What is interesting and incredible in the world. Interesting facts and events from around the world

23.08.2024

They make an attentive observer think about it, be surprised by the diversity of life, or have a good laugh.

But in the bustle of everyday chores, we sometimes do not notice these things. Want to expand your horizons?

We offer you interesting facts from life, which will definitely lift your spirits and teach you to look at the world around you in a new way.

According to statistics, chronic alcoholics live 15 years longer than those people who work without vacation. Rest more, gentlemen, but do not abuse alcohol!
25% of our compatriots think about sex while stuck in a traffic jam. Oddly enough, only 6% think about work.
Blue-eyed people are less likely to suffer from visual impairments than brown-eyed and gray-eyed people.
Brown-eyed people are more adapted to everyday difficulties.
An interesting life fact: the more often a man makes love, the lower his risk of a heart attack. Consider these instructions for action! This, unfortunately, does not apply to women.
In the morning we are about 1 centimeter higher. During the day, the joints shrink, which makes us a little shorter in the evening.
No person in the world can sneeze with their eyes open. Want to check? Please! Just don't do this while driving a car. According to statistics, 2% of all accidents occur because the driver sneezed and lost vigilance for a couple of seconds.
Women speak 13 thousand more words per day than men. All men will agree with this fact, but women may be indignant!
Interestingly, nightmares are more likely to occur in a cold bedroom.
Foul language can temporarily dull the pain. Probably, Russian builders feel this on an intuitive level!
The more often you overeat, the worse your hearing.
Cats' taste buds are not sensitive to sweets. By the way, read in a separate article.
Men's are tougher and thicker than women's. However, there is twice as much hair on a woman's head!
If a woman periodically listens to an audio recording of a child crying, her breasts can increase by 2 centimeters in a week.
There is a small pocket on men's that designers came up with in order to hide a condom there. It's actually designed for a watch. Recommended reading.
The best cleaner for kettles, bathtubs, toilets and ovens is regular Coca-Cola!
Uncolored Coca-Cola is green.
Flavored cigarettes contain urea.
The timbre of the voices of women who work in a male team is significantly lower than that of women who work side by side with other women.
Regular sex relieves headaches. Interestingly, not all women use this fact in their lives. But men can use it as an argument!
Left-handed people find it easier to chew food with the left side of their jaws.
You can stop yawning by touching your tongue with your finger.
When talking to a person we like, our pupils involuntarily dilate.
When there are many, it is a herd. A set of horses is called a herd. A large group - a flock. But when there are a lot of frogs, it’s... an army! At least that's what zoologists call them.
A 4-5 year old child asks about 400 questions a day.
Fear of Friday the 13th is considered a disease and is successfully treated by psychotherapists.
A clear fact of life: the average person eats 35 tons of food in their lifetime.
know how to breathe through the anus.
OK (okay) is the most commonly used word in most languages of the world.
95% of emails sent are spam.
A champagne cork can jump to a height of up to 12 meters.
Interestingly, throughout the history of the Earth, no two identical snowflakes have existed. However, like people. Even twins have slight differences.
In 2 years, a couple is capable of producing more than a million cubs. For comparison, a domestic cat gives birth to no more than 100 kittens in her entire life.
The first President George Washington, in his free time, loved to admire the lush hemp bushes that grew in his garden.
Do not microwave grapes or they will explode!
The cow is unable to go down the stairs.
Incredible but true: the largest eyes on Earth belong to the giant (colossal) squid. They are approximately the size of a soccer ball.
Humpback whales scream the loudest of all animals on Earth. The cry of these mammals is louder than the roar of an airplane and can be heard in the open ocean for more than 500 kilometers.
You won't believe it, but a caterpillar has more than a person.
People in white swimsuits and swimming trunks are more likely to become victims of sharks on beaches.
The nostrils are the organ of smell, but not of breathing. Sharks breathe through gills.
Babies have more bones than adults.
The lighter the beard, the faster it grows.
An interesting fact from life: the smartest woman (according to the results of an IQ test) was... a housewife.
More than 1,000 people die every year from lightning strikes.
Cologne was originally used to treat the plague.
sleep 22 hours a day. Eh!..
The peak of household injuries and heart attacks occurs on Monday.
Every day, 13 new varieties of children's toys appear in the world.
The most common tree in the world is the Siberian larch.
And this is a terrible fact, despite the fact that it is about life. Some sharks eat their brothers and sisters while still in the womb. Truly, survival of the fittest!
Contrary to popular belief, anteaters do not eat ants. Their main food is
At the end of the 19th century, cocaine was used to treat insomnia and colds.
If you chew gum while peeling onions, it is impossible to cry.
Ticks can go 10 years without food.
Until the end of the 19th century in Russia, you could only buy vodka in a 12-liter bucket. People once knew when to stop! By the way, we recommend reading where we have collected a very interesting selection.
More men are colorblind than women.
This fact of life may surprise you. The fact is that some men are terrified of virgins. Psychologists call this phenomenon parthenophobia.
The hibernation period of snails can last 3 years.
Vinegar can dissolve pearls.
99% of living things that have ever lived on Earth are now extinct.
Every day on Earth, 3 people undergo gender reassignment surgery.

Well, friends, we hope that you liked the interesting facts from life. Of course, we do not call them either the most important or the most interesting. It’s just that selections like these help keep your brain in good shape and exercise your memory.

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It is impossible to know everything. But you will find some interesting and unexpected facts about the world in this article.

We are in website We are sure: no matter how new knowledge is acquired, it is always useful.

15. Dolphins deliberately eat toxic puffer fish to get a high.

Dolphins are sometimes more like people than we might imagine. The creators of the documentary noticed something strange: teenage dolphins carefully chewed puffer fish and passed them to each other. Fugu is known for containing a lethal dose of neurotoxin in its body, but in small doses this substance causes a narcotic effect, and dolphins seem to know this very well.

14. Internet speed at NASA - 91 GB per second

This means that at this speed you could download all seasons of all your favorite TV series in 1 second. In the highest resolution. But, like all interesting facts, there are nuances: this speed is developed by the internal network that serves US scientific institutes. Since huge amounts of data are moved at NASA, such a record speed was recorded there.

13. In 1999, Japan changed its flag

Japan is an unusual country in every sense. Take, for example, such a concept as “national symbols” - it was poorly understood by the Japanese population. Hinomaru (Japanese: “circle of the sun”) appeared as a sign of distinction for Japanese maritime vessels; it was also used to communicate with other states. Only in 1999 they decided to put an end to this issue, issued a law and slightly changed the design of the flag itself.

