Some facts don’t just surprise you-they completely change the way you look at history, science, nature, and everyday life. This mixtape gathers 50 remarkable stories and discoveries that have a way of reshaping what you thought you knew.
Lizards Mate For Life
1. Australian sleepy lizards pair with one mate for life and mourn when they lose that partner.
2. There are perfumes and candles with a paper-like scent that imitate the smell of freshly printed books, old tomes, or libraries. Some scented candles are even based on Oxford Library’s ambient aroma.
3. The fictional tequila “Zafiro Añejo,” which appeared in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, was made up by the writers because they could not secure a real brand for product placement after a scene in which several people die after drinking it.
4. As a marketing and publicity stunt, three copies of a John Otway single in 1979 were pressed without a vocal track. Buyers of the “instrumental” copies would “win” a live performance of the song by Otway in their own living room while they played the record on their home stereo.
5. Kenan Thompson declined to wear drag on “Saturday Night Live” until the show hired a black woman.
6. The jabuticaba tree, also known as the Brazilian grape tree, is unusual because its berries grow straight from the trunk. They are so favored in some Brazilian states that discarded fruit skins have actually stained sidewalks purple.
7. Paul Stanley of KISS appeared in a 2000 Folgers ad that never aired because focus groups asked, “Who is the old, creepy guy?”
8. In colonial Virginia, people running for office commonly won over voters with food and alcohol, and George Washington discovered that after losing his first attempt for the Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1758, his election agent handed out about 144 gallons of rum, punch, hard cider, and beer during Washington’s second campaign. Washington won the seat.
9. A man dealing with fatal familial insomnia, a condition that makes a person biologically unable to sleep, set out to try possible treatments. From vitamin therapy to sensory deprivation, narcoleptics, and anesthesia for sleep, these attempts prolonged his life by a year.
10. In 1978, France introduced Minitel, an online service that came before the World Wide Web and gave users access to online shopping, search engines, cybersex, message boards, and more. France Telecom did not retire the service until 2012, after 30 years and 800,000 units were still in use.
Left-Handed Relief Specialist
11. In baseball, a left-handed specialist is a relief pitcher who pitches left-handed and focuses on throwing to left-handed batters. They often have lengthy careers because their pitching arm endures less strain.
12. From 1854 through 1921 in the US, “orphan trains” carried more than 250,000 children for adoption by new families. Although many found new homes, the “adoptions” were sometimes little more than auctions.
13. Sand cats are very hard to study in the wild. Their furry soles keep them from sinking into soft sand, which makes their footprints almost impossible to see. They have also learned to crouch low and close their eyes when a light is shone on them, stopping any reflection from their eyes.
14. In 1976, the mummified body of an American bank and train robber named Elmer McCurdy was discovered in a funhouse in California. McCurdy had died in a shootout in 1911, and his body had been used ever since as a sideshow attraction. Those who found him only knew it was a human body when his arm broke off, exposing bone and muscle.
15. Betty Crocker was never an actual person. She was invented for a Gold Medal Flour ad in 1921. Soon after, the company chose to use the character to respond to all the baking and cooking questions that arrived by mail, because a woman was considered a more trusted source of baking information than an all-male staff.
16. The notorious Wicked Bible of 1631 included the misprinted commandment “thou shalt commit adultery,” and it also had “God hath shewed us his glory and his great-asse” in place of “greatness,” which points to the mistakes being a deliberate act of sabotage.
17. Sand is the world’s second most widely used natural resource, coming after fresh water.
18. In the first days of a baby deer’s, or fawn’s, life, it remains still and mostly by itself, aside from short visits from its mother. However, this early phase is when it is safest from predators.
19. In 1868, astronomers observed an unusual yellow spectral line in sunlight and determined it came from an element no one had identified on Earth. British astronomer Norman Lockyer suggested it was a new element and called it helium, using the Greek word for the Sun, helios. Scientists later showed that the Sun’s mystery gas truly existed on Earth when William Ramsay and others isolated helium from uranium ore in 1895. That makes Helium the only element on the periodic table that was not discovered on Earth.
20. In 1888, Kentucky State Treasurer James “Honest Dick” Tate vanished with $250,000 in state funds after years of embezzling from the state’s treasury. He was never heard from or seen again. His theft is what led the state to require strict terms limits on state officeholders.
Babies Get Bacteria Later
21. Babies are not born with Streptococcus mutans, the bacterium most closely tied to tooth decay. Instead, they usually pick it up from other people through saliva exchange. Parents and caregivers can unknowingly pass the bacteria along by sharing food or drinks, kissing babies on the mouth, or licking pacifiers before giving them back.
22. In the late 90s, Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, proposed a partnership with Blockbuster, and John Antioco, the CEO of Blockbuster, laughed in his face.
23. In 1946, an American former prisoner of war recognized a vicious Japanese official from the POW camp while shopping at Sears in Los Angeles. The official, who had become a U.S. citizen, was later the last person convicted of treason in the U.S. to date.
24. The long-lost tomb of Mark Antony and Cleopatra from 30 B.C. has still not been found. However, as of November 22, 2022, archaeologists have discovered a 4,300-foot-long tunnel beneath an ancient temple in Egypt. They believe this tunnel may lead to Cleopatra’s long-lost tomb.
25. A Canadian man undergoing a rectal exam by his doctor at a hospital was watched by people he believed were medical practitioners or med students. After learning that the watchers were two actors who portray doctors on TV, he later sued the hospital and the observers. They were conducting research for the TV series “Saving Hope.”
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