A selection of interesting facts from different fields that will prove to be very interesting and informative for many of us.
In 1988, Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to star in the sequel to Commando. The script was reworked for the new protagonist and called "Die Hard". Thus began the rise of Bruce Willis' career.
The world's population has almost stopped growing. The female fertility rate is currently 2.36. And for simple reproduction of the population, a female fertility rate of 2.33 is required.
As a young man, George Clooney lived with a lazy roommate who owned a cat. He once had to wash a litter box for four days in a row. On the fifth day, Clooney got tired of it and he shit in the tray himself. The neighbor got scared that the cat was constipated and dragged the animal to the vet.
In 1600, after a volcanic eruption in Peru, about two million people died ... in Russia. The fact is that the accumulation of ash in the Earth's atmosphere caused the "Little Ice Age", which caused the terrible crop failure, and then the "Great Famine" that fell during the reign of Boris Godunov.
France is the only European country capable of providing itself with basic foodstuffs.
If you see a cloud from an atomic explosion, extend your hand towards it and bend your thumb so that it covers the mushroom. If the cloud is larger than a finger, then you are in the radiation zone and you need to urgently evacuate.
In the American city of Anthem (Arizona) there is a monument that functions only once a year, on Veterans Day - November 11. On this day, the sun's rays fall on the monument at such an angle that they pass through all the rings in five concrete structures, symbolizing the five branches of the US military, and illuminate the mosaic in the form of the Great Seal.
One man tried to commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco), but survived. He later admitted that this "flight" completely turned his whole idea of life. “I suddenly realized that there is absolutely nothing in my life that could not be corrected. Except for one thing - this very jump, which I have just made up my mind. "
The first visitor to Disneyland was a college student named Dave McPherson. But that time he did not have time to ride any of the attractions, because he was in a hurry to classes. But later he had a chance to more than make up for lost time - he was given a life pass to all Disneylands on the planet.
Japan imports rice from the United States - but only to meet the requirements of the World Trade Organization. The Japanese hardly eat this rice. Most are sent to North Korea as humanitarian aid, the rest is fed to pigs or rotted in warehouses.
The ancestors of the first whales were medium-sized mammals living on land.
Before Hitler's arrival in Paris during World War II, the French cut all cables to the Eiffel Tower. If the Führer wanted to look at the city from above, he would have to climb the steps to the top, which he did not. Therefore, the Parisians proudly say that although Hitler captured France, the Eiffel Tower was too tough for him.
In 2006, a resident of the American city of Orlando, Claudia Mejia, went to give birth to a local hospital. When she woke up after giving birth, it turned out that she had neither arms nor legs. To all attempts to find out why all the limbs were amputated to the woman, the hospital replies that, they say, they cannot voice the reason, since, in this way, the rights of other patients will be violated. Allegedly, she contracted some kind of disease already in the hospital from other patients and the hospital has no right to disclose this information. As a result, Claudia was never able to figure out why she was left without arms and legs.
In Vilnius (Lithuania) there is a small district of Uzupis, which has declared itself an independent republic. This republic has its own flag, its own currency, a president, a cabinet of ministers and even an army of 11 people.
Once the Indian Maharaja Jai Singh visited the Rolls-Royce pavilion in London. One of the workers, not figuring out who was in front of him, allowed himself a sarcastic remark that, they say, "you obviously cannot afford our product." Singh bought ten cars, brought them to India and ordered them to be used for transporting garbage.
In 1998, during the Australian Open, the sisters Serena and Venus Williams recklessly declared that they would easily beat any man below the 200th in the ranking of tennis players. The German tennis player Karsten Braasch, the 203rd racket of the world, responded to the challenge. He came to the match, refueled with beer and without really straining, beat first Serena, and then Venus with a score of 6: 1 and 6: 2, respectively.
Due to the confusion with similar names, representatives of the Slovak and Slovenian embassies have to meet regularly (once a month) to exchange mail delivered by mistake.
The very first version of Cinderella was written in China.
No one knows the name of the inventor of the fire hydrant, because the patent for this invention was destroyed in a fire.
The inventor of Vaseline, Robert Chesbrough, ate a spoonful of his invention a day and assured him that he felt colossal benefits from this for his body. He lived to be 96 years old.
The daughters of President John F. Kennedy presented a puppy from the first dog in space. The gift was made in order to improve relations between Kennedy and Khrushchev. This puppy managed to bite the entire Kennedy family.
The color pink does not exist. The fact that we see him is a great scientific mystery. This color is a combination of red and violet - two opposite spectra of the rainbow, and such a mixture is impossible in nature. In fact, certain wavelengths are reflected and converted into pink in our brain.