12. In 2012, JK Rowling was dropped from the Forbes list after spending $160 million on charity.

Success came unexpectedly to the richest woman in Great Britain, but this is an excellent example of the fact that money does not spoil really good people: the writer actively helps single parents and supports a clinic that studies multiple sclerosis. Thanks to her impressive income, Rowling always has a place on various lists, except for 2012. This year, the writer spent an estimated $160 million on charity.

11. Instead of a signature in Japan they put a stamp - hanko

To open a bank account or confirm the delivery of goods, a Japanese person will need a hanko - a personal stamp. In some cases, a handwritten autograph is now used, but hanko remains the main way to confirm one’s identity during transactions or banking transactions.

10. After a lightning strike, drawings appear on the body

A lucky few survive a lightning strike. On the body of those who succeed, what scientists call “Lichtenberg figures” may appear. Apart from the human body, they appear on any material that has interacted with high voltage. However, science still does not know the reason for the origin of the drawings on the bodies of people who survived a lightning strike. Lichtenberg's figures are also poetically called "lightning flowers".

9. The baby in the womb heals the mother’s heart

Scientists have found that baby stem cells can restore the heart of a pregnant mother. It is believed that this process appeared during evolution. By helping the mother's heart, the offspring also increases their chances of survival.

It’s surprising that nature can sometimes be lazy and create a landscape using “copy-paste.” Taal Lake is proof that Mother Nature has a sense of humor.

7. Another amazing story about Steve Jobs

The life of Steve Jobs has already acquired a huge number of legends. Not all of them are true. This story was shared by a former Apple employee, and it once again proves that Steve Jobs was a damn genius.

When they brought him a prototype of an iPod player, he turned it over in his hands for a long time, but in the end rejected it: it was too big. The engineers who worked on the prototype tried to prove that it was impossible to make the player even smaller. Jobs was silent for a few seconds. Then he went to the aquarium and threw the iPod there. When the gadget reached the bottom, bubbles began to emerge.

“These are air bubbles,” said Steve Jobs. - If there is air there, then there is extra space. Make it thinner."

Hydra polyp has a high regenerative ability. If a hydra is cut into two parts, they both regenerate into an adult hydra. Hydras have been proven to be theoretically immortal.
American mathematician George Dantzig, while a graduate student at the university, was late for class one day and mistook the equations written on the blackboard for homework. It seemed more difficult to him than usual, but after a few days he was able to complete it. It turned out that he solved two “unsolvable” problems in statistics that many scientists had struggled with.
During World War II, trained dogs actively helped sappers clear mines. One of them, nicknamed Dzhulbars, discovered 7,468 mines and more than 150 shells while clearing mines in European countries in the last year of the war. Shortly before the Victory Parade in Moscow on June 24, Dzhulbars was injured and could not participate in the military dog school. Then Stalin ordered the dog to be carried across Red Square on his overcoat.
74-year-old Australian James Harrison has donated blood almost 1,000 times in his life. Antibodies in his rare blood type help newborns with severe anemia survive. In total, thanks to Harrison's donation, it is estimated that more than 2 million babies were saved.
The dog Laika was sent into space, knowing in advance that she would die. After this, the UN received a letter from a group of women from Mississippi. They demanded to condemn the inhumane treatment of dogs in the USSR and put forward a proposal: if for the development of science it is necessary to send living beings into space, in our city there are as many black children as possible for this purpose.
On April 1, 1976, English astronomer Patrick Moore played a prank on BBC radio by announcing that at 9:47 a.m. a rare astronomical effect would occur: Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, enter into gravitational interaction with it, and slightly weaken the Earth’s gravitational field. If listeners jump at this moment, they should experience a strange feeling. Since 9.47am the BBC has received hundreds of calls reporting strange feelings, with one woman even saying she and her friends left their chairs and flew around the room.
When eating celery, a person spends more calories than he takes in.
During the enormous popularity of Charlie Chaplin, “Chapliniads” were held throughout America - competitions for the best imitation of the actor. Chaplin himself participated in one of these competitions in San Francisco incognito, but failed to win.

The Englishman Horace de Vere Cole became famous as a famous joker. One of his best jokes was handing out tickets at the theater. By allocating strictly defined places to bald men, he ensured that together these bald skulls from the balcony were read as a swear word.
During the conquest of Weinsberg in 1140, King Conrad III of Germany allowed women to leave the destroyed city and carry in their hands what they wished. The women carried their husbands on their shoulders.
Only in Russian and some languages of the former Soviet republics is the @ sign called a dog. In other languages, @ is most often called a monkey or a snail; there are also such exotic variants as strudel (in Hebrew), pickled herring (in Czech and Slovak), moon ear (in Kazakh).
If you simultaneously place two pieces of bread on the ground at two opposite points on our planet, you will get a sandwich with the globe. The first such sandwich was made in 2006, calculating the coordinates of a place in Spain and the corresponding antipodean place in New Zealand. Subsequently, the experience was repeated in many other parts of the planet. But it is very difficult for residents of Russia to make a sandwich with the Earth, since for the vast majority of the country the opposite points are located in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
The Japanese intestines contain unique microbes that allow them to process carbohydrates from seaweed used to make sushi much better than people of other nationalities.
The name of Russia does not come from the root “ros-” or “rus-” in all languages. For example, in Latvia it is called Krievija from the Krivichi tribe, who neighbored the ancient Latvians in the east. Another ancient tribe - the Wends - gave the name to Russia in the Estonian (Venemaa) and Finnish (Venäja) languages. The Chinese call our country Elos and can shorten it to simply E, but the Vietnamese read the same hieroglyph as Nga, and call Russia that way.
According to legend, Robin Hood took from the rich and distributed the loot to the poor. However, the nickname Hood does not mean “good” at all, as it might seem at first glance, because in English it is written Hood and translates as “hood, hide with a hood” (which is a traditional element of Robin Hood’s clothing).
Almost all words in the Russian language starting with the letter “a” are borrowed. There are very few nouns of Russian origin starting with “a” in modern speech - these are the words “alphabet”, “az” and “maybe”.
The tea bag was invented by American Thomas Sullivan in 1904 by accident. He decided to send tea to customers in silk bags instead of traditional tin cans. However, customers thought that they were offered a new way - to brew tea directly in these bags, and found this method very convenient.

