There are so many things in the world that we are yet to have knowledge about. We discover newer and newer things as we go on and everyday is new discovery for us. The truth is stranger than fiction. Sometimes some things are so bizarre and unique that they defy the comprehension boundaries of a human.
We have to do research in order to check and reference these things and finally it dawns on us how amazing these things are in real. Therefore, we bring to you 15 such facts that will blow your mind and will take some time for you to digest.
The first known electric cars date back to 19th century, as far back as 1837; when a Scottish chemist Robert Davidson invented the first prototype of the electric car run on galvanic batteries. In 1841, Davidson built a larger vehicle, the Galvani weighing seven tons. The Galvani was tested on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in 1842 and reached 4 mph for a distance of 1.5 miles (2.4 km) while carrying a load of six tons.
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The vehicle was destroyed by railway workers, who saw it as a threat to their jobs. The first practical electric car was designed by English inventor Thomas Parker in 1884.
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Robert Crandall, the head of American Airlines in 1987 needed to bring down their costs and he came up with a brilliant idea to remove one olive from every salad served to the first class passengers. This move of his saved the company $40,000 in costs, by saving tens of thousands of olives.
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Poor little Pluto! Discovered on February 18, 1830, by Clyde Tombaugh, Pluto was the ninth planet in the solar system. However, in 2006, it was downgraded to a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
During its time as a planet and its down gradation, in 88 years, Pluto failed to make a single orbit around the sun, as it takes 248.09 Earth years to make one rotation around the Sun. It is calculated that Pluto will complete its orbit around the sun on March 23, 2178.
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The US Army is the largest purchaser and importer of explosive materials in the world. This is not at all unusual, but the name second on the list will shock you a lot.
Disney World comes in the second place in buying explosives in the world, which are used in their fireworks that are the selling point of the company. Offering once in a lifetime experience to the visitors, Disney World has a huge fireworks show in the world.
During the Second World War, a trade restriction (embargo) on Germany made it difficult for the Coca-Cola Deutschland, a German company to import syrup for producing their drinks. Therefore the head of the company Max Keith used German materials like apple pomace and whey to invent a new drink known as Fanta.
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Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon in 1969, fulfilling a long wish of the human beings. However, the people on Earth were still struggling to pick up and move their heavy luggage. Things came to head when Bernard Sadow, the former president and owner of the U.S. Luggage Company struggled with his luggage on vacation.
Seeing an airport worker carrying luggage on wheeled platforms, he got the idea to add wheels to luggage and filed a patent in 1970. Since then, humans are carrying their luggage with glee in wheeled suitcases and bags.
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In one of the most amazing facts about the human body, something that most of us don’t realize, but the tongue rests on the roof of the mouth, instead of the bottom. We know, you are checking your tongue now subconsciously.
The correct position of a resting tongue should be that with the back of the tongue is in contact with the back roof of the mouth. Therefore, the whole tongue gets lifted in the direction of the roof of the mouth.
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The first symptom of schizophrenia is Voice hallucinations. However, for the deaf people, research has revealed very interesting things about how they experience their first symptoms. 50% of deaf schizophrenic people have established having aural hallucinations. But these people were unable to confirm features like tone and pitch.
A study by Dr. Joanna Atkinson of UCL in 2007 revealed that real hearing hallucinations with sound are suffered by deaf schizophrenic people who are not deaf by birth. For deaf schizophrenic people, who are deaf by birth, the voices heard by them are in the appearance of sign language or lips moving in their head. The auditory hallucinations are soundless in respect to deaf people by birth.
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Though there have been many old things that are still in existence, not many are actually fulfilling their use and are more of showpieces. However, the Kallanai Dam in Tamil Nadu, India is an exemplary example of ancient engineering done right.
The dam was constructed on the Cauvery River by King Karikalan of Chola dynasty in the first century. The Kallanai dam is 329 m long and 20 m wide and built on uneven stones. It was used to irrigate 69,000 acres of land back in the time.
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Usually, it is seen that most animals easily outrun humans. However, it is true only for short distances. When it comes to long distances and endurance running, humans can outrun almost every other animal on the planet. It is an evolutionary trait, that developed when prehistoric humans hunted animals by simply outrunning them until they stopped due to exhaustion.
Running uses up a lot of energy and also increases body temperature. But, for the body to function normally, it needs to lose the heat, something which animals do by panting and humans by sweating. This sweating and virtually hairless body give humans the edge over other animals in endurance running.
The only animal to outrun humans is horses.
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The Russians had explored the icy land in the early 17th century and owned it for 126 years. Russia settled Alaska in 1784, putting up trade posts, churches. On March 1867, Russia sold Alaska to The United States of America for a then sum of USD 7.2 million.
Little did the Russians knew that the land that they sold for such a huge sum at that time, was going to lay golden eggs for the USA and made it a world power, challenging Russia. Alaska turned out to be full of natural resources, oil, petroleum, fish, and gold. It also gave America a gateway to the Arctic and gave USA unprecedented window to Russia.
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Yes, you read it correctly. Venus takes 243 Earth days to rotate once on its axis (sidereal day). The planet orbits around the Sun taking 225 Earth days, compared to the Earth's 365. In comparison, a day on Venus (solar day) takes just 117 Earth days.
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24-year-old Indian resident Mohammed Guddu had some amazing luck working for him. He was mixing cement while working on a building and while doing so, was impaled in the skull with a 2m iron rod that fell from the 4th floor. The impact was such that the rod protruded out of the back of the skull and x-rays confirmed that the rod was firmly placed in the skull.
It took doctors five hours to cut holes in his skull to pull out the rod, but he developed paralysis on the left side of his body. However, doctors said that he is like to regain movement in 3 months.
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American citizen Billy Milligan was the subject of a very famous court case in the 1970s Ohio. He committed several felonies like armed robbery, rape, theft and was arrested for three rapes on Ohio State University campus.
During preparation of his defense, he was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder by the psychologists and his lawyers plead insanity on account of him having 24 different personalities. Of the 24 personalities of Billy Milligan, 10 were basic, while others were suppressed due to immoral behavior.
Each personality had different mannerism and committed different felonies. The court acquitted him and was ordered to spend his life in mental institutions instead.
The giraffe is the tallest animal in the world and is distinguishable thanks to a long neck and therefore was assumed to have number of bones or vertebras in the neck. The length of the neck contributes to more than half of their heights. However, it was discovered that Giraffes and humans have the same number of bones in their necks -7.
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