ended in 1865, but there was still one U.S. citizen who received survivor benefits until recently. Irene Triplett’s father, Mose, served in both the Union and Confederate armies (he defected from the latter), and because of his service, his wife and children were granted a pension for as long as they lived. Mose and his second wife had Irene in 1930, and he died in 1938 at age 92. After her mother’s death, Irene got $73.13 every month until she died on May 31, 2020, at age 90.
The national animal of Scotland is a unicorn
Unicorns may be mythical creatures, but that didn’t stop Scotland from making them its national animal. Why? The unicorn represents ideals such as purity and power in Celtic mythology. It first appeared on the Scottish royal coat of arms in the 1550s. Because of its long history and tradition in the country, the unicorn makes a perfect fit as the national animal of Scotland.
Viagra can keep your plants erect
Drop just 1 milligram of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra into the water of a vase holding freshly cut flowers, and they’ll stay upright and unwilted for a week longer than they normally would, according to a 1999 study published in the journal BMJ … and regular folks who’ve tested the theory out since then. This leads to a secondary mind-blowing fact: Someone did a study on the effects of Viagra on plants.
Lobster was once considered such a garbage food it could be fed only to prisoners
It may be one of the priciest dishes on fancy menus, but lobster used to be so universally disliked that it was seen fit for prisoners—and only prisoners. Even then, there were laws restricting how many days in a row they could have it, lest their punishment be too harsh.
An Australian lake is naturally pink
Australia is full of natural wonders that seem to defy explanation, and the country’s pink lakes are top of the list. For example, when seen from above, Lake Bumbunga looks bright, almost bubblegum pink. Up close, it takes on a rich fuchsia shade. Why? Scientists think it’s because of specific bacteria and algae that thrive in the lakes.
There is an island of garbage in the Pacific Ocean that is twice the size of Texas
Perhaps the greatest testament to our modern lifestyle is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating “island” of plastic and trash. It measures 600,000 square miles—twice the size of Texas—but hopefully will begin to shrink, thanks to the efforts of the Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit founded in 2013 whose goal is to remove 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040.
The cat from Tom and Jerry was originally named Jasper
The cartoon duo is so beloved that people associate the names Tom and Jerry with the cat and mouse. However, the mischievous cat, Tom, was originally called Jasper in the duo’s first-ever cartoon, 1940’s Puss Gets the Boot. It’s unclear why the less-alliterative switcheroo was made; but interestingly, there was a 1821 British play called Tom and Jerry: Life in London, and a drink similar to eggnog called a Tom and Jerry was also created in the 19th century.
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