The signature recipe of one American restaurant where George Crum worked in 1853 was French fries. One day, a customer returned fried potatoes to the kitchen, complaining that they were “too thick.” Krum, deciding to play a trick on him, cut the potatoes literally paper-thin and fried them. Thus, he invented chips, which became the restaurant's most popular dish.
When someone leaves without saying goodbye, we use the expression “left in English.” Although in the original this idiom was invented by the British themselves, and it sounded like “to take French leave”. It appeared during the Seven Years' War in the 18th century as a mockery of French soldiers who left their unit without permission. At the same time, the French copied this expression, but in relation to the British, and in this form it became entrenched in the Russian language.
During the occupation, French singer Edith Piaf performed in prisoner-of-war camps in Germany, after which she took souvenir photographs with them and German officers. Then in Paris, the faces of the prisoners of war were cut out and pasted into false documents. Piaf went to the camp on a return visit and secretly smuggled these passports, with which some prisoners managed to escape.
Emperor Nicholas I did not like music and, as a punishment for officers, gave them a choice between a guardhouse and listening to Glinka's operas.
Goats, sheep, mongooses and octopuses have rectangular pupils.
In Krylov’s fable “The Dragonfly and the Ant” there are the lines: “The jumping dragonfly sang the red summer.” However, the dragonfly is not known to make sounds. The fact is that at that time the word “dragonfly” served as a general name for several types of insects. And the hero of the fable is actually a grasshopper.
Georgy Millyar played almost all the evil spirits in Soviet fairy-tale films, and every time he was given complex makeup. Millyar hardly needed him only for the role of Kashchei the Immortal. The actor was naturally thin; in addition, during World War II, he contracted malaria while being evacuated to Dushanbe, turning into a living skeleton weighing 45 kilograms.

To successfully master the difficult phrase “I love you,” the British can use the mnemonic Yellow-blue bus.
Once a year, between the two islands of the South Korean county of Jindo, the sea parts, revealing a passage 2 km long and 40 m wide. For an hour, local residents and tourists, many of whom associate this phenomenon with the biblical parable about the waters of the Red Sea parting for Moses, walk along the opened drier and collect seafood caught in this trap.
Leonid Gaidai was drafted into the army in 1942 and first served in Mongolia, where he trained horses for the front. One day a military commissar came to the unit to recruit reinforcements for the active army. To the officer’s question: “Who’s in the artillery?” - Gaidai replied: “I am!” He also answered other questions: “Who is in the cavalry?”, “In the navy?”, “In reconnaissance?”, which displeased the boss. “Just wait, Gaidai,” said the military commissar, “Let me read out the whole list.” Later, the director adapted this episode for the film “Operation “Y” and other adventures of Shurik.”
In the 1970s, the Swedish capital Stockholm had a municipal service dog called Siv Gustavson, who could bark in a variety of ways, corresponding to different dog breeds. Her job was to bark on city streets to get dogs to bark in response. In this way, she collected information about houses whose owners did not pay dog tax.
Born in 1993, the American girl Brooke Greenberg is still a baby in her physical and mental parameters. Her height is 76 cm, weight is 7 kg, her teeth are baby. Doctors' tests showed that there are no mutations in her genes responsible for aging. However, scientists do not lose hope that with the help of new research from this girl, they will come closer to understanding the causes of human aging.
Henri Matisse's painting "The Boat" was exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art in 1961. Only after 40 days did someone notice that the painting was hanging upside down.

The production costs of all Russian coins up to and including 5 rubles exceed the face value of these coins. For example, the cost of minting a 5-kopeck coin is 71 kopecks.
Nurse Violet Jessop survived when the HMHS Britannic hit a German mine in 1916 and the lifeboat she boarded for evacuation was sucked under a spinning propeller. Four years earlier, the same nurse was on board the Titanic - a ship of the same class and of the same company - and also managed to survive. And in 1911, Vilett was on board the “big brother” of these two liners, the Olympic, when it collided with the cruiser Hawk, although no one was injured in that accident.
Vietnamese Thai Ngoc, born in 1942, has not slept for more than 30 years. He lost his desire to sleep in 1973 after suffering a bout of fever. The press has repeatedly reported that Thai Ngoc does not experience any discomfort or illness due to lack of sleep, but several years ago he admitted that he “feels like a plant without water.”
Swedish King Gustav III once decided to personally check what was more harmful to humans - tea or coffee. For this purpose, two twins sentenced to death were selected. The first was given a large cup of tea three times a day, the second - coffee. The king himself did not live to see the end of the experiment, being killed. The twins lived a long time, but the one who drank tea was the first to die at the age of 83.
On April 1, 2010, the British online seller of computer games GameStation included in the user agreement, which buyers must read before making a payment, a clause according to which the buyer also gives his soul to the store for eternal use. As a result, 7,500 people, or 88% of the total number of users, agreed with this point. This showed how easily the vast majority of users who don't read such documents can legally agree to a seller's most insane demand.
The novel about the adventures of Robinson Crusoe has a sequel, in which the hero is shipwrecked off the coast of Southeast Asia and is forced to get to Europe through all of Russia. In particular, he waits out the winter in Tobolsk for 8 months.
Journalists from The Daily Telegraph named Croatian Frane Selak the luckiest person in the world. The first time luck smiled at him was in 1964, when a train derailed and fell into the river. 17 people died, but Frane managed to swim ashore. Then the following incidents happened to Frane: he fell into a haystack from an airplane during the flight of which the door swung open, killing 19 people; swam ashore after a bus fell into the river; got out of a car that suddenly caught fire a few seconds before the gas tank exploded; escaped with bruises after being hit by a bus; drove his car off a mountain road, managing to jump out and catch on a tree. Finally, in 2003, Frane bought a lottery ticket for the first time in his life and won 600 thousand pounds.

