8 Facts That Are Hard to Believe, But They Are Real (9 photos)

A fireman woke up after nine years of silence and the first thing he asked was about his wife. A Japanese meteorologist discovered the jet stream, but published it in Esperanto, and no one noticed. Lucian of Samosata wrote a space opera about the war for Venus in the second century. And that's not all.





We've compiled a collection of the most incredible, touching, creepy, and funny facts. Each one is the absolute truth. Get ready, because things are about to get weird.

1. The Story of a Firefighter Who Twice Returned from Silence to Ask About His Wife



Firefighter Donald Herbert fell into a coma as a result of an accident during a fire. He woke up a year later, but didn't recognize his friends and family. He then entered a minimally conscious state for more than nine years. Miraculously, he woke up again, and his first question was about his wife.

2. An Unheard Discovery





Japanese meteorologist Wasaburo Oishi was the first to discover jet streams in the atmosphere. However, his discovery remained virtually unknown outside his native country because he published it in the artificial language Esperanto.

3. The Korean "Miracle of Moses"



Twice a year, the sea off the coast of South Korea between the islands of Jindo and Modo retreats, revealing a hidden pathway. This occurs in the spring and early summer and lasts only 40-60 minutes. People have the opportunity to walk along this pathway, which forms a natural bridge between the two islands.

This phenomenon is known as the "Korean Miracle of Moses," but it is actually the result of tidal harmonics. The gravitational attraction of the Sun and Moon creates several independent tidal cycles of varying durations. At certain points in the spring, these cycles align in phase and combine. An extremely low tide occurs, revealing a sandbar between the islands. The water recedes so much that the normally hidden isthmus becomes dry. Since 1975, this phenomenon has been celebrated with a special festival.

4. The Law That Stole Itself



Robert Merton

Stephen Stigler's Law states: "No scientific discovery is named after its discoverer." But who first described this law? Not Stigler, but sociologist Robert Merton. So Stigler's Law is a perfect example of itself.

5. Bees That Love Meat, Not Flowers



"Meat honey" is a substance produced by South American vulture bees, Trigonidae. Unlike regular bees, they feed on carrion rather than nectar. The resulting substance is technically edible and has a smoky, rich, and salty flavor.

This product is not sold anywhere in the world. To try it, you need to find a nest in the jungle and persuade local researchers to share a sample. Several intrepid entomologists have tried it and described the flavor as "spicy, smoky, and slightly salty with meaty notes." Some compare the substance, which resembles sweet plant matter, to a protein paste made from regurgitated meat, to fermented soy sauce, or to mushroom-flavored molasses.

6. A story about aliens, written in the 2nd century



The first known work featuring aliens, space, and interplanetary war dates back to the 2nd century CE. Lucian of Samosata's "True History" is a satire on earlier works that presented fantastical and mythical stories at face value.

7. A shot against parasites, which gave rise to a famous phraseological expression



The expression "to kill the worm" is a tracing of the French "tuer le ver" ("to kill the worm"). Originally, it meant drinking a shot of alcohol on an empty stomach. It was believed that rumbling in an empty stomach was caused by intestinal parasites, and alcohol (especially tincture of wormwood) was supposed to kill them. This practice has been known since antiquity, but the phrase became established as an idiom in French by 1828.

The expression originated as a literal translation, but the meaning shifted: the verb "zamorit" (to quench one's thirst) was understood as "to tire, to pacify," and today "zamorit wormy" (to quench one's thirst) means to have a light snack, not a drink. Although the original French phrase still refers specifically to a shot of alcohol on an empty stomach.

8. The Space Cat's Smile



Astronomers are familiar with so-called Einstein rings—optical illusions caused by gravitational lenses. The lens can be a black hole or a massive galaxy positioned precisely on the line between an observer on Earth and a more distant galaxy. The light from the distant galaxy is bent into a ring. Scientists have dubbed one such ring the "Cheshire Cat smile."