Hitler, Stalin, Trotsky, Tito and Freud all lived in Vienna (Austria) at the same time in 1913.
While the person eats the pineapple, the pineapple eats the person in return. It is the only plant that contains bromelain, an enzyme that effectively breaks down protein. And since the human body is made of protein, pineapple tries to "digest" it. This explains the sores on the tongue in those who overdo it on eating these fruits.
During the 9/11 rescue operation, the dogs were so rarely able to locate survivors that they experienced great stress as they felt guilty and unable to cope. Therefore, rescuers had to regularly hide in the ruins themselves, in order to enable the dogs to find them and, thus, to maintain their "fighting spirit."
Billionaire and cocaine smuggler Sal Magluta has won the US National Speedboat Race three times and made frequent television appearances even though he was wanted. Nobody noticed anything for 6 years.
The chemical name for titin is 189819 characters long. It will take at least three hours to pronounce it in full.
It turns out that eggs are even better kept dirty because they have a protective layer that can be washed off with water. In many countries, eggs are washed before being sold to give them a more "marketable" appearance, thereby opening pores in the shell through which harmful bacteria can enter during storage.
16% of Lithuanians are immune to HIV.
Legend has it that Orson Welles' radio show "War of the Worlds", aired on CBS on October 30, 1938, was taken at face value, causing more than a million people in the northeastern United States to believe the Martian attack and panic. It was said that entire families barricaded themselves with weapons in the basements of their homes, or hurriedly packed up their belongings to leave the country. In fact, the effect was not that strong, it was just that CBS's competitors tried to compromise it as a news source.
In China, there is an organization called the Association of Lovers, which unites women who live off married wealthy men. On their website, these women not only share their impressions and experiences, but also help each other to collect dirt on their patrons in case they decide to “cut off funding”.
In 2004, humanity produced more transistors than grains of rice, and by 2010, 125,000 transistors could already be bought for the price of a grain of rice. Electronic device with 16 GB memory contains more transistors than neurons in the human head
The biotech company Pembient has learned to 3D print "rhino horns" that are genetically identical to natural ones. The company plans to dump this product on the Chinese market at a price 8 times cheaper than real horns, hoping in this way to defeat poaching.
In 2009, an expert on anti-kidnapping in Mexico was kidnapped in Mexico right after he finished giving a lecture entitled “How to Avoid Being Kidnapped in Mexico”.
Abstract algebraic principles are usually only taught in college. Meanwhile, mathematicians have proved that even a five-year-old kid - that is, almost any member of society - is quite capable of comprehending them.
75% of the world's food is produced from just 12 plant species and 5 animal species.
Nervous movements such as tapping your fingers on a table or kicking a rhythm can burn up to 350 calories a day. It is easy to see that such habits are inherent mainly in slender people.
One day, a 2.5-year-old girl named Michelle Funk fell into a river and was under water for 66 minutes. When rescuers lifted her to the surface, the baby had no pulse or breath. After more than 3 hours, her blood suddenly warmed up. When the temperature reached 25 degrees Celsius, the girl came back to life and lives to this day.
Incredible facts
No matter how much knowledge you have, there is always something interesting in the world that you could learn about today.
6. The biggest wave we rode was height with 10-storey building.
7. Hearing - the fastest of feelings person.
8. Since the rotation of the Earth's axis has slowed down, dayat the time when dinosaurs lived,lasted approximately 23 hours.
9. On Earth more plastic flamingos than real ones.
10. To cook scrambled eggs on the sidewalk, its temperature should reach 70 degrees Celsius.
11. 54 million people living now in a year they will die.
12. Charlie Chaplin once participated in the Charlie Chaplin lookalike competition and took 3rd place there.
13. Most entries offscreen laughter in comedy shows was recorded in the 1950s. So many of that audience are no longer alive.
14. Antarctica - the only continent where corn is not grown.
15. Lighters were invented before matches.
16. Napoleon was not short... His height is -170 cm, which was considered the average height for the French at that time.
17. The best time for daytime sleep between 13 and 14:30, since at this time the body temperature drops.
18. Children do not taste salty for up to 4 months.
19. Male pandas perform handstand, when urinating to mark a tree.
20. If The earth would be the size of a grain of sand, The sun would be the size of an orange.
21. The Dead Sea is not entirely dead. Microbes halophiles live in its salt water.
22. The first horses were the size of Siamese cats... These were the smallest horses that ever lived.
23. Only about 100 people in the world can speak Latin fluently.
- Polyp hydra has a high regenerative capacity. If you cut a hydra in two, they both regenerate to a full-grown hydra. Hydras have been proven to be theoretically immortal.