On December 9, 1708, Peter I issued a decree on how to treat his superiors: “A subordinate in front of his superiors should look dashing and foolish, so as not to embarrass his superiors with his understanding.”
Korney Chukovsky's real name was Nikolai Vasilyevich Korneychukov.
If you travel in the Moscow metro towards the city center, stations will be announced in a male voice, and when moving from the center - in a female voice. On the Circle Line, a man's voice can be heard when moving clockwise, and a woman's voice can be heard counterclockwise. This was done to make it easier for blind passengers to navigate.
In the era of black-and-white television, red filters were often used in cameras, causing red lipstick to make lips look pale on TV screens. Therefore, announcers and actresses were made up with green blush and lipstick.
Alexandre Dumas once took part in a duel where the participants drew lots, and the loser had to shoot himself. The lot went to Dumas, who retired to the next room. A shot rang out, and then Dumas returned to the participants with the words: “I shot, but missed.”
The island of Barbados got its name from the Portuguese explorer Pedro Campos, who saw many fig trees growing there, entwined with beard-like epiphytes. Barbados means "bearded" in Portuguese.
In 1910, a criminal sentenced to execution shouted to the crowd: “Drink Van Hutten’s cocoa!” in exchange for a substantial sum from the cocoa producer for the heirs. This phrase hit all the newspapers, and sales increased sharply.
South African law allows for any degree of self-defense when it comes to a threat to a person’s life or property. To protect cars from theft, traps, stun guns and even flamethrowers are popular here.
According to popular belief, kangaroos and emus cannot walk backwards. That is why these animals are depicted on the coat of arms of Australia as a symbol of forward movement and progress.
Max Factor, a world-famous cosmetics company, was founded by Maximilian Faktorovich, who was born in 1877 in Poland, which was then part of the Russian Empire. He opened his first store in the city of Ryazan, gradually achieved the status of supplier to the royal family, and in 1904 emigrated to the USA.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy generated a lot of income in New Zealand, where filming took place. The New Zealand government even created the position of Minister for The Lord of the Rings Affairs, who was supposed to resolve all emerging economic issues.
The American extravagant writer Timothy Dexter wrote a book in 1802 with very peculiar language and the absence of any punctuation. In response to reader outcry, in the second edition of the book he added a special page with punctuation marks, asking readers to arrange them in the text to their liking.
An ordinary book of a standard format of 500 pages cannot be crushed, even if you put 15 cars loaded with coal on it.
Pushkin was a master of sarcastic impromptu. When he was still a chamberlain, Pushkin once appeared before a high-ranking official who was lying on the sofa and yawning from boredom. When the young poet appeared, the high-ranking official did not even think about changing his position. Pushkin gave the owner of the house everything he needed and wanted to leave, but was ordered to speak impromptu. Pushkin squeezed out through his teeth: “Children on the floor - smart people on the sofa.” The person was disappointed with the impromptu: “Well, what’s so witty here - children on the floor, smart guy on the sofa? I can’t understand... I expected more from you.” Pushkin was silent, and the high-ranking official, repeating the phrase and moving the syllables, finally came to the following result: “The half-smart kid is on the couch.” After the meaning of the impromptu came to the owner, Pushkin was immediately and indignantly thrown out the door.

Apples help you wake up in the morning better than coffee.
During migration, storks can periodically fall asleep without falling to the ground for up to ten minutes. A tired stork moves to the center of the school, closes its eyes and dozes off, and its heightened hearing helps it maintain the direction and altitude of its flight at this time.
Khrushchev’s famous phrase “I’ll show you Kuzka’s mother!” At the UN Assembly it was translated literally - “Kuzma’s mother”. The meaning of the phrase was completely incomprehensible and this made the threat take on a completely ominous character. Subsequently, the expression “Kuzka’s mother” was also used to refer to the atomic bombs of the USSR.
The Cuban poet Julian del Casal, whose poems were distinguished by deep pessimism, died of laughter. He was having dinner with friends, one of whom told a joke. The poet began to have an attack of uncontrollable laughter, which caused aortic dissection, bleeding and sudden death.
When developing the Pobeda car, it was planned that the name of the car would be “Motherland”. Having learned about this, Stalin ironically asked: “Well, how much will we have a Motherland?” Therefore, the name was changed to “Victory”.
Tsetse flies attack any moving warm object, even a car. The exception is the zebra, which the fly perceives only as a flickering of black and white stripes.
If the body of an adult sponge is pressed through the mesh tissue, then all the cells will separate from each other. If you then place them in water and mix them, completely destroying all the connections between them, then after some time they begin to gradually come closer together and reunite, forming a whole sponge, similar to the previous one.
The French writer and humorist Alphonse Allais, a quarter of a century before Kazimir Malevich, painted a black square - a painting called “The Battle of Negroes in a Cave in the Dead of Night.” He also anticipated John Cage's minimalist musical piece of only silence "4'33" by almost seventy years with his similar work "Funeral March for the Funeral of the Great Deaf Man."
Panther is not a separate animal, but the name of a biological genus, which includes four species: lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars. The term “panther” is often used to refer to large black cats - this is a genetic variant of the coloration of leopards or jaguars, a manifestation of melanism.

A person cannot laugh by tickling himself. This is prevented by the cerebellum, which is responsible for the sensations caused by one’s own movements and sends commands to other parts of the brain to ignore these sensations. An exception to this rule may be tickling the palate with the tongue.
You can distinguish herbivorous animals from predators by the location of their eyes. Predators have eyes on the front of their snout, allowing them to precisely focus on their prey while tracking and chasing. In herbivores, the eyes are usually located on different sides of the muzzle, which increases the radius of vision for early detection of danger from a predator. Exceptions include monkeys, which have binocular vision and are not predators.
French writer Guy de Maupassant was one of those who was irritated by the Eiffel Tower. Nevertheless, he dined at her restaurant every day, explaining that this was the only place in Paris from which the tower could not be seen.
Sofya Kovalevskaya became acquainted with mathematics in early childhood, when there was not enough wallpaper for her room, instead of which sheets with Ostrogradsky’s lectures on differential and integral calculus were pasted.
The driest place on Earth is not the Sahara or any other known desert, but an area in Antarctica called the Dry Valleys. These valleys are almost completely free of ice and snow, as moisture evaporates under the influence of powerful winds reaching speeds of 320 km/h. In some areas of this area there has been no rain for two million years.

