Drive to Space
We have a view of the world from our own limited perspectives, but often that view isn't entirely accurate. Check out these mind-blowing facts that will change the way you view yourself, the world and everything around you!
We usually think of outer space as something that is far, far away. But in reality, it is only about 62 miles above the surface of the Earth and if you could drive a car straight up you could easily reach it in an hour or less. Just wait until we get flying cars! You probably shouldn't fly them straight up though.
United States Empire
We might think of the United States as a great country that has been around forever but in the grand scheme of things, our just barely over 200 year old country is basically the equivalent of a small child. If you look at a list of the longest lasting empires in history, we won't even crack the top 50.
Youngest Person
Let's be honest, the chances of you living to be the oldest person in the world are pretty slim. But if you do, there will literally be no one left on Earth who was alive when you were born. But every single person can say that for at least a fraction of a second, they were the youngest person alive on Earth.
World Map
Due to the way that world maps are drawn, the sizes of the continents are skewed to make the northern continents look smaller and the southern ones look smaller. So you might not realize exactly how big South America and especially Africa are. Just look at how many northern countries you can easily fit inside of Africa! Shown in the picture are the continental US, Europe, China, Japan and India, all to scale and all fitting inside Africa with a bit of room to spare.
One in a Million
We often use the phrase "one in a million" to describe how unique someone is. But the world's population is now so large that the phrase doesn't quite have the same meaning. Even if you do believe that you are indeed special enough to be one in a million, with a world population now sitting at just over 7 and a quarter billion, that means that there are 7,256 other people out there exactly like you!
Apollo 11
If you don't already think that the Apollo 11 moon landing that was accomplished way back in 1969 was amazing, consider this amazing fact. The computer used to guide the astronauts to the moon was less powerful than today's modern calculators and way less powerful than our smartphones!
Colors in a Rainbow
We usually think of a rainbow as having 7 colors but in reality there are about a million colors in a rainbow, but we will never be able to enjoy the full beauty of a rainbow because humans can't see all of those colors with our limited vision. In fact, even chickens can see more colors than we can!
Can You Smell That?
While people can see up to 10 million different colors and hear around 340,000 different tones, our sense of smell is actually where we shine the most. While it varies some from person to person, each of us can detect and distinguish between about 1.7 trillion different smells and some can detect far more than that!
Ants Vs. Humans
If you think humans are the dominant species on Earth, think again! We are lucky that insects are so much stupider than us because they greatly outnumber us not only in numbers but in mass. In fact, if you weigh just the ants and the humans on Earth, the ants would outweigh us!
The Less You Know
Does it seem like only the stupid people are the ones going on and on about how much they think they know? Well, it's a proven fact that the less you know, the more you think you know. It's called the Dunning-Kruger effect. And as you receive more education or training you only realize how much you don't know and begin to then estimate your knowledge as lower. So the whole world is full of people who are completely misjudging their own competency.
Cigarettes Cause Cancer
Okay, so you already knew that cigarettes cause cancer, but what you probably didn't know is that cigarettes cause cancer much quicker than previously thought. A recent study showed that cancer causing chemicals build up in the body and begin affecting our cells in not years but in minutes! That's right, it can take only 15 to 30 minutes after your very first cigarette before it begins to adversely affect your body.
You Are Billions of Years Old
While it takes about 7 to 10 years for all of the cells in our body to regenerate and be replaced with new cells, they are all still made of really, really old atoms. In fact, every single atom in your body was formed in a star billions of years ago, some of them, including hydrogen as long as 13 billion years ago.
You are Mostly Empty Space
While you might think that you and everything around you is solid, it's really vastly more empty space than anything. That's because everything is made up of atoms and atoms are mostly empty space. In fact, if you gathered up all of the humans in the world, and took all of the empty space in the atoms out, we could all fit inside of the space of a sugar cube.
Are We All Holograms?
Okay, so this one isn't exactly fact, but it is a fact that actual physicists are working on theories that our entire universe is just a hologram inside another universe. Scientific papers have been written about it and everything. So if they turn out to be right, we could all just be on one giant holodeck like on Star Trek!
Castle or NYC Apartment?
The cost to rent or buy an apartment in New York City has gotten so high that is now more cost effective to buy a castle instead. It's true! There are several real castles around the world that are sometimes millions of dollars cheaper than it costs to buy an apartment in NYC.