- American mathematician George Danzig, as a graduate student at the university, once arrived late for class and mistook the equations written on the blackboard for homework. It seemed to him more difficult than usual, but after a few days he was able to complete it. It turned out that he solved two "unsolvable" problems in statistics, over which many scientists were struggling.
- During the Second World War, trained dogs actively helped the sappers to clear mines. One of them, nicknamed Dzhulbars, discovered 7468 mines and more than 150 shells while clearing areas in European countries in the last year of the war. Shortly before the Victory Parade in Moscow on June 24, Dzhulbars was wounded and could not pass as part of the military dog school. Then Stalin ordered to carry the dog across Red Square in his greatcoat.
- 74-year-old Australian James Harrison donated blood nearly 1,000 times in his life. Antibodies in its rare blood group help newborns with severe anemia survive. In total, thanks to the donation of Harrison, according to rough estimates, more than 2 million babies were saved.
- The dog Laika was sent into space, knowing in advance that she would die. After that, the UN received a letter from a group of women from Mississippi. They demanded to condemn the inhuman attitude towards dogs in the USSR and put forward a proposal: if for the development of science it is necessary to send living creatures into space, in our city there are as many Indians as you like.
- On April 1, 1976, the English astronomer Patrick Moore pranked listeners on the BBC radio, 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 the listeners jump up at this moment, they must feel a strange feeling. Beginning at 9:47 am, the BBC received hundreds of calls with stories of the strange feeling, and one woman even stated that she and her friends had lifted themselves from chairs and were flying around the room.
- When eating celery, a person spends more calories than they receive.
- During the immense popularity of Charlie Chaplin, "Chapliniads" were held throughout America - contests for the best imitation of an actor. Chaplin himself participated in one of these contests in San Francisco incognito, but failed to win.
- Englishman Horace de Veer Cole became famous as a famous joker. One of his best jokes was the ticket distribution at the theater. Having distributed strictly defined places to bald men, he made sure that together these bald skulls from the balcony were read like a swear word.
- During the conquest of Weinsberg in 1140, King Conrad III of Germany allowed women to leave the ruined city and take whatever they wanted in their hands. The women carried their husbands on their shoulders.
- Only in Russian and in some languages of the former Soviet republics the @ sign is 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), marinated herring (in Czech and Slovak), moon ear (in Kazakh).
- If two pieces of bread are simultaneously placed on the ground at two opposite points on our planet, you will get a sandwich with a globe. The first such sandwich was made in 2006 by calculating the coordinates of a place in Spain and the corresponding antipode place in New Zealand. Subsequently, the experience was repeated in many other parts of the world. But it is very difficult for the inhabitants of Russia to make a sandwich with the Earth, since for the vast majority of the country's territory, opposite points are located in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
- The intestines of the Japanese contain unique microbes that make it possible to process the carbohydrates of the seaweed used to make sushi much better than that of people of other nationalities.
- The name of Russia is not in all languages derived from the root "ros-" or "rus-". For example, in Latvia it is called Krievia from the Krivichi tribe, neighboring with the ancient Latvians in the east. Another ancient tribe, the Wends, gave the name to Russia in the Estonian (Venemaa) and Finnish (Veniaia) languages. The Chinese call our country Elos and can shorten it to just E, and 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 spelled Hood and translates as "hood, hide with a hood" (which is a traditional element of Robin Hood's clothing).
- Almost all words of the Russian language beginning with the letter "a" are borrowed. There are very few nouns of Russian origin with "a" in modern speech - these are the words "alphabet", "az" and "maybe".
- The tea bag was invented by the American Thomas Sullivan in 1904 by accident. He decided to ship tea to customers in silk bags instead of traditional cans. However, customers thought 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 the chips to the kitchen, complaining that they were "too fat." Krum, deciding to play a trick on him, cut the potatoes literally paper-thin and fried. Thus, he invented the chips, which became the most popular dish in the restaurant.
- 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, but it sounded like to take French leave. It appeared during the Seven Years War in the 18th century in a mockery of the French soldiers who voluntarily left the location of the unit. Then the French copied this expression, but in relation to the British, and in this form it was fixed in the Russian language.
- During the occupation, French singer Edith Piaf performed in POW camps in Germany, after which she was photographed for memory with them and German officers. Then, in Paris, the faces of 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 of the prisoners managed to escape.