It has long been believed that ancient Greek white marble sculptures were originally colorless. However, recent research by scientists has confirmed the hypothesis that the statues were painted in a wide range of colors, which eventually disappeared under prolonged exposure to light and air.
When Pablo Picasso was born, the midwife considered him stillborn. The child was saved by his uncle, who was smoking cigars and, seeing the baby lying on the table, blew smoke in his face, after which Pablo began to roar. Thus, we can say that smoking saved Picasso's life.
Previously, an alternative name for the constellation Ursa Major together with the Polar Star was widespread in Rus' - the Frozen Horse (meaning a grazing horse tied with a rope to a peg). And the Polar Star, accordingly, was called the Funny Star.
Scientists have not yet figured out what the physiological reason for the yawning process is. There are several theories: for example, that when yawning a person receives a large portion of oxygen when there is a lack of oxygen in the body, or that in this way the overheated brain “resets” its temperature, but not a single theory has yet been convincingly proven. However, it has been proven that yawning is contagious. A person is more likely to yawn when he sees another person yawning, or when someone else on the phone yawns. Contagious yawning has also been identified in chimpanzees.
According to the ancient Jewish rite, on the day of remission of sins, the high priest placed his hands on the head of the goat and thereby laid the sins of the entire people on it. The goat was then taken into the Judean desert and released. This is where the expression “scapegoat” comes from.
Initially, on Gogol’s grave in the monastery cemetery there was a stone nicknamed Golgotha because of its resemblance to Mount Jerusalem. When they decided to destroy the cemetery, during reburial in another place they decided to install a bust of Gogol on the grave. And that same stone was subsequently placed on Bulgakov’s grave by his wife. In this regard, Bulgakov’s phrase, which he repeatedly addressed to Gogol during his lifetime, is noteworthy: “Teacher, cover me with your overcoat.”
Spiral staircases in the towers of medieval castles were built in such a way that they were climbed clockwise. This was done so that in the event of a siege of the castle, the defenders of the tower would have an advantage during hand-to-hand combat, since the most powerful blow with the right hand can only be delivered from right to left, which was inaccessible to the attackers. There is only one castle with a reverse twist - the fortress of the Counts Wallenstein, since most of the men of this kind were left-handed.
If powerful lightning strikes the surface of the earth, it can leave its mark - a hollow glass tube called fulgurite. Such a tube consists of silica (or sand) melted by an electric current from lightning. Fulgurites can go several meters deep into the earth, although due to their fragility it is very difficult to dig them out completely.

In the 17th and 18th centuries in England there was a position of royal uncorker of ocean bottles with letters. Anyone else who opened the bottles on their own faced the death penalty.
A tiger not only has striped fur, but also striped skin underneath.
During the rapid development of dentistry in the 17th to 19th centuries, one of the most popular sources for artificial teeth were the teeth of those killed on the battlefield. The brand “Waterloo Teeth” went down in history for the special quality of the material, because many young soldiers with healthy teeth died in that battle.
The expressiveness of Elizabeth Taylor's gaze was explained not only by her natural charm, but also by a rare genetic mutation - the actress had a double row of eyelashes.
In one of the first editions of Ozhegov’s explanatory dictionary, they decided not to include the names of city residents, so as not to once again increase its size. An exception was made only for the word “Leningrader,” but not as a sign of special respect for the residents of Leningrad. It was simply necessary to separate the words “lazy” and “Leninist”, which stood side by side, so as not to discredit the image of young Leninists.
The artist Vladislav Koval sent letters to his family while studying in Moscow. At the same time, he did not stick stamps on the envelopes, but drew them, and all the letters arrived in this form. When the Ministry of Press announced a competition for sketches of new stamps, student Koval brought a pack of envelopes to the organizers and became the winner.
It is generally accepted that Napoleon was very short - 157 cm. This figure is obtained if we convert the value of 5 feet 2 inches to the metric system. However, at that time the feet were not only English; in almost every country the feet were different. Converted from French feet, Napoleon's height is 169 cm and is average for his era.
The Bengal ficus tree is distinguished by a special life form called banyan. On large horizontal branches of an adult tree, aerial roots are formed that grow downward. Growing to the ground, they take root in it and become new trunks. In this way, a banyan tree can grow over an area of several hectares.

When giving birth, a giraffe falls to the ground from almost two meters in height.
Tyutelka is a diminutive of the dialect tyutya (“blow, hit”), the name for an accurate hit with an ax in the same place during carpentry work. Today, to denote high accuracy, the expression “tail to neck” is used.
There is a widespread legend that the idea of the periodic table of chemical elements came to Mendeleev in a dream. One day he was asked if this was true, to which the scientist replied: “I’ve been thinking about it for maybe twenty years, but you think: I sat there and suddenly... it’s ready.”
Humans and animals need ears not only to hear. The inner ear also contains an organ that is responsible for the balance of the body.
On Stevens Island in New Zealand, back in the 19th century, there lived a population of flightless birds - New Zealand wrens. In 1894, the lighthouse keeper's cat on this island completely exterminated all representatives of this species. When the caretaker provided the bird carcasses to scientists, they compiled the first scientific description of the species, and immediately declared it extinct.
Giordano Bruno was burned by the Catholic Church not for scientific (namely support of the Copernican heliocentric theory), but for anti-Christian and anti-church views (for example, the statement that Christ performed imaginary miracles and was a magician).
During World War II, Oscar statuettes were made from plaster.
John Rockefeller Jr. was the only son of the famous billionaire, surrounded by four sisters. The children were brought up in austerity and economy, and John wore his sisters’ dresses until he was eight years old. Later, he did not hide this fact, but, on the contrary, was proud of it, considering this approach an important component of the family’s prosperity.
After the completion of the Winter Palace, the entire area was littered with construction debris. Emperor Peter III decided to get rid of it in an original way - he ordered it to be announced to the people that anyone could take anything they wanted from the square, for free. After a few hours, all the debris was cleared.

The expression “after the rain on Thursday” arose from distrust of Perun, the Slavic god of thunder and lightning, whose day was Thursday. Prayers to him often did not achieve their goal, so they began to talk about the impossible, that this would happen after the rain on Thursday.
For a long time, the value of coins was equivalent to the amount of metal they contained. In this regard, there was a problem - scammers cut small pieces of metal from the edges to make new coins from them. A solution to the problem was proposed by Isaac Newton, who was also an employee of the British Royal Mint. His idea was very simple - to cut small lines into the edges of the coin, because of which the hewed edges would be immediately noticeable. This part of the coins is designed in this way to this day and is called the edge.
Whales, dolphins and other cetaceans are also called secondary aquatic: their ancestors, in the process of evolution, first left the water and then returned there again.
In public libraries in medieval Europe, books were chained to the shelves. Such chains were long enough to remove a book from the shelf and read, but did not allow the book to be taken out of the library. This practice was widespread until the 18th century, due to the great value of each copy of the book.
Female great red kangaroos can mate at any time of the year and are usually constantly pregnant. However, they have the ability to delay the birth of a baby while another newborn is still growing in the pouch and cannot leave it. They usually resort to such freezing of embryo development under unfavorable external conditions, such as drought. Also, females of this species of kangaroo can simultaneously produce milk of different fat contents for cubs of different ages.
The myth of a hedgehog storing apples and mushrooms was invented by Pliny the Elder. According to him, the hedgehog can “deliberately” grab grapes, and in some cases, apples. In reality, a hedgehog is physically incapable of riding on its back while piercing fruits.

