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?
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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.”
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."
I'm not sure about this. It seems that everyone relied on Robin to make them laugh and lift their mood, but who was there for him?
If Robin Williams was still alive, and decided he didn’t want to make movies, be on TV, or do the comedy club circuit anymore, he could’ve started a new career as a laughter doctor, visiting patients at any stage of their conditions who had lost hope, and cheering them up so much they’d jump right back into their treatments and either get better, recover, or die peacefully (and probably laughing). He had that knack. Had he not been a comedian, and chosen to study medicine, he would’ve been a very successful and much sought after doctor with a high patient recovery rate.
Just like in the movie he starred in, " Patch Adams"
Load More Replies...the broken always know how to fix others but sadly not them selves , he was an awesome person
Sadly they didn't know what to fix. He had been misdiagnosed with Parkinson's disease in part because we have no test for what was destroying his mind. Lewy body disease is only diagnosed post mortem during an autopsy.
Load More Replies...Robin Williams did a similar thing for Chrisopher Reeve when Reeve was paralyzed in a horse riding accident. Williams broke him out of his depression by forcing him to laugh.
Robin was amazing... battling his own demons while helping others battle theirs.
It is sad that a man that brought joy to so many was fatally depressed.
He LOVED and lived always thinking of other people's well being not his own much like people with mental and emotional issues God bless him
For a second I thought it said "Went from crying to peeing themselves TO laughing" and got a bit freaked out.
If only we'd had someone for Robin. I know personally how strong the desire to help others is, and how reluctant I am to ask for or accept any myself.
I've only cried when two celebrities have passed, one was Chris Farley the other was Robin Williams. Both gone way too soon.
Ozzy is so hard to understand sometimes. That was so sweet what he did - the drugs have just taken their toll on him.
Load More Replies...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."
Obnoxious airport official: "Ha! A likely story! Take your shoes off."
I'm sorry, but this gives me the creeps. Using someone's genetic material, without their conscent, to create a child that will never know its' parents and would lose all living family pretty early in life. Ew.
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