- Emperor Nicholas I did not like music and, as a punishment for the 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 lines: "The jumping dragonfly sang red summer." However, the dragonfly is known to be silent. The fact is that at that time the word "dragonfly" served as a generalized name for several species 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 put on complex makeup. Milliar almost did not need it only for the role of Kashchei the Immortal. The actor was naturally thin, in addition to this, during the Second World War, he contracted malaria during the evacuation in Dushanbe, turning into a living skeleton weighing 45 kilograms.
- The British can use the Yellow-blue bus mnemonics to successfully master the difficult phrase "I love you".
- Once a year, the sea parted between the two islands of the South Korean county of Chindo, revealing a passage 2 km long and 40 m wide. For an hour, locals and tourists, many of whom associate this phenomenon with the biblical parable of the land and collect the seafood trapped in this trap.
- Leonid Gaidai was drafted into the army in 1942 and first served in Mongolia, where he circled horses for the front. Once he came to the unit as a military commissar to recruit replenishment for the active army. To the officer's question: "Who is in the artillery?" - Gaidai answered: "Me!". He also answered other questions: "Who is in the cavalry?", "To the navy?", "To reconnaissance?" "Wait, Gaidai," said the military commissar, "Let me read out the entire list." Later the director adapted this episode for the film "Operation Y" and other adventures of Shurik.
- In the 1970s, in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, the dog Siv Gustavson was on municipal service, which knew how to bark in a variety of ways, corresponding to different breeds of dogs. Her job consisted of barking on city streets to elicit responses from dogs. In this way, she collected information about houses whose owners did not pay tax on dogs.
- Born in 1993, American girl Brooke Greenberg is still a baby in terms of her physical and mental parameters. Her height - 76 cm, weight - 7 kg, teeth - milk. Analyzes by doctors have shown that there are no mutations in her genes responsible for aging. However, scientists do not lose hope with the help of new studies of this girl to come closer to understanding the cause of aging in humans.
- In 1961, the New York Museum of Modern Art exhibited a painting by Henri Matisse "The Boat". Only 40 days later 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 denomination of these coins. For example, the cost of minting a 5-kopeck coin is 71 kopeck.
- Nurse Violet Jessop managed to survive after the HMHS Britannic was blown up by a German mine in 1916, and the lifeboat in which she boarded for evacuation was pulled under a rotating propeller. Four years earlier, this same nurse was aboard the Titanic - a ship of the same class and the same company - and also managed to survive. And in 1911, Wylett was aboard the "older 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 over 30 years. He lost his craving for 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 a few years ago he admitted that he "feels like a plant without water."
- The Swedish king Gustav III once decided to personally check what is more harmful to humans - tea or coffee. To do this, selected two twins, sentenced to death. The former was given a large cup of tea three times a day, and the latter was given coffee. The king himself did not survive until the end of the experiment, being killed. The twins lived a long time, but the first to die at the age of 83 was the one who drank the tea.
- On April 1, 2010, GameStation, a British online seller of computer games, introduced a clause in the user agreement, which buyers must read before making a payment, according to which the buyer also gives his soul for the eternal use of the store. As a result, 7,500 people, or 88% of the total number of users, agreed with this paragraph. This showed how easily the vast majority of users who do not read such documents can legally go along with the craziest demand of the seller.
- 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 travel to Europe through all of Russia. In particular, he waits out the winter in Tobolsk for 8 months.
- The Daily Telegraph reporters named the Croatian Frane Selak the luckiest person in the world. The first time he was lucky was in 1964, when the train derailed and fell into the river. 17 people died, but Frane managed to swim ashore. Then the following incidents happened to Frane: fell into a haystack from an airplane, during the flight of which the door was flung open, 19 people died; swam ashore after a bus fell into a river; got out of a car that caught fire a few seconds before the gas tank exploded; got off with bruises after being hit by a bus; he fell off a mountain road in a car, having managed to jump out and catch on to a tree. Finally, in 2003, Franet bought a lottery ticket for the first time in his life and won £ 600,000.
- On December 9, 1708, Peter I issued a decree on how to relate to the authorities: "The subordinate in the face of the superiors must look dashing and silly, so as not to confuse the authorities with his understanding."
- Korney Chukovsky was actually called Nikolai Vasilievich Korneichukov.
- If you go in the Moscow metro in the direction of the city center, the stations will be announced in a male voice, and when moving from the center - in a female voice. On a circular line, a male voice can be heard moving clockwise and a female counterclockwise. This is done for the convenience of orienting blind passengers.
