Hey Middle School!
Recently we sent out a survey asking students what they want to see on the Spark, and the most popular response was weird facts. Here's a collection of what we think are some of the best strange facts out there.
Recently we sent out a survey asking students what they want to see on the Spark, and the most popular response was weird facts. Here's a collection of what we think are some of the best strange facts out there.
Top Twenty Weird Facts About Cats
20. Cats bite about 40,000 people every year in the US alone.
19. Cats have even better hearing than dogs do, and can hear up to two octaves higher than a human.
18. A cat can leap up to five times its height.
17. The award for oldest cat breed goes to the Egyptian Mau. In fact, Mau is the Egyptian word for cat!
16. Cats typically have around twelve whiskers on each side of their face.
15. Cats normally sleep around 16 hours a day.
14. The cat flap was invented by Isaac Newton for one of his own cats.
13. The cheetah is the only cat that doesn’t sheath its paws.
12. Kittens sleep a lot because they have a growth hormone that is only released when they’re asleep.
11. In 1871 the first ever cat show took place in London, England.
10. Since cats have no collarbone, they can fit into any space as big as their head!
9. Cats shouldn’t eat onions, garlic, grapes, or chocolate.
8. The patterns on a cat’s nose are as unique as the fingerprints on your fingers.
7. There are 230 bones in a cat’s body. That’s 24 more than humans have!
6. It is said that a cat can feel an earthquake up to 15 minutes before a human.
5. A cat named Andy survived a fall from an apartment building’s 16th floor.
4. In 1963 a French cat named Felicette became the first cat in space, and she survived!
3. While dogs make around ten sounds, cats can make 100 different noises.
2. Only the claws on a cat’s front paws can retract; the back ones can’t.
1. Cats are the most popular pets in the world!
You can find these facts and more here.
12 of our Favorite Random Facts
Fact #1 - Thought that light travels at 300,000 km/hour? Think again! Scientists have slowed light to a speed of just 60 kilometers per hour by passing a laser beam through extremely cold sodium atoms. You can read about it on the ABC News Website here.
Fact #2 - The longest musical performance in history is currently taking place in the church of St. Burchardi in Halberstadt, Germany. The performance of John Cage’s “Organ/ASLSP (As Slow As Possible)” started on Sept. 5, 2001, and is set to finish in 2640. The last time the note changed was October 2013; the next change isn’t due until 2020.
Fact #3 - The Eiffel Tower can bend up to 18 cm on a hot summer's day due to the metal expanding on the side facing the sun.
Fact #4 - In 2008, scientists discovered a species of bacteria that lives in hairspray.
Fact #5 - The longest time between a pair of twins being born is 87 days.
Fact #6 - Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire.
Fact #7 - For every human on Earth, there are 1.6 million ants. However, the weight of all those ants is roughly equal to the weight of all humans.
Fact #8 - Scotland's national animal is the unicorn.
Fact #9 - There are more plastic flamingos in the world than real ones.
Fact #10 - Strawberries are not berries, but bananas are.
Fact #11 - There is only one country between North Korea and Norway.
Fact #12 - Silver cars are the ones least involved in accidents, most likely because they're the most visible.
Fact #2 - The longest musical performance in history is currently taking place in the church of St. Burchardi in Halberstadt, Germany. The performance of John Cage’s “Organ/ASLSP (As Slow As Possible)” started on Sept. 5, 2001, and is set to finish in 2640. The last time the note changed was October 2013; the next change isn’t due until 2020.
Fact #3 - The Eiffel Tower can bend up to 18 cm on a hot summer's day due to the metal expanding on the side facing the sun.
Fact #4 - In 2008, scientists discovered a species of bacteria that lives in hairspray.
Fact #5 - The longest time between a pair of twins being born is 87 days.
Fact #6 - Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire.
Fact #7 - For every human on Earth, there are 1.6 million ants. However, the weight of all those ants is roughly equal to the weight of all humans.
Fact #8 - Scotland's national animal is the unicorn.
Fact #9 - There are more plastic flamingos in the world than real ones.
Fact #10 - Strawberries are not berries, but bananas are.
Fact #11 - There is only one country between North Korea and Norway.
Fact #12 - Silver cars are the ones least involved in accidents, most likely because they're the most visible.
Top Twenty Super Weird Facts About Food
Hey Middle School!
Have you ever bitten into a crispy golden french fry and wondered, just for a second, if the ketchup you dipped it in has ever been used for anything besides covering all manners of fast food? ...You haven't? Well you better start, because here are The Spark's TOP TWENTY Favorite Weird Facts About Food!
