No matter how many all-nighters you pull devouring volume after volume of dust-laden encyclopedias, it will never be enough. Because learning is a process, and there’s no end visible on the horizon.

But most of us are just fine with one or two "did you know that?" facts always ready to be served at a dinner table. Except they get old fast and nobody wants to listen to another “banana is a berry,” like, ever.

Luckily, one Reddit user who goes by u/RyanBlitzpatrick did everyone a favor and asked people on r/AskReddit “What's a fact that just blows your mind?” 3.6K upvotes and 3.5K comments later, the results are in and you’d better get your notebook ready, 'cause these are some of the hand-picked knowledge bites that may honestly surprise you.

Discover more in People Are Sharing Facts That Blew Their Minds And Here Are 30 Of The Most Interesting Ones

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#1

Person lying on a couch in a cluttered room, illustrating everyday life in people sharing facts that blew their minds. When you dream, one part of your brain is making up the story, and another part is experiencing those events and is genuinely surprised by all the twists in the plot.

jayantadey1996 , Quinn Dombrowski Report

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    #2

    Three astronauts floating inside a space station module, showcasing interesting facts about space exploration and technology. November 2, 2000 was the last time all humans were on the planet together. Since then at least one person has remained on the international space station

    theguy4785 , nasa Report

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    #3

    Black and white portraits of historical figures, illustrating people sharing interesting mind-blowing facts. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Anne Frank were born in the same year. Also, that same year, Betty White was already 7 years old.

    Rob_Vegas , wikipedia Report

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    I wish it was as easy to remember these facts as it was to scroll through. In reality, we do learn things every day, but not much of that information sticks with us.

    But memory is a very complex function. It turns out, much of it is generated not only through recollection, but also through the emotions that are attached to it. Shahram Heshmat, a professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Springfield, believes that “emotion affects all the phases of memory formation.”

    For example, “Attention guides our focus to select what’s most relevant for our lives and is normally associated with novelty.” And nothing focuses the mind more than a surprise which escalates emotional intensity.
    #4

    Ancient twisted tree growing on rocky terrain under a clear blue sky, illustrating mind-blowing nature facts shared by people. The oldest living tree in the world methuselah is 4851 years old

    social-shipwreck , Matthew Dillon Report

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    #5

    Historic university courtyard with people walking and biking, illustrating interesting facts that blew minds outdoors. That the Oxford Univeristy is older than the Aztec Empire

    TheRhinoMonk , Samuel M Report

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    #6

    Aerial view of a volcanic island erupting, releasing smoke and ash, showing a unique fact about natural phenomena. The sound made by the Krakatoa volcanic eruption in 1883 was so loud it ruptured eardrums of people 40 miles away, travelled around the world four times, and was clearly heard 3,000 miles away. That's like you standing in New York and hearing a sound from San Francisc

    armagoei , NASA Goddard Space Report

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    Another interesting thing which escalates long-term memory is not the recollection of a fact itself, but rather the so-called mood memory. Prof. Heshmat explains that “Our current emotional state facilitates recall of experiences that had a similar emotional tone.”

    For example, being in a bad mood primes us to think of and remember unpleasant moments.Having said that, most of the things we forget easily have to do with our inability to put them in our long-term memory.
    #7

    View of a hurricane forming over the ocean from space, showcasing a mind-blowing natural phenomenon fact shared by people. The International Space station is closer to the earth than San Francisco is to L.A

    User , NASA Report

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    #8

    Close-up of an Arctic fox with intense eyes illustrating one of the most interesting facts that blew people's minds. Arctic foxes can survive temperatures as low as -70 degrees Celsius

    User , Tambako The Jaguar Report

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    #9

    Transparent soap bubble floating against a blue sky, illustrating interesting facts that blew people's minds. If an underwater bubble is collapsed by loud sound, light is produced and no one knows why

    1 -Mark_YU5MAV- , AleGranholm Report

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    Meanwhile, forcing yourself to memorize things is likely not to be very effective because our brains are not capable of making sense of dense information quickly and forming strong associations.

    It's better to use super simple tricks such as visualization (imagine what you are trying to remember), repetition (boring but effective), and learning the opposite things (create associations in your head).