- In the era of black and white television, red filters were often used in cameras, which made the lips look pale on TV screens. Therefore, the announcer and actresses were made up with green blush and lipstick.
- Alexandre Dumas once participated 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 fired, but missed."
- The island of Barbados got its name from the Portuguese explorer Pedro Campos, who saw many fig trees growing here, entwined with beard-like epiphytes. Barbados means bearded in Portuguese.
- In 1910, a criminal sentenced to death shouted into the crowd: "Drink Van Gutten's cocoa!" in exchange for a substantial sum from the cocoa producer for the heirs. The phrase made it into all the newspapers and sales skyrocketed.
- South African legislation allows any degree of self-defense when it comes to a threat to human life or property. Traps, stun guns and even flamethrowers are popular here to protect cars from theft.
- The popular belief is that kangaroos and emu cannot walk backwards. That is why these animals are depicted on the coat of arms of Australia as a symbol of movement forward, 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 a supplier to the royal family, and in 1904 he emigrated to the United States.
- The Lord of the Rings trilogy brought a lot of income to New Zealand, where the filming took place. The New Zealand government even established the post of the Lord of the Rings Minister to deal with any emerging economic issues.
- The American extravagant writer Timothy Dexter wrote a book in 1802 with a very peculiar language and the absence of any punctuation. In response to the outrage of readers 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 15 wagons loaded with coal are placed on it.
- Pushkin was a master of sarcastic impromptu. When he was still a chamber junker, Pushkin once appeared in front of a high-ranking person who was lying on the sofa and yawning with boredom. When the young poet appeared, the high-ranking person did not even think to change his position. Pushkin gave the owner of the house everything he needed and wanted to leave, but was ordered to say an impromptu. Pushkin squeezed out through clenched teeth: "Children on the floor - smart on the couch." The person was disappointed impromptu: “Well, what's so witty - children on the floor, smart on the couch? I can't understand ... I expected more from you. " Pushkin was silent, and the high-ranking person, repeating the phrase and moving the syllables, finally came to the following result: "The kid is half-witted on the sofa." After the sense of the impromptu reached the owner, Pushkin was immediately and indignantly thrown out the door.
- Apples help you wake up in the morning better than coffee.
- During flights, storks can periodically fall asleep without sinking to the ground for up to ten minutes. A tired stork moves to the center of the school, closes its eyes and dozes, and sharpened hearing helps to maintain the direction and altitude of the flight at this time.
- The famous phrase of Khrushchev "I'll show you Kuzka's mother!" at the UN Assembly they translated literally - "Kuzma's mother". The meaning of the phrase was completely incomprehensible and from this the threat acquired a completely ominous character. Subsequently, the expression "kuz'kina 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 a fit 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 Rodina. Upon learning of this, Stalin ironically asked: "Well, how much will we have a Motherland?" Therefore, the name was changed to "Victory".
- Tsetse flies attack any warm moving object, even a car. The exception is the zebra, which the fly perceives as just a flickering of black and white stripes.
- If the body of an adult sponge is pushed through the mesh tissue, then all the cells will separate from each other. If you then put them in water and mix, completely destroying all the bonds between them, then after a while they begin to gradually converge and reunite, forming a whole sponge, similar to the previous one.
- French writer and humorist Alphonse Allay a quarter of a century before Kazimir Malevich painted a black square - a painting called "The Battle of Blacks in a Cave in the Deep of Night". He also anticipated John Cage's "4'33", a minimalist piece of music from one silence by almost seventy years, with his similar work "Funeral March for the funeral of the great deaf."
- The panther is not a separate animal, but the name of a biological genus, which includes four species: lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars. Often the term "panther" is used in relation to big black cats - this is a genetic variant of the color of leopards or jaguars, a manifestation of melanism.
- A person cannot laugh when he tickles himself. The cerebellum, which is responsible for the sensations caused by its own movements, interferes with this, and sends commands to other parts of the brain to ignore these sensations. An exception to this rule is tongue tickling of the palate.
- It is possible to distinguish herbivores from predators by the location of the eyes. Predators have eyes on the front of the muzzle, which allows them to accurately focus on their prey while tracking and chasing. In herbivores, eyes are usually set apart on opposite sides of the muzzle, which increases the field of view 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 were irritated by the Eiffel Tower. Nevertheless, he dined daily at her restaurant, explaining this by the fact that here is the only place in Paris from where the tower is not visible.
- Sofya Kovalevskaya got acquainted with mathematics in early childhood, when there was not enough wallpaper for her room, instead of which were pasted sheets with Ostrogradsky's lectures on differential and integral calculus.
