50 Random Facts That Seem Too Hard To Believe Yet Are Completely True, As Shared On This Encyclopedic Instagram Account
If we allow our curiosity to roam around freely, it can take us to interesting places, both in real life and online. Like the Instagram account 'Facts And Science.'
Just like the famous subreddit 'Today I Learned,' it doesn't limit itself to just one subject and revolves around a vast specter of themes, ranging from human behavior and popular culture to the animal kingdom and beyond.
Being huge fans of trivia, we at Bored Panda decided to go through the account and hand-pick our favorite posts. After all, if 381K people follow it, the content has to be worth it, right?
More info: Instagram
This post may include affiliate links.
Um, that's a f****d up law. However I'm happy this little girl now has a loving father.
Going through obscure facts isn't just temporary fun. Turns out, it's also good for our mental health. For example, experts say that playing trivia games can provide a dopamine rush much like gambling, but without the negative effects.
Even if our trivia games differ, the benefits are there. Whether we're playing Trivial Pursuit at home or attending a pub trivia night, the basic premise remains the same: we experience the thrill of providing correct answers to questions about lesser-known facts.
"You get a rush or a neuroreward signal or a dopamine burst from winning,” John Kounios, Ph.D., professor of psychology and director of the doctoral program in applied cognitive and brain sciences at Drexel University in Pennsylvania, told Healthline. “I think whenever you’re challenged with a trivia question and you happen to know it, you get a rush. It’s sort of like gambling.”
My son received a kidney from a donor who left this world. Please donate. You will save a life
PANDAS: If you are Canadian, it only takes a few moments here and it’s completely online: https://beadonor.ca/
Load More Replies...I am a transplant survivor and I endorse this man. (Also I wouldn’t mind the Bentley, but maintenance would kill my budget)
Yes! Opt-out programs tend to work a lot better than opt-in :) if everyone’s already signed up, a lot more people stay involved than if they have to go out of their way to sign up.
Load More Replies...He's Chiquinho Scarpa, a known millionaire and bon vivant from Brazil.
It should always be a choice. Not everyone has to understand what people choose, but there is something to be said about respecting the dead.
Sure it should be a choice. But it's still a choice if you are asked to opt out vs opt in.
Load More Replies...I just didn't understand this outside of religious reasons. You're not alive anymore give someone your organs so they can live.
Husband and myself are leaving our bodies to science when we die, hopefully we're of some use👍
It always baffles me that religious people who are all about helping people often dont want to donate for religious reasons. I mean if your religion preaches kindness and goodness, and immortal souls and all that but then also, your dead body is more important than saving peoples lives, thats a bit weird. Its one if the absolute best things you can do, with like 0 effort. You potentially save several lives at no cost to yourself (anything about you potentially getting less care cause they want your organs is bs, your doctor's and the organ collection crew are completely seperate with different interests). The amount of money people spend on heavy metal caskets, the shitty chemicals used for embalming, the financial stress on your family, all so that your dead body can become a toxic waste of space, when instead it could be doing so much good. Im not saying you need to check the whole "medical practice etc" part, but organ donation is such an obvious choice. We really need an opt out sy
Some religions believe your soul (or equivalent term) will return to your body, or your body will be in the afterlife, so you'd need a body to house the soul. I can understand that. But for the vast majority of religious folks that believe in healing, or new bodies after death, or not needing them anymore, I don't see the issue. Donate and be a Hero with your very last act.
Load More Replies...I'd donate if I wasn't scared someone would see my donor card and cut me up without permission ...while I'm alive
That's not happening. At least not in western countries. Elsewhere your mileage may vary, but whether you have a donor card or not I doubt it will make a difference to an organ smuggler.
Load More Replies...Brazilian basket case Chiquinho Scarpa. He's a nutjob, but there are some pretty fun stories about him.
I'm conflicted. He has a good and meaningful point (friend's father has been waiting for a liver donor for years). He also has a Bentley to pretend to bury.
Kounios said the benefits can also be similar to those of playing a video game.
However, unlike gambling and even video games, Kounios said trivia is generally not a problematic habit.
“I don’t think there are any pitfalls,” he said. “Like anything else that’s fun, it takes up time.”
His little face just made my morning. I'm going to go squeeze my good puppy right this instant.