Did you like our facts? Which ones surprised you the most? Which ones made you laugh? What interesting facts do you know? Share.;)

Interesting stories, facts and traditions are always exciting. On the one hand, the volume of information and its accessibility is growing incredibly today. But on the other hand, choose the right one in this stream interesting fact, it’s very difficult not to drown in a sea of something interesting. In this article we have collected such interesting details about our world, its inhabitants and events.

1. Mysterious Hagfish

An interesting representative lives in the waters of the World Ocean animal world– hagfish. This order of vertebrates is represented by 15 species, the largest number of which are distributed along the western coast of North America.
The hagfish is an ancient animal, it is already more than 300 million years old, and the structure of these creatures has not changed in almost all this time; it is a kind of intermediate link between worms and fish. Hagfishes have no backbone, only a skull, which makes up the entire skeleton. Hagfish are vicious predators. They gnaw out the insides of fish with their powerful tongue with sharp teeth. By the way, there is interesting fact about the fact that hagfish actively use fishing nets - they attack immobilized fish and often leave fishermen without a catch. Therefore, in Northern Europe, fishermen often have to change their fishing grounds to escape the arrogant primitive predators.
The creatures' bodies are covered with a thick layer of mucus and can tie themselves into knots, which is an excellent defense mechanism. The largest animals reach 127 cm, although usually the size of hagfishes does not exceed 45-70 cm. The internal structure of the hagfish is also amazing - it has 4 hearts, one nostril and two brains. There are 2 eyes and light-sensitive elements near the cloaca - the hagfish “feels” light, but does not distinguish the image. Hagfish reproduce by laying eggs. In this case, their fertilization is external, and in some species there may be only one male per hundred females.

2. Swiss hemp

Invented in Switzerland most An interesting way to combat the illegal distribution of marijuana. Residents of the country were allowed to grow 4 hemp bushes for personal use. Of course you can smile Such naivety, but there is a certain logic in the decision. after all, if someone needs hemp, no matter how cruel the prohibitions are, he will still find it. Then it’s better for a person to just grow such a bush that is so dear to his heart.
But you also need to take into account interesting fact that everyone is entitled to hemp, which means that a family of 4-5 people will already have a whole, and completely legal, clearing of 16-20 bushes.

3. The birth of M&M's

Forrest Mars Sr. got the idea for his famous candies during the Spanish Civil War. He saw how soldiers ate chocolate dragees, and due to the hardened chocolate shell, the candies did not melt and did not smear their fingers.
Actually M&M's began to be produced in 1941. The candies immediately became very popular, so much so that they were even included in the food rations of American soldiers on the fronts of World War II.

4. Long-legged spider crab

One of the most The largest arthropod on Earth is the Japanese spider crab. Its cephalothorax is up to 37 cm long, but if you measure the crab along with its legs, you will get all 4 meters! This representative animal world feeds on animal remains and shellfish and can live up to 100 years. I usually use it for scientific, food and decorative purposes; it is often placed in large aquariums.

5. Rain Trader

At the beginning of the twentieth century Charles Hatfield called a rainmaker. He sold sewing machines, and in his free time he studied materials on chemistry, physics, and meteorology. His goal was to learn how to make rain using chemicals.
By 1902, Hatfield had a potent secret mixture of 23 ingredients, which had to be evaporated over fire from large zinc pans. The first few experiments are unsuccessful, but after bringing his younger brother Paul into the business, Hetfield begins to make money by betting on causing precipitation to a certain point.
Hatfield's fame quickly spreads throughout the country. The most interesting story takes place in Sag Diego. A contract was awarded to the city in 1915 to fill the Morena Reservoir for $10,000. As a result, multi-day downpours, terrible flooding, casualties and destruction begin, and the authorities incur losses of $3.5 million. After such a large-scale event, legal proceedings followed, opinions were divided about the connection between Hetfield’s activities and the rainfall. But the process served as good advertising and the popularity of the “rainmaker” only grew. So successful events in the entire history of Hetfield's activities there are about 500.
During his lifetime, by the way, Charles did not reveal his secret, telling it only to Paul, with whom she died.

6. The terrible companion of Santa Claus

In Germany, Austria and Hungary, there is a strange belief in their Alpine regions. According to local residents, there is a creepy creature in Santa Claus's retinue - Krampus. His specialty is punishing especially spoiled children, and his name comes from “claw” (claw).
The first mentions of Krampus date back to the 19th century, but now its popularity is declining. But some areas of Austria and Bavaria celebrate “Krampustag” (Krampus Day) on December 5th. At the same time, people wear scary costumes and scare passersby. According to legends Krampus kidnaps children who “distinguished themselves” in the past year, takes them in a sack to his castle, and then throws them into the sea.

7. The Japanese have figured out how to “revive” a toy

Japanese designers have come up with a special PINOKY device with microcontrollers and photosensors, which looks like a bracelet and is worn on the limb of a soft toy. Next, you can transmit commands to the device from the remote control and the limb will move. In addition, PINOKY will be able to remember all the movements that a person made with a limb and reproduce them when given a signal.

8. Birmingham Rollers do somersaults in the air

In Birmingham, England, the Birmingham Rollers pigeon breed was bred, which became especially popular among fanciers due to the unusual abilities of the birds. These pigeons can somersault in the air. Scientists cannot explain this interesting fact - birds have no special reasons for tumbling, and pigeon experts say that birds simply like it.

9. Happy coincidences

Barbara Soper gave birth to her first daughter on 08/08/08, and exactly on time. Literally a year later, the housewife gave birth to a son, then the doctors had to intervene, the boy was born prematurely (September 20), but also at an amazing moment - 09.09.09. and a year later, 36-year-old Barbara gave birth to another girl. This time the doctor also had to intervene. Theoretically, the girl was supposed to be born on November 4, but due to the risk of complications, the birth was accelerated and the baby was born on October 10, 2010.
The sopers say that they had absolutely no plans for such a unique event, everything happened by chance, although the chance of coincidence is only 1 in 50 million!

