It's a weird and wonderful world we live in. Many of us don't truly appreciate how incredible it is to be alive and thinking at a time when technological advances provide us with so many ways to discover more about Earth and our galaxy.
It may seem like the more you learn, the stranger it gets - but isn't that the fun part of discovery?
Scroll through these incredible facts, they really are too strange to be true! Impress your friends with your newfound knowledge, we bet they'll say "that can't be true!"
The World's Widest Tree Is Bigger Than A Walmart
The canopy of the Great Banyan tree is made p of 3,511 aerial prop roots that connect to the earth. They may look like individual trees, but these roots cover 3.5 square acres of land, which is about 156,000 square feet or 14,400 square meters!
There Are Almost As Many Connections In The Brain As There Are Stars In The Milky Way
Our brain is a complex organ that is so dynamic that it is constantly shaping and reshaping itself. Despite growing neurobiological research, we still don't know very much about the development and function of our neural circuits.
One thing we do know is that we've got a system of synapses that pass information from one area of the brain to the other. There are over 125 trillion synapses in the cerebral cortex, which is almost equal to the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxies.
The Woolly Mammoth Roamed The Earth While The Pyramids Were Being Built
Believe it or not, a small population of mammoths managed to survive until 1650 BC. At that time, Egypt had developed half of its empire and the Giza Pyramids were already 1000 years old.
The last known population lived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean in 4,000 years ago.
Heroin Was Once Used To Treat Children's Coughs
In the 1890s, Bayer promoted heroine for use in children who suffered from coughs, colds and "irritation" into 1912. This was long after reports surfaced in 1899 that patients had developed a "tolerance" for Heroin, when addicts in the U.S. were scrambling for more and more.
It wasn't until 1924 that the FDA banned Heroin entirely, except for use under very strict medical conditions.
Harvard University Is Older Than Calculus
The oldest higher education institution in the United States, it was founded in 1636, but Calculus wasn't created until later in the 17th.
Want to know more? Turn the page to find out!
Some things in life seem too strange to be true, these facts rank high among them!
Would you believe that it took less processing power to land a space ship on the moon than it does to run a calculator? You'll be shocked to learn the true and violent origins of 'pinky swear!'
Read further to find out!
There Is More Power In A Calculator Than In The Computer That Landed Apollo 11 On The Moon
The guidance computer from Apollo 11 mission ran at 1.024 MHz. Believe it or not, that is just 1/6th the processing power of a TI-83 calculator - the very kind used by students to solve math equations.
A Pinky Swear Is Actually A Vow To Cut Off Your Little Finger (If You Break The Oath)
This is an ancient Japanese gesture that was used during the Edo period (1603-1838). Clans of bandits would cut off their little fingers to prove their loyalty.
Later, the gesture developed into a children's game to seal a serious vow or promise.
For Every Person On Earth, There Are Over 1.6 Million Ants - Ew.
Myrmecologists, or those who study ants, have estimated that there are somewhere between 1 and 10 quadrillion ants living on Earth today. This estimate suggests that there are more than 1 million ants for each human alive!
There Are More Fake Flamingos Than Real Ones
The brilliant pink plastic flamingo has graced many lawns in the USA since it was first created in 1957 by Don Featherstone. Although tacky, it is still considered a typical symbol of Americana.
Ornithologists estimate there to be only about 950,000 real flamingos alive today, whereas the plastic lawn ornaments have been produced into the millions.
Dolphins, Whales and Porpoises Have Belly Buttons
Just like humans, apes and elephants, dolphins, whales and porpoises have belly buttons. They are marine mammals that give birth to live young.
Similar to human babies, baby marine mammals are born with an umbilical cord, which provides oxygenated, nutrient rich blood from mom to her unborn baby. When the baby dolphin is born, the umbilical cord detaches and the little one can begin feeding on its own.
Since they are born with umbilical cords, dolphins also have belly buttons!
Do you believe it? Share some more incredible facts in the comments below!
[h/t Emlii / Brightside ]