Famously goes back a long way in the German military tradition- for officers at least- right back to the Austro-Prussian war in the 1860s when supposedly a Prussian officer defended himself from reprimand by arguing that he was simply "following orders". His commander, Prince Frederick Charles, reportedly replied: “His Majesty made you a Major because he believed you would know when not to obey his orders.”
A librarian from California, Sarah Kishler, loves trivia games and enjoys attending a monthly pub trivia night in which a team of librarians participates.
"Learning facts so that I can get better at trivia is definitely a passion of mine," she told Healthline. "Getting a question right is definitely very satisfying to me."
Over the past decade or so, pub trivia nights that are popular in the United Kingdom appear to have grown in other parts of Europe and the United States.
Enthusiasts like Kishler enjoy getting to interact with people at these events, especially compared to electronic trivia games.
She has learned that doing well at these social trivia games gives her "a feeling of validation" and increases her self-esteem.
It looks like some rare steampunk gem that they need to power their cities in a utopian future :D
What a great thing to do! It's often extremely difficult to re-integrate into society when no one will employ you. Well done Gordon
"I love general knowledge, geography, literature, music, science trivia," Kishler explained. "I just love to accumulate knowledge. I like the exercise that it gives my brain and memory."
She doesn't think of herself as a competitive person but nevertheless enjoys getting a bit amped up at trivia games.
“People really like to have some expertise on something and the brain is very good at focusing on things that you’re interested in,” Deborah Stokes, Ph.D., L.P.C., B.C.N., a psychologist in Virginia, who focuses on neurotherapy, also told Healthline.
According to Stokes, learning large bodies of knowledge can often start with trivia. And people who are interested in trivia can be brainy, have a high IQ, and be smart on a lot of levels.
However, Kounios said that people aren’t necessarily better at trivia games just because they’re more educated.
"Some people soak up facts,” Kounios added. "Plenty of people with a lot more education may not remember what they had for breakfast yesterday morning."
"In typical people, my observation, not backed up by any research, is that their interest in trivia is confined to topics that they are generally interested in. So if a person is very interested in history, then they may either seek out history trivia, or they might just naturally pick it up in the course of learning about nontrivial aspects of history."
Stokes also pointed out that trying to retain information about things we're interested in can be like a good exercise for the frontal cortex as the brain ages.
While that's really cool, my mind is hiccuping on the fact that 3 million dollars can only cover 33 students, meaning that a full lecture hall earns a college a couple million of suckers paying 90K plus to try to have a successful life.
Marie Curie is not radiating joy, and Einstein seems relatively bored. Not as much as Niels, though.
I'm sorry 4 years? Is it just me or does that seem like a long time to put some lights in windows connected to a small pc?
Not really. The contract includes a lot of binding clauses, and the final product can only be a noncommercial, short (<45 min), short movie non meant for distribution. It comes with a lot of strings attached regarding the ownership of related IPs, including original ones from the filmmaker, that are transferred to mr. King on agreement of the contract. I am not saying it is a bad thing per se, but the way it is stated here overlooks a lot of the complexity of the contract involved.
The first time I saw the movie I thought it was Timothy Olyphant. It's the second time I realized it was him.
That must be such a pain in the neck when he wants to buy a beer or... do literally anything only grown-ups are supposed to do, really. "Are you lost, sonny jim?" "No, I work here." "Very funny - where are you parents." "I'M THE MANAGER!" "You're playing truant from school, for a more-like." "Ugh."
Note: this post originally had 66 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
Since you didn't say anything posted here was untrue I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted (-2 when I first saw it) for merely stating a basic fact. I used my other phone to Google many of these to garner more information. Although I probably would have done some of this anyway, it would have helped greatly to have the most basic background information included. In fact, that would have even made it easier to Google.
Load More Replies...My favorite hard to believe fact is that 'Sharks are older than trees' I always thought that was so cool
Since you didn't say anything posted here was untrue I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted (-2 when I first saw it) for merely stating a basic fact. I used my other phone to Google many of these to garner more information. Although I probably would have done some of this anyway, it would have helped greatly to have the most basic background information included. In fact, that would have even made it easier to Google.
Load More Replies...My favorite hard to believe fact is that 'Sharks are older than trees' I always thought that was so cool