Incredible facts

Do you know what average life expectancy been to Ancient Egypt, in which city, and is there a month without full moon?

We invite you to learn about this and much more in our collection. interesting facts from all over the world.

1) Butterflies in the stomach when seeing or thinking about your lover are actually the result of a stress response caused by adrenaline. A similar state of excitement can also be experienced in any other stressful situations, for example, before exams, an important meeting, going on stage, and so on.

2) Bags that you can't buy at a discount. Every year the company Louis Vuitton burns all his unsold bags. Why does the company's management think it is better to burn them than to discount them? It believes that this way the value of their bags will never decrease.

3) In the UK you can find in police cars teddy bear, to calm children after accidents. Also, in cars that go to the scene of accidents, in addition to a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher, blankets, towels, a shovel, a broom, road spikes and some special equipment.

4) Moonwalk appeared at least 50 years before birth Michael Jackson, however, it was thanks to him that it became so popular. Before the singer, this dance technique was performed by clowns, tap dancers, film actors, and so on.

Before Jackson, a no less famous performer dabbled in the moonwalk David Bowie back in the 1960s, although his performance style was somewhat different.

5) Word Canada ( Kanata) is of Indian origin and means "Big Village". The names of some other countries in local dialects may also surprise you. For example, Kyrgyzstan - "land of four tribes", Luxembourg – "little castle", Madagascar – "end of the world", Sri Lanka – "beautiful land", Thailand – "land of the free", Zimbabwe – "stone dwellings", Cyprus – "copper", Guinea – "women".

6) To avoid crying while peeling onions, need to chew gum. There are a variety of ways to help avoid tears in the kitchen, including special glasses, wetting your knife with water, or freezing onions before chopping.

7) It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. When you sneeze, a special "sneeze center" in the brain sends motor impulses along the nerves that control the muscles of the abdomen, chest, diaphragm, neck, face, eyelids and various sphincters, as well as the mucus-producing glands and blood vessels of the nose. All this happens automatically.

8) Money is not actually made from pure paper, but with the addition of cotton and synthetic fibers. This helps improve their strength while maintaining ease of handling. Not all countries use these materials to produce "paper money". For example, in Romania, banknotes are made of special plastic and are not easily torn.

9) Most of the dust particles in our apartment consist of dead skin flakes of its inhabitants. We leave dust literally everywhere.

10) In Sweden until September 3, 1967 there was right-hand traffic. On H-Day at 5 a.m., all vehicles were required to change sides of the road to drive on the left. Following these changes, the world of motor transport has seen significant reduction in accidents during the first few months, since drivers most likely drove more carefully to get used to the innovation. The center of Stockholm that day looked like this:

11) In Los Angeles more cars than people. In this large California metropolis, people seem to have stopped walking, so many residents own multiple cars. Traffic jams in this city are a common occurrence.

1) February 1865– the only recorded month when there was no full moon. As you know, there is one full moon per month, since the Moon revolves around the Earth in 27.32 days, but in rare cases there can be two - at the beginning of the calendar month and at the very end. This full moon is called Blue Moon, and it happens approximately once every 2.7 years. There were two blue moons in 2012 - on August 2 and 31, and the next one is expected on July 2, 2015.

2) A day on Venus lasts longer than a year. This is due to the fact that our neighbor Venus rotates around its axis more slowly than it manages to make a full revolution around the Sun.

3) In space astronauts can't cry, because due to the lack of gravity, tears cannot flow down the cheeks. However, in space it is impossible to do many other things that we are accustomed to while on Earth.

4) Traces left on the Moon by American astronauts, will remain on its surface for millions of years until some meteorite falls on them. This is not surprising, because on the Moon there are no winds and no precipitation that would blow them away or wash them away.

Interesting statistics: interesting facts in numbers

1) On average people laugh about 15 times a day. Laughing naturally can help you relax, calm your nerves, and improve your overall well-being. This is why laughter is very useful.

2) Cats and dogs consume food by 7 billion dollars a year. The modern food industry does not particularly favor our pets with good products. Although giving food is much more convenient than preparing food, consider whether it is worth stuffing your cats and dogs with unknown things. Most feeds have no nutritional value, and animal fats are replaced with vegetable fats.

3) Throughout your life you use just over 27 tons of food, this is the weight of only 6 elephants. If you doubt this, just count how many foods you eat per day, and then multiply the number of days in your average life expectancy. Maybe for some people these numbers will be much higher.

4) If you lick the stamp, you waste one tenth of a calorie. This is how much energy our body spends to do this work.

5) Fingernails grow approximately 4 times faster than on your feet.

6) To cook a portion of pasta, it takes on average about 2 liters of water, and to wash the pan after them - 4 liters.

7) Lightning strikes our planet about 6 thousand times every minute.

8) Every year more people die in the world caused by donkeys than in plane crashes. Airplanes are actually one of the safest modes of transport, as they get into accidents much less often than the same cars or other types of ground transport.

9) Only 1 person out of 2 billion will live to see 116 years or more. Despite the fact that today there are not many centenarians among us, by the standards of ancient people, we are all centenarians. Modern medicine works wonders, prolonging the lives of people suffering from even the most serious and incurable diseases.

10) 40 percent of owners dogs and cats carry photographs of their pets in their wallets. Even more sleep in the same bed with them and eat from the same plate, despite warnings from experts that pets carry dangerous diseases.

11) Reusing one glass bottle saves enough energy to watch TV within 3 hours.

12) Studies have shown that if a cat falls from the 7th floor, it will 30 percent less likely survive than a cat falling from the 12th floor. Probably, while flying the first 8 floors, she understands what is happening to her, relaxes and can adjust her position.

13) The average person sees more than 1460 dreams annually. We simply do not remember most of our dreams, so we believe that we are not dreaming.

14) The number of chickens currently living on the planet is approximately equals number of living people.

15) The most popular male name in the world - Muhammad(in honor of the Prophet Muhammad), and the most popular female name is Anna.

16) The average person blinks 20 million times a year.

17) Human scent 20 times weaker than a dog's sense of smell.

18) You are more likely to be stung by a bee on a windy day than in any other weather.

19) Under equal conditions, hot water turn to ice faster than cold. This is due to evaporation. Hot water loses mass, so it will take less time to freeze.

20) Statistically you more likely You're more likely to die from a champagne cork than from a spider bite.

