Share an interesting random fact

[4RM3D]

Antarctica is actually a desert. [EDIT] Incidentally, it is also the LARGEST desert on the planet. [/EDIT]

Okay, since I started, let me share two more:

A frog can't empty its stomach by vomitting. To empty its stomach contents, a frog throws up it's stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of it's mouth. Then the frog uses its forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.

If you are locked in a completely sealed room, you will die of carbon dioxide poisoning first before you will die of oxygen deprivation.

 

[NuclearOsprey]

Odontophobia is the fear of teeth.

 

[Nocturnal Gentleman]

The parasite cymothoa exigua kills the the tongue of its host and then replaces the organ by attaching itself to the stump. It's the only parasite that will replace an organ.

 

[sage42]

It is illegal in California to eat an orange while taking a bath. Odd I know.

 

[smearyllama]

Porcupines have six nipples....
I know it's not super surprising, but I found it out because my sister had to censor a picture of a cartoon porcupine once for a video she was making.

 

[Lilani]

Theodore Roosevelt, as beloved a president as he is, was a flaming racist.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Not sure if this is correct, eel are dark colour because they too much and also hippo sweat is colour pink.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

The term Thagomizer, used to describe the tail spikes of a Stegosaurus, was actually first coined by comic creator Gary Larson in 1983 for one of his Far Side strips.

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

When referring to the size of a cannon, the term "-pounder" (as in, it's a thirteen-pounder) refers to the weight of the cannonball.

EDIT: Also, a "brass monkey is the brass framework used to hold cannonballs in place on old naval vessels. And since brass contracts in the cold faster than iron, the brass framework would distort itself on very cold days causing the cannonballs to fall off and roll across the deck. This is the original source of the phrase: "Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey."

 

[Esotera]

- Lobsters are actually blue before cooking. When you boil them the pigment that gives them their colour undergoes a chemical reaction, turning the lobster red.

- Humans are typically thought of as one organism, but we're better thought of as a collection of three. The base-human cells & other bits, bacteria that live within us, and mitochondria that live inside us and provide energy.

- There are actually 9 bits in most bytes, not 8. The extra bit is used for diagnostics to ensure the other 8 are working properly.

- Contrary to popular opinion, there isn't a set number of bits in every byte (although it's usually 8, or a multiple of 2).

- If you lick your thumb and place your index finger on it, then very slowly remove it, you should see some very thin strands of saliva linked between the two. These are strands of DNA.

- The 23rd chromosome pair in humans originated from chickens.

- Males and females genetically imprint their offspring to either grow bigger (males) or remain small (females). This is because in the animal kingdom females choose, males compete. So males want to drain the female's resources, and the female wants to chuck as many offspring out as possible. (Generally)

 

[Batou667]

Back when I learned French at school, the recurring characters in the textbook had a dog called Pollux. Me and my 12-year old friends all laughed our arses off over this as it sounds a bit like "bollocks". It was only later that I learned that Pollux is a star in the Gemini constellation, and much later still that I discovered that in the French version of the animation that we anglophones call Dougal, Pollux is the name of the dog.

 

[darthotaku]

somewhere in space, there is a massive cloud of alcohol the size of our solar system. you could make 400 trillion trillion pints of beer with it.

 

[rayen020]

did you know rudolph the red nose reindeer was created in 1939 by Montgomery Ward as a sales mascot.

 

[Wackymon]

Without mucus, your stomach would digest itself.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Theodore Roosevelt, as beloved a president as he is, was a flaming racist.

He wasn't actually as racist as you may think: He was only racist towards Native Americans from what I've read. Everyone else he was pretty cool with, including Blacks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodo...immigration.2C_minorities.2C_and_civil_rights). He even invited prominant Black Intellectual Booker T. Washington to Dinner, who was the First Black Man to be invited to the Dinner [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Theodore_Roosevelt#Civil_Rights], although he was quickly yelled at for it. If you can present me evidence otherwise, I might be willing to accept it.

OT: If your using Google Chrome, and you go to Google: If you type in, "Do A Barrel Roll" and search, the page will Barrel Roll.

 

[isometry]

The real numbers are the unique complete totally ordered field.

 

[sage42]

In the original S/G/C pokemon games (haven't played the re-makes so I don't know) the day-care center, where the breeding is done, is on Route 34.