- 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 a speed of 320 km / h. In some areas of this area, there has been no rain for two million years.
- For a long time it was believed that ancient Greek sculptures made of white marble 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 smoked cigars and, seeing the baby lying on the table, blew smoke in his face, after which Pablo roared. Thus, it can be said that smoking saved Picasso's life.
- Earlier, in Russia, an alternative name for the constellation Ursa Major, together with the Pole Star, was circulated - Horse on a pin (meaning a grazing horse tied with a rope to a peg). And the North Star, respectively, was called the Joke Star.
- Scientists still have not figured out what is the physiological cause of the yawning process. There are several theories: for example, that when yawning, a person receives a large portion of oxygen when it is lacking in the body, or that in this way an overheated brain "drops" its temperature, but no theory has yet been convincingly proven. However, yawning has been proven to be contagious. The person is more likely to yawn at the sight of another yawning, or when someone on the phone yawns. Contagious yawning has also been reported in chimpanzees.
- According to the Hebrew rite, on the day of the forgiveness of sins, the high priest put his hands on the head of the goat and thereby laid the sins of the entire people on it. Then the goat was taken to the Judean desert and released. Hence the expression "scapegoat" came from.
- Initially, on the grave of Gogol in the monastery cemetery, there was a stone called Golgotha because of its resemblance to the Mount of Jerusalem. When they decided to destroy the cemetery, they decided to install a bust of Gogol on the grave during reburial in another place. And the same stone was later put on the grave of Bulgakov 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 greatcoat."
- Spiral staircases in the towers of medieval castles were built in such a way that the ascent along them was carried out in a clockwise direction. This was done so that in the event of a siege of the castle, the defenders of the tower had an advantage during hand-to-hand combat, since the most powerful blow with the right hand can only be inflicted from right to left, which was inaccessible to the attackers. There is only one reverse-twist lock - the fortress of the Counts of 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 down by the action of an electric current of lightning. Fulgurites can go deep into the ground for several meters, 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 the royal opener of ocean bottles with letters. Everyone else who opened the bottles on their own was entitled to the death penalty.
- The tiger not only has striped fur, but also striped skin underneath.
- During the explosive development of dentistry in the 17th and 19th centuries, one of the most popular sources for artificial teeth was the teeth of those who fell on the battlefield. For the special quality of the material, the Waterloo Teeth brand went down in history, because many young soldiers with healthy teeth died in that battle.
- The expressive look of Elizabeth Taylor 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, it was decided not to include the names of city dwellers, so as not to increase its size once again. An exception was made only for the word "Leningrad", but not as a sign of special respect for the inhabitants of Leningrad. It was just necessary to separate the words "lazy" and "Leninist", which stood side by side, so as not to defame the image of young Leninists.
- Artist Vladislav Koval, while studying in Moscow, sent letters to his relatives. At the same time, he did not stick stamps on envelopes, but drew, and all the letters arrived in this form. When the press ministry 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 small in stature - 157 cm. This figure is obtained by converting 5 feet 2 inches into the metric system. However, at that time, the feet were not only English, in almost every country the feet were different. Translated from French feet, Napoleon's height is 169 cm and is the average for his era.
- The Bengal ficus tree is distinguished by a special life form, which is called a banyan tree. On the large horizontal branches of an adult tree, aerial roots are formed, growing downward. Growing to the ground, they take root in it and become new trunks. Thus, the banyan tree can grow over an area of several hectares.
- During childbirth, the giraffe falls to the ground from almost two meters in height.
- Tyutelka is a diminutive of the dialectal tyutya ("hit, hit") the name of an exact hit with an ax in the same place during carpentry work. Today, the expression "tuft to tuft" is used to denote high accuracy.
- There is a widespread legend that the idea of the periodic table of chemical elements came to Mendeleev in a dream. Once he was asked if this is so, to which the scientist replied: "I have been thinking about it for maybe twenty years, but you think: I was sitting and suddenly ... it was ready."
- Ears are needed by humans and animals not only to hear. The inner ear also contains an organ that is responsible for the balance of the body.
- In the 19th century, Stevens Island in New Zealand was home to a population of flightless birds - New Zealand wrens. In 1894, the cat of the lighthouse keeper on this island completely exterminated all representatives of this species. When the caretaker presented the carcasses to the 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 for 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 figurines were made of 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 the sisters' dresses until the age of eight. Later, he did not hide this fact, but, on the contrary, was proud of him, considering this approach an important component of the family's prosperity.
