17 Random Facts That Are So Bizarre They Sound Fake

"The longest human pregnancy was over a year long."

The truth is stranger than fiction.

TLC

^^^ Me, learning that four out of five animals are worms. 

So, I decided to round up 17 facts to prove it. Happy scrolling!

1. The front line of the war in Ukraine is visible from outer space.

NBC

Between 5.2 and 6.9 million acres of Ukrainian farmland that lies between Russian-occupied territory and Ukranian-held territory has been abandoned. The untended land (which costs Ukraine about $2 billion in lost crops) has become overgrown with weeds and other flora. The result is a wide green stripe across Ukraine's landscape that can be seen by satellites orbiting the Earth.  

2. The longest human pregnancy was over a year long.

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Belulah Hunter was pregnant for 375 days. For reference, a pregnancy is usually around 280 days. At least we're not like elephants, who have a gestation period of 22 months. 

3. There are way more than three states of matter.

NBC

I know what you're thinking, "Oh, I took Chemistry in school. I know that there are four states of matter: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma." 

Oh, you sweet summer child. There are AT LEAST FIFTEEN STATES OF MATTER. 

They include states like the Boise-Einstein condensate, superfluids, super solids, superconductors, Rydberg polarons, and supercritical fluids. 

4. Graham crackers and cornflakes were created to make us less horny.

CBS

Sylvester Graham thought that consuming things like alcohol, meat, and other flavourful foods increased one's greed and lust.  His solution? The Graham cracker!

 John Harvey Kellogg agreed with Graham's reasoning and concocted his famous cornflakes, in the hopes that people who consumed them would be less likely to masturbate. 

5. The bananas your great-grandparents ate tasted radically different from the bananas we eat now.

NBC

Until the 1950s, the most popular type of Banana in the west was the Gros Michel banana. Then, fungus nearly wiped out all of the Gros Michel crops, making the fruit unprofitable to grow.  The less sweet, less flavourful Cavendish banana, however, was resistant to the fungus and soon took Gros Michel's place in the supermarkets. 

6. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. only met once.

Buzzfeed

On March 26, 1964, the two civil rights leaders briefly met in Washington, D.C.. Both King and X were in the capitol to rally support for the Civil Rights Act, which was being lobbied in the Senate. Malcom X introduced himself to King, and the two had short conversation. The entire interaction lasted only a few minutes. 

7. It's illegal to kill Bigfoot.

Fox

This real law about an imaginary animal went into effect in the state of Washington on April 2, 1984. 

8. The CIA surgically implanted recording devices in cats as part of their surveillence efforts during the Cold War.

CBS

It was called "Project Acoustic Kitty," and it was a massive failure that cost the government a whopping $20 million. The first cat-agent, tragically, was run over by a taxi before she even made it to her target. 

9. Unlike other mammals, sloths can't fart.

Fox

The methane gas that builds up in their digestive system are absorbed into their bloodstream and then respired. In other words, they exhale out their farts. 

10. The oldest mummies aren't from Egypt.

CBS

They're from Chile! The Chinchorro people began mummifying their dead about 2,000 years before the Egyptians began a similar practice. 

11. The song "1985" was written in 2004. A similarly titled song released today would be called "2004".

CBC

We're as close to 2004 as Debbie was to Bruce Springsteen, Madonna (way before Nirvana), U2, Blondie, and music still on MTV. 

12. The first dishwasher was invented in 1850.

Fox

Joel Houghton filed the first dishwasher patent in 1850, although his version didn't really work that well. Things really took of in 1886, when Josephine Cochrane invented the first automatic dishwasher. Cochran went on to found the company that would eventually become KitchenAid.

13. On occasion, Canada is as cold as Mars (a planet that's further from the Sun and has a super thin atmosphere).

Starz

The coldest day in Canada was February 3, 1947.  On that day, Snag, a Yukon village, recorded temperatures of -63 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, the average temperature of Mars is  -53 degrees Celsius (temperatures range from -128 C to 27 C.). 

14. You can tell if a foetus is going to be left or right-handed.

NBC

That's right, we start to favour one hand in utero. By the eighteenth week of gestation, foetuses will use one hand significantly faster than the other. 

15. In the Roman Empire, gladiator blood was used to treat epilepsy.

NBC

After a gladiator died in the arena, their blood (and liver) became valuable medical commodities. Pliny the Elder, a Roman author who lived in the first century, wrote that "the blood of gladiators is drunk by epileptics as though it were the draught of life."

16. A single bitcoin transaction uses the same amount of power as the average US household usesover the course of a month.

TLC

Thanks, I hate it! 

17. The smell of lavender and pumpkin pie can increase penile blood flow by 40%.

Fox

A 2014 study examined how smells impacted sexual arousal in men, and it turns out that some scents are hornier than others! Lavender and pumpkin pie was the most stimulating, but "black liquorice and doughnut" also had a strong impact. I want to personally thank this study for forever ruining my favourite Thanksgiving dessert. 

You, after reading this list.

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