20. In the 1830's, ketchup was sold and used as medicine.
19. In the American state of Kentucky, there's a law that makes it illegal for anyone to carry an ice cream cone in their back pocket (who does that, anyway?).
18. Do you have a crippling and irrational fear of peanut butter getting stuck to the roof of your mouth? If you do, you might have Arachibutyrophobia (kind of a mouthful, eh? No? Okay).
17. The word 'onion' comes from a Latin word meaning 'large pearl.'
16. Almonds are part of the peach family.
15. In the US, lettuce ranks #2 among popular fresh vegetables (who knew, right?).
14. Have you ever sent an actual, physical letter on actual paper? Well, even if you haven't, in ye olde letter-writing days people would have to lick stamps to get them to stick well to envelopes. They probably didn't know that each time they licked one, they were consuming 1/10 of a calorie!
13. If you put a pearl in vinegar, it'll melt (don't use your mom's pearl necklace for this experiment, though).
12. You know those tall hats that chefs wear? Yeah? Bet you didn't know that a chef's tall hat is called a 'toque.'
11. Got the hiccups? Dry swallow a teaspoon of sugar!
10. In 2001, Mat Hand, who is from the UK, set the record for the most grapes eaten in 3 minutes. Think you can beat 133 grapes?
9. If you eat a lot of mass-produced ice cream, you could be eating bits of seaweed with each bite.
8. Pasta comes in many shapes. More than 600, in fact!
7. Don't be too hard on yourself for loving sugar: it's actually the only taste that humans are born to crave!
6. Think that steak you had last night was big? Thank again! The largest menu item in existence is roast camel.
5. M&Ms are a popular chocolate-filled candy, but have you ever wondered what each M stands for? Wonder no longer, for we have the answer! M&M stands for Mars & Murrie, the surnames of the co-creators of the candy.
4. If you want your pineapple to ripen faster, stand it up on the leafy end.
3. Lachanophobia is the fear of vegetables.
2. If you want to buy a square watermelon, you'll have to be willing to pay around $85 (1,933,325 VND).
1. You shouldn't be thinking of making dynamite, but if you are, here's a tip: use peanuts! (Don't try this at home, kids.)
Hope you enjoyed these wacky food facts!
Have you ever bitten into a crispy golden french fry and wondered, just for a second, if the ketchup you dipped it in has ever been used for anything besides covering all manners of fast food? ...You haven't? Well you better start, because here are The Spark's TOP TWENTY Favorite Weird Facts About Food!
20. In the 1830's, ketchup was sold and used as medicine.
19. In the American state of Kentucky, there's a law that makes it illegal for anyone to carry an ice cream cone in their back pocket (who does that, anyway?).
18. Do you have a crippling and irrational fear of peanut butter getting stuck to the roof of your mouth? If you do, you might have Arachibutyrophobia (kind of a mouthful, eh? No? Okay).
17. The word 'onion' comes from a Latin word meaning 'large pearl.'
16. Almonds are part of the peach family.
15. In the US, lettuce ranks #2 among popular fresh vegetables (who knew, right?).
14. Have you ever sent an actual, physical letter on actual paper? Well, even if you haven't, in ye olde letter-writing days people would have to lick stamps to get them to stick well to envelopes. They probably didn't know that each time they licked one, they were consuming 1/10 of a calorie!
13. If you put a pearl in vinegar, it'll melt (don't use your mom's pearl necklace for this experiment, though).
12. You know those tall hats that chefs wear? Yeah? Bet you didn't know that a chef's tall hat is called a 'toque.'
11. Got the hiccups? Dry swallow a teaspoon of sugar!
10. In 2001, Mat Hand, who is from the UK, set the record for the most grapes eaten in 3 minutes. Think you can beat 133 grapes?
9. If you eat a lot of mass-produced ice cream, you could be eating bits of seaweed with each bite.
8. Pasta comes in many shapes. More than 600, in fact!
7. Don't be too hard on yourself for loving sugar: it's actually the only taste that humans are born to crave!
6. Think that steak you had last night was big? Thank again! The largest menu item in existence is roast camel.
5. M&Ms are a popular chocolate-filled candy, but have you ever wondered what each M stands for? Wonder no longer, for we have the answer! M&M stands for Mars & Murrie, the surnames of the co-creators of the candy.
4. If you want your pineapple to ripen faster, stand it up on the leafy end.
3. Lachanophobia is the fear of vegetables.
2. If you want to buy a square watermelon, you'll have to be willing to pay around $85 (1,933,325 VND).
1. You shouldn't be thinking of making dynamite, but if you are, here's a tip: use peanuts! (Don't try this at home, kids.)
Hope you enjoyed these wacky food facts!