- After the completion of the construction of the Winter Palace, the entire area was littered with construction waste. Emperor Peter III decided to get rid of him in an original way - he ordered to announce to the people that anyone who wants to can take anything from the square, and for free. After a few hours, all the rubbish was cleared away.
- The expression "after a rain on Thursday" arose out of distrust of Perun, the Slavic god of thunder and lightning, whose day was Thursday. Prayers to him often did not reach the goal, so they began to say about the unrealizable that it 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 - the scammers cut off 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 in the edges of the coin, because of which the chamfered edges would be immediately noticeable. This part on the coins is designed in this way to this day and is called the herd.
- Whales, dolphins and other cetaceans are also called secondary aquatic: their ancestors, in the process of evolution, first came out of the water, and then returned there again.
- In public libraries in medieval Europe, books were chained to shelves. Such chains were long enough to take a book off 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, which was due to the great value of each copy of the book.
- Female large 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 cub while another newborn is still growing in the bag and cannot leave it. Usually they resort to such freezing of embryo development under unfavorable external conditions, for example, drought. Also, females of this species of kangaroo can simultaneously produce milk of different fat content for cubs of different ages.
- The myth of the hedgehog storing apples and mushrooms was invented by Pliny the Elder. According to him, the hedgehog knows how to "deliberately" cling to grapes, and in some cases, apples. In reality, the hedgehog is physically unable to roll on its back, while piercing the fruit.
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We have selected very interesting short facts which you did not know about:
- The first product with a barcode was Wrigley's chewing gum.
- American Airlines saved $ 40,000 in 1987 by reducing the number of olives in first class salads by one.
- It takes a normal person an average of 7 minutes to fall asleep.
- The moth has no stomach.
- The easiest way to distinguish a vegetarian beast from a predator: predators' eyes are located on the front of the muzzle to see the victim. For vegetarians - on both sides of the head to see the enemy.
- Chimpanzees are the only animals that can recognize themselves in the mirror.
- The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
- There is a city of Rome on every continent.
- By 2080, the population of the Earth will be about 15 billion people.
- There are no transparent windows in a casino. Decorative only.
- Dentists recommend keeping the toothbrush at least two meters away from the toilet.
- Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike sneaker advertising than all of his employees in Malaysia.
- The violin consists of about 70 different wooden parts.
- 1,792 steps lead to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
- Men's shirts have buttons on the right, women's ones - on the left.
- Dolphins and whales can swim in their sleep and even travel considerable distances. This is due to the fact that their cerebral hemispheres sleep in turn, and not simultaneously, as in humans.
- The Bible is the best-selling book in the world.
- The growth of Peter the Great was approximately 213 cm.
- Only one person in two billion can live to 116 years and older.
“Money is not made of paper, it is made of cotton.
- The eye of an ostrich is larger than its brain.
- Mosquito repellents (repellents) do not scare anyone away, they simply hide you from the mosquito senses.
Almost all peoples, nations and countries have historical facts. Today we want to tell you about various interesting facts that were in the world, which many know about, but it will also be interesting to read again. The world is not perfect like a person, and the facts about which we will tell will be bad. It will be interesting for you, since each reader learns something informative within the framework of their interests.
After 1703 Filthy Ponds in Moscow began to be called ... Chistye Prudy.
During the time of Genghis Khan in Mongolia, everyone who dared to urinate in any body of water was executed. Because the water in the desert was worth more than gold.
On December 9, 1968, the computer mouse was unveiled at the interactive display in California. Douglas Engelbart received a patent for this gadget in 1970.
In England, in 1665-1666, the plague devastated entire villages. It was then that medicine recognized smoking as useful, which supposedly destroyed the deadly infection. Children and adolescents were punished if they refused to smoke.
It was only 26 years after the founding of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that its agents were granted the right to carry weapons.
In the Middle Ages, sailors deliberately inserted at least one gold tooth, even sacrificing a healthy one. What for? It turns out, for a rainy day, so that in case of death he could be buried with honor away from home.
The world's first mobile phone is the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x (1983). 
14 years before the sinking of the Titanic (April 15, 1912), Morgan Robertson's story was published, foreshadowing the tragedy. Interestingly, according to the book, the Titan ship collided with an iceberg and sank, exactly as it actually happened.
DEAN - The eldest over the soldiers in tents, in which the Roman army lived for 10 people, was called the dean.
The most expensive bathtub in the world is carved from a very rare stone called Caijou. They say that it has healing properties, and the places of its extraction are kept secret to this day! It was owned by a billionaire from the United Arab Emirates, who wished to remain anonymous. The price of Le Gran Queen is $ 1,700,000. 
