14 Startling Facts That Impressed Us

There are so many things in the world that we don’t understand! For example, is a bear genetically closer to a hyena or a dog? How many escalators are there in Wyoming? In order to always know everything, Reddit users collect and share these interesting facts. Sometimes, we don’t even believe that everything they say is true.

Bright Side has collected 14 of the most interesting facts to share with you.

1. The pyramids in Giza were being built while there were still mammoths on the planet.

Scientists claim that all the pyramids were built between the 26th century and the 23rd century BC. Mammoths appeared around 1.6 million years ago and went completely extinct only in the 10th century BC. This means that while Cheops was happy about a new pyramid that was being named after him, somewhere thousands of miles away huge animals were scaring our ancestors.

2. There are only 2 escalators in Wyoming.

This state is in 10th place in the list of the biggest US states and there are about 560 thousand people who live there. The only 2 escalators in the entire state are in the city of Casper. There were rumors that another escalator was supposed to be built at a local airport, but that building has only one floor, so it’s not needed.

3. A dog is genetically closer to a bear than to a hyena.

Scientists found out that dogs and bears have the same ancestors. And hyenas are cat-like animals that have nothing to do with bears.

4. There are more libraries in the US, than McDonald’s restaurants in the entire world.

According to the American Library Association, there are 119,847 libraries in the US. And there are only 36 thousand McDonald’s restaurants in the entire world.

5. Googolplex is such a big number that there are not enough particles in the entire universe to write it down.

This number was invented by American mathematician Edward Kasner. It equals 10 in Googol power (1 and 100 zeros after it). The number of particles in the entire Universe is estimated to be “just” 10 to the power of 81.

6. If you shuffled a deck of 52 cards, nobody in the world could repeat your combination.

There are 80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,289,505,440,883,277,824,000,000,000,000 possible combinations of 52 cards in the deck. This is why the chances of repeating the same combination twice are incredibly low.

7. Korean people sweat without a smell.

The scientists from the University of Bristol came to this conclusion. In their study, they found out that this fact is true for 99.994% of Koreans. This is why it can be really challenging to find deodorant in Korea.

8. A human finger can sense microscopic particles.

According to Swedish scientists, it is only possible on a smooth surface. So, for example, if our fingers were the size of our planet, they would be able to feel the difference between cars and houses.

9. The population of Canada is less than the population of Florida.

There are 35.1 million inhabitants in Canada and 39.5 million inhabitants in Florida.

10. Stevie Wonder and the members of the Jackson 5 have the keys to the city of Detroit.

When authorities give a famous person a key to the city, they acknowledge their merits. In 1974, Stevie Wonder got the keys because he recorded his hits in a Detroit Motown studio. And the Jackson 5 received the gift in 2018 when they performed at a Detroit Weekend Music Festival.

11. In the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas there are more rooms than there are people in the town of Bellagio in Italy.

The 5-star hotel-casino was built in 1998. There are 3,950 rooms in it and it is the 11th largest hotel in the world. The Italian town that has the same name (situated near Milan) only has 3,820 inhabitants.

12. The number of cells and bacteria in the human body is approximately the same.

A group of scientists from Israel and Canada came to this conclusion. During their research, they dispelled the myth that the proportion is 10:1. They calculated that an average adult has 30 trillion bacteria and 39 trillion cells.

13. Giraffes and humans have the same number of bones in their necks.

Birds, reptiles, and amphibians have a different number of vertebrae in their neck. For example, a swan can have from 22 to 25 bones. But mammals, like humans and giraffes, have only 7 bones in their neck. The size and the length of the neck don’t change this number.

14. A Wi-Fi signal can affect your brain.

Multiple studies of Wi-Fi radiation have shown that long-term exposure to the signal can cause a change in RNA’s structure. It’s not yet clear what this can lead to—some scientists believe it can cause cancer, others think that some neurodegenerative effects are possible. One thing is for sure: it definitely causes some type of harm.

And what intriguing facts about the world do you know? Share in the comment section below.