    And never underestimate the power of understanding that which you’re learning, because you'll never be able to remember something you can’t explain yourself.
    #10

    Man with glasses examining a mirror in a room filled with historical busts and framed artwork, sharing mind-blowing facts. Some people don’t have an inner monologue, like they literally don’t have a voice in their head.

    DublD96 , Matt Gibson Report

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    #11

    Assorted colorful pens held in hand, illustrating creativity and interesting facts that blew minds. The fact that nobody knows that if we all see colours the same way

    anime_fan77 , oh_debby Report

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    #12

    Group of people sitting and lying on the floor in a room, appearing tired or deep in thought, sharing interesting facts. That there are people in the world who don't like music. Not one specific type, but music as a whole. That both blows my mind and disturbs me

    IncertRandomNameHere , Eugene Peretz Report

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    #13

    Black and white portrait of a man with a mustache and glasses, representing interesting people sharing facts that blew minds. I still can’t get over the fact that teddy roosevelt got shot and continued to give a three hour speech

    stevew32 , wikipedia Report

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    #14

    Close-up of black flying ant next to human finger showing mind-blowing facts about insects from people's shared experiences. Ant biologists still don't know the maximum life span of most ant queens. They just live too long to keep track, and they're not too easy to keep in captivity. The longest one on record is like 30 years old, and there could easily be species that live longer than that

    Broflake-Melter , yokohamayomama Report

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    #15

    Aerial view of symmetrical termite mounds in dry terrain, illustrating fascinating natural structures that blow minds with interesting facts. There is a termite colony in the Amazon Rain Forest that is the size of Great Britain and is almost 4,000 years old. There are also hundreds of millions of termite mounds

    Redditor_2017 , cell Report

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    #16

    There are more trees on Earth then there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Confirmed by NASA.

    Spajster Report

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    #17

    Bright celestial object emitting glowing blue energy bursts in space, illustrating mind-blowing facts shared by people. A neutron star is so dense that a teaspoon of material from one would weigh around 10 million tons

    User Report

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    #18

    If the timeline of the universe (up to now) was compressed into a year starting on new year's day, h**o sapiens would appear at 11:54 pm on December 31st

    vsbobclear Report

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    #19

    Mitochondria is only passed down by mother so there's a concept of mitochondrial eve, all humans today have their mitochondrial dna derived from her

    k110111 Report

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    #20

    Strawberries aren’t berries.

    But bananas are

    CallumDudo Report

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    #21

    The Fermi Paradox. With the number of potentially habitable Earth-like planets in our galaxy alone, it’s very strange that we haven’t detected alien signals of any kind so far. There’s lots of theories as to why that is, but my favorite is called the great silenceDark Forest (which sounds way cooler). Basically everyone else out there is being quiet and not transmitting because they know of some danger that we are unaware of, and they don’t want it to find them. Gives me chills. Edit: It’s interesting that most of the replies here, joking or serious, correspond to legitimate theories on the Fermi Paradox.

    azermanus Report

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    #22

    Close-up of glowing green bacteria under a microscope illustrating fascinating mind-blowing facts shared by people. That the biggest bacteria species known, Thiomargarita namibiensis, can have a maximum diameter of 0.7 millimeters, which is big enough for you to see it without a microscope. That's insane if you consider that your average bacteria species has a diameter of 0.001 millimeters.

    Cachuchotas , wikipedia. Report

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    #23

    How a computer does what it does. Blows my mind how 1's and 0's can do so much. Maybe I'm uneducated, but still mind blowing

    User Report

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    #24

    A pig will eat a whole human body except for the teeth

    TheTommyKnockerZ Report

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    See Also on Bored Panda
    #25

    Model of a human head with exposed brain veins, illustrating fascinating facts that blew minds and sparked interest. The way the human brain works. These cells that are powered by tiny jolts of electricity are collectively having conscious thoughts, coming up with morals and empathy and every human behavior

    pigeon_q , Jerimee Richir Report

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    #26

    Close-up of a scientific molecular model with red and white spheres, illustrating interesting facts that blew minds. That Neutrinos have mass and every second of every day about a billion of them are going through every square inch of your body - but the space between your atoms is so huge there's pretty much a 0% chance they will ever hit you

    ProbablyNotArcturian , Ryan Report

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