30 interesting facts that will add to your knowledge base (31 photos)

The world is full of interesting and educational facts. You can learn something new every day - and it’s always interesting. This collection contains facts from various areas of our lives. Perhaps you have already met some of them, but you will learn about some for the first time.





1. Around 100,000 people die every year in India due to declining vulture populations.



Vultures play a vital role in the ecosystem. Due to the decline in their population, more animal carcasses appeared in India - this led to an increase in rabies and a decrease in water quality.

2. Wimbledon judges know a huge number of swear words in different languages - in order to notice and fine those who swear



3. Historian Alice Kober deciphered the most recent version of the ancient Cretan script, making an entire card index of approximately 186 thousand cards



Kober did all the grunt work to decipher Linear B (the Cretan script that was used to write texts in ancient Greek in the 15th-12th centuries BC). The letter was fully deciphered only in 1952, shortly after her death. To this day it remains the only Aegean script from the Bronze Age.

4. Many people hear non-existent sounds, words and phrases. This phenomenon is called auditory pareidolia



Auditory pareidolia is a phenomenon in which a person hears non-existent words or phrases in auditory stimulus material (white noise, low-quality recordings, mixing of syllables and words, synthesized speech). You may also hear non-existent sounds in normal everyday situations (for example, knocking on the door while you are taking a shower).

5. 55% of young adult literature readers are adults



6. William Wrigley, founder of William Wrigley Jr. Company, a leader in the chewing gum market, first sold soap



When Wrigley sold soap, he offered free items, such as free baking powder, to stimulate sales. He then moved on to selling the powder, and added chewing gum sticks as gifts. The gum became so incredibly popular that he began selling only it - and later became the world's leading manufacturer of chewing gum.

7. Birds can breed. More than 90% of species form monogamous pairs - but they can end the relationship by mating with another partner after "divorce"



8. Horses became extinct in North America about 10,000 years ago. Then, in the 1550s, they were introduced by the Spanish



9. There are five known assassination attempts on Queen Elizabeth II



The most “dangerous” one was committed in 1981 in New Zealand. The 17-year-old took aim at the queen with a rifle from a fifth-floor window and fired. He missed - and many did not even notice that someone was shooting.

10. More than 98% of Korean families have a special refrigerator for kimchi at home.



11. There is a passage in the diary of 2nd US President John Adam where he describes how he had to share a tiny bed with Benjamin Franklin



Instead of sleeping, they debated whether to leave the windows open or closed. In the end, Franklin won the argument because Adams got tired and fell asleep.

12. North American porcupines love salt. In forests they are known to eat hikers' boots covered in road salt.



13. From the 1950s to the 1970s, attempts were made to establish bus services between London and India



A trip on such a bus took about 50 days and cost about $100. The buses even had separate sleeping areas and a kitchen.

14. Haribo made sugar-free gummy bears for a while. However, due to poor reviews and negative press attention, they were discontinued in 2014



The gummy bears contained maltitol, an alcohol used as a sweetener. It can cause increased flatulence and diarrhea, which is what many buyers have encountered.

15. In some countries, civilians are prohibited from wearing camouflage clothing. These are, for example, Azerbaijan, Barbados, Bahamas, Ghana, Jamaica, Grenada, and others



16. The inflatable slide (as in the photo) cannot be used by persons over 12 years old



There have been cases (and lawsuits) of adults breaking their necks while using the slide. And in 1993, the American organization CPSC warned that adults could suffer irreversible spinal cord damage on this slide.

17. Crickets and grasshoppers appeared on Earth before dinosaurs - more than 300 million years ago



18. The first and last people killed during the construction of the Hoover Dam in the United States were a father and son. They died on the same day, 14 years apart



19. Sigmund Freud dissected hundreds of eels, trying to find their male genital organs - but he never found them, like other scientists



20. There are more organic substances on the surface of Titan (a moon of Saturn) than there are oil reserves on the entire Earth



21. The world's largest kidney stone was removed from a patient from Sri Lanka. The stone weighed 757.5 g and broke two world records



22. Japan has an entire cultural policy strategy called "Cool Japan", which focuses on aspects of Japanese culture that non-Japanese people consider "cool" and unusual.



This includes support for games, manga, anime and other forms of content, fashion, commercial products, Japanese cuisine and traditional culture.

23. China consumes the most salt per capita by a wide margin.



24. China is actively using weather control and cloud dispersal technologies



The Chinese government enlisted the Beijing Weather Modification Administration to ensure there was no rain at the 2008 Summer Olympics.

25. Epidermodysplasia verruciformis is a rare disease in which the patient develops warty rashes and the skin resembles tree bark



26. Psychiatrist Henry Cotton sometimes removed all his patients’ teeth because he believed that bad teeth were the cause of mental disorders



If this did not help, he would remove the testicles/ovaries, gall bladder, stomach, spleen, cervix or colon.

27. NASA plans to remove the ISS from orbit in 2031 and sink it into a “spaceship graveyard” in the Pacific Ocean



28. Acacia trees in Africa communicate with each other. They release gases to warn other trees to produce a toxin called tannin, which protects them from hungry animals.



29. The Anglo-Zanzibar War (1896) became the shortest in history - it lasted only 38 minutes



30. Inside the pro ballsFor bowling, there are weights like this, due to which the ball spins more strongly due to the shifted center of gravity