1) Cats do not meow to communicate with each other, but only to communicate with a person. Cat kidneys work so efficiently that they can even process sea water, filtering salt. There are 32 muscles in a cat's ear.

2) Giraffe can live without water longer than a camel. It also knows how to clean its ears using its long tongue, the average length of which is 50 centimeters. Giraffes also lack vocal cords.

3) Birds gravity is needed to swallow, so if you launch them into space, they will starve to death in zero gravity.

4) The goldfish's memory lasts no more than 3 seconds. Jellyfish are 95 percent water. The shark is the only fish that can blink both eyes at the same time, and also senses blood dissolved in water in proportions - 1 part blood per 100 million parts water.

5) The tallest tree on the planet - Sequoia Hyperion, which grows in the national park "Redwood", California. Its exact location is kept secret and only a few scientists know it. The tree reaches a height of 115.61 meters.

6) Representatives of the species nine-banded armadillos are of particular interest to science, since they produce mainly 4 cubs of the same sex, who are identical twins. These mammals are one of the few, other than rats and related primates, that may suffer from leprosy.

7) Newborn blackbirds eat for the first time up to 4.5 meters of worms per day.

8) When bats fly out of their cave to hunt, they always turn left.

9) Camel milk never curdles. To protect their eyes from sandstorms, camels have three whole centuries, and they also learned to cover their nostrils to prevent sand from getting into them.

10) Dolphins sleep with one eye open. They can also turn off one part of the brain during sleep, when the other part is awake and can observe what is happening around.

11) Emu and kangaroo they don’t know how to move, backing away, for this reason they appeared on the coat of arms of Australia, and not at all because they are found only on this continent.

12) In bees hair grows in front of the eyes, and mosquitoes have teeth.

13) Over the past 4 thousand years, not a single new animal was not domesticated. The first animal that began to live next to humans was the dog, and the last to be domesticated were guinea pigs and mice.

14) You can buy in Tokyo wigs for...dogs. However, dog accessories of “human origin” can already be obtained anywhere or ordered on the Internet.

15) To lobster reached a weight of 0.5 kilograms, it takes 7 years. It is not possible to breed them in captivity, so this species of crustacean is currently in danger of extinction.

16) Most cows give more milk if during milking they play nice music.

17) About a thousand birds dies every year from hitting the glass of houses. This happens for a number of reasons, but mainly due to the fact that she “recognizes” the opponent in the glass and tries to attack him.

18) Reindeer love bananas. By the way, mosquitoes also love the smell of bananas. Studies have shown that mosquitoes target people who have recently eaten these fruits.

19) Some tapeworms start eating themselves, if there is no food nearby.

Some eyelash worms capable under unfavorable environmental conditions fall to pieces. These pieces are then reunited if conditions improve. Biologists call this phenomenon "self-medication".

If such a worm is deliberately divided into parts, each part, under good conditions, will grow missing organs and they turn into separate healthy individuals!

20) The elephant is the only animal that can't jump. However, they have a lot of talent for example, some of them can draw, and others can even talk!

21) Green grasshoppers can hear using holes in their hind legs.

22) The penguin is the only bird in the world that can swim, but can't fly. Other flightless birds, including ostriches, ... cannot swim.

23) The location of a donkey’s eyes does not allow the animal see your 4 legs at the same time.

24) The starfish is the only animal that can turn your stomach inside out.

25) The Cafe2Go cafe chain in Dubai began making lattes and cappuccinos using camel milk- an important food product for Bedouins, desert inhabitants. Products containing camel milk began to be called Camellos (Italian camel).

Desert inhabitants have been eating camel milk since ancient times, but for some time they stopped favoring this product. Today it looks like he's coming back.

1) A nation without old people: Around 3,000 years ago, most Egyptians did not live past 30 years of age. The Egyptians also had strange habits, for example, instead of pillows, they placed stones under their heads. The Egyptians invented contraception, which was made from crocodile skin back in 2000 BC.

2) According to the British law that came into force in 1845, attempted suicide was considered a crime that punishable by death. If a suicide, for example, was unable to kill himself in a suicide attempt, the official authorities helped him in this by hanging.

3) In Germany, near nursing homes there are fake bus stops. Signs about the movement of regular transport are installed in these places to make it easier to find elderly people who are suddenly about to leave the establishment and go home.

We've already been waiting for 2 hours... maybe we should have taken a taxi?

4) According to channel National Geographic, red-haired people will disappear by 2060. There are many famous people in history with red hair, including William Shakespeare, Christopher Columbus and Queen Elizabeth.

5) In Mexico there is dying ancient language, which only 2 people know, but they don't talk to each other.

On the tongue Ayapaneco the ancient inhabitants of modern Mexico spoke for many centuries. It survived the Spanish invasion, numerous wars, revolutions, famines and floods. But today, like many other Aboriginal languages, it has practically disappeared.

Manuel Segovia believes that he has no one else to speak his native language with

There are only 2 people left who can speak it. Manuel Segovia(77 years old) and Isidro Velazquiz(69 years old) live just 500 meters from each other in the village of Ayapa in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco. These two people avoid each other and do not want to communicate.

6) Oldest man in the world turned out to be a fake.

In 2010, when Tokyo officials decided to congratulate the oldest person on the planet, who turned 111 years old, they found instead of an old man skeleton of a 30-year-old man. Cunning family received a pension for him for many years, although in fact he had been dead for a long time.

7) 12 newborns per day ends up with the wrong parents. A newborn is born without kneecaps. These organs develop later, 2-6 years after birth.

8) Heartbeat in women faster than men. On average, the human heart makes 100 thousand beats per day.

9) Human teeth as hard as rocks, and the femur is harder than concrete. A quarter of all the bones in our body are concentrated in the feet. Our

14) Goethe couldn't stand the barking of dogs. He could only write if there was a rotten apple in his desk.

15) Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors. He was also credited with inventing the searchlight, the tank and even the bicycle.

16) Michael Jordan earns in Nike more money per year than all the company's factory workers in Malaysia combined.

17) Sigmund Freud had an unhealthy fear of ferns.

18) Inventor of the microwave oven Percy Spencer invented this miracle of technology when he noticed that while working with a powerful electric lamp, the chocolate in his pocket melted very quickly. One of the first microwaves looked like this (1940s):

19) The Ramses brand of condoms was named after the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II, who, however, apparently did not use condoms or any other means of contraception, so he had neither more nor less, but 160 children.

20) Inventor of the light bulb Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark.