Fascinating Facts and Trivia

If the star Betelgeuse exploded, it would light our sky continuously for two months. It could happen at anytime.

Hawaii moves 7.5cm closer to Alaska every year

The Earth’s crust is split into gigantic pieces called tectonic plates. These plates are in constant motion, propelled by currents in the Earth’s upper mantle. Hot, less-dense rock rises before cooling and sinking, giving rise to circular convection currents which act like giant conveyor belts, slowly shifting the tectonic plates above them. Hawaii sits in the middle of the Pacific Plate, which is slowly drifting north-west towards the North American Plate, back to Alaska. The plates’ pace is comparable to the speed at which our fingernails grow.

A new state of matter exists (alongside solid, liquid and gaseous states) and it is known as time crystals. Created in the lab, the outrageously hard-to-grasp time crystals are structures that repeat periodically in time rather than space, potentially defying the laws of physics.

The original formula for 7UP contained lithium citrate, a chemical used today as a treatment for bipolar disorders. The ingredient was removed by 1950.

Germany has launched a rocket with yeast on board into space. When the rocket returns, the yeast will be used to make beer, making it effectively space beer.

The US military was already using UAV drone technology in WW2. The primary manufacturer at that time, Radioplane Company, had a drone assembler named Norma Jean Dougherty who would go on to change her name to Marilyn Monroe.

Adolf Hitler’s breath was reputedly so bad that people would often involuntarily step back when he opened his mouth.

The French word for dandelion ‘pissenlit’ means ‘wet the bed’

Roller coasters were invented to distract Americans from sin

In the 1880s, hosiery businessman LaMarcus Thompson hated that Americans were tempted by hedonistic places like saloons and brothels. So he set out to straighten up one of the most immoral places he could think of: Coney Island in New York. There, he built America’s first roller coaster to give New Yorkers some good, clean fun—away from seedier pastimes.

Supermarket apples can be a year old

Those fresh apples aren’t all that fresh, per say. They’re usually picked between August and November, covered in wax, hot-air dried, and sent into cold storage. After six to twelve months, they finally land on your grocery store shelves.