The English Admiral Nelson, who lived from 1758 to 1805, slept in his cabin in a coffin that had been knocked out of the mast of an enemy French ship.
The list of gifts for Stalin in honor of the 70th anniversary was printed in advance in newspapers more than three years before the event.
How many types of cheese are produced in France? The famous cheese maker André Simon mentioned 839 varieties in his book "On the cheese business". Camembert and Roquefort are the most famous, and the first appeared relatively recently, only 300 years ago. This type of cheese is made from milk with the addition of cream. After 4-5 days of ripening, a mold crust appears on the surface of the cheese, which is a special fungal culture
The famous inventor of the sewing machine Isaac Singer was simultaneously married to five women at once. In general, he had 15 children from all women. He called all his daughters Mary.
27 million people died in the Great Patriotic War.
One of the unusual records in car travel belongs to two Americans - James Hargis and Charles Creighton. In 1930, they covered over 11,000 kilometers in reverse, traveling from New York to Los Angeles, and then returning.
Two hundred years ago, not only men, but also women took part in the famous Spanish bullfights. This took place in Madrid, and on January 27, 1839, a very significant bullfight took place, because only the fairer sex took part in it. The Spaniard Pahuelera is best known as a matador. Women were banned from participating in bullfighting in the early 20th century, when Spain was ruled by the Nazis. Women were able to defend their right to enter the arena only in 1974.
The first computer to include a mouse was the Xerox 8010 Star Information System mini-computer, introduced in 1981. The Xerox mouse had three buttons and was priced at $ 400, which equates to almost $ 1,000 in 2012 inflation prices. In 1983, Apple released its own one-button mouse for the Lisa computer, which was reduced in price to $ 25. The mouse gained wide popularity due to its use in Apple Macintosh computers and later in Windows OS for IBM PC compatible computers.
Jules Verne wrote 66 novels, including unfinished ones, as well as more than 20 novellas and short stories, 30 plays, several documentary and scientific works.
When Napoleon was heading for Egypt in 1798 with his army, he captured Malta along the way.
During the six days that Napoleon spent on the island, he:
Abolished the power of the Knights of the Order of Malta
-Conducted administration reform with the creation of municipalities and financial management
- Abolished slavery and all feudal privileges
-Appointed 12 judges
-Layed the foundations of family law
- Introduced primary and general public education
65-year-old David Baird ran his own marathon to raise money for research on prostate and breast cancer. For 112 days, David covered 4115 kilometers, while pushing a wheelbarrow in front of him. And so he crossed the Australian continent. At the same time, he was on the move every day for 10-12 hours, and during the entire jogging with a wheelbarrow he covered a distance equal to 100 traditional marathons. This courageous man, having visited 70 cities, collected donations from Australian residents in the amount of about 20 thousand local dollars.
In Europe, lollipops appeared in the 17th century. At first, they were actively used by healers.
The group "Aria" has a song called "Will and Reason", few people know that this is the motto of the Nazis in fascist Italy.
A Frenchman from the town of Landes - Silvain Dornon made his way from Paris to Moscow, walking on stilts. Having set off on March 12, 1891, covering 60 kilometers every day, the brave Frenchman reached Moscow in less than 2 months. 
The capital of Japan, Tokyo, is currently the largest city in the world with a population of 37.5 million.
Rokossovsky - Marshal of both the USSR and Poland.
Despite the widespread belief that the transfer of Alaska to the United States of America was carried out by Catherine II, the Russian empress has nothing to do with this historic deal.
One of the main reasons for this event is considered to be the military weakness of the Russian Empire, which became obvious during the Crimean War.
The decision to sell Alaska was made during a special meeting that took place in St. Petersburg on December 16, 1866. It was attended by all the top leadership of the country.
The decision was taken unanimously.
Some time later, the Russian envoy to the US capital, Baron Eduard Andreevich Stekl, offered the American government to buy Alaska from the Republic of Ingushetia. The proposal was approved.
And in 1867, for 7.2 million gold, Alaska came under the jurisdiction of the United States of America.
In 1502-1506. Leonardo da Vinci painted his most significant work - the portrait of Mona Lisa, wife of Messer Francesco del Giocondo. Many years later, the picture received a simpler name - "La Gioconda".
Girls in Ancient Greece got married at the age of 15. For men, the average age for marriage was a more substantial period - 30 - 35 years. The father of the bride himself chose a husband for his daughter and gave money or things as a dowry.
The most interesting historical facts about different things updated: September 4, 2018 by: site
