Math
The spiral shapes of sunflowers follow a Fibonacci sequence. True or false.
True. That's where you add the two preceding numbers in the sequence to give you the next one. So it starts 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, etc. The Fibonacci sequence shows up in nature a fair bit.
Lasers can get trapped in a waterfall. True or False.
True. Oh my gosh, yes. Not only is this an incredible example of total internal reflection, but it also shows how fiber optic cables work to guide the flow of light.
Augustus Caesar was the wealthiest man to ever live in history. True or false
True. Nephew and heir of Julius Caesar, Roman Emperor Augustus had an estimated net worth of $.46 trillion when counting for inflation.
11% of the entire English language is just the letter E.
True.
Competitive art was never in the Olympics, True or False
False, Yes, Competitive art used to be in the Olympics. Between 1912 and 1948, the Olympic Games awarded medals in sculpture, music, painting, and architecture, according to Smithsonian magazine. After a heated debate in the post-war years, the competitions were scrapped. John Copley of Britain won one of the final medals: At 73, he would be the oldest medalist in Olympic history if his silver, awarded for his 1948 engraving Polo Players, were still counted.
The word hundred is derived from the word "hundrath", which actually means 140 and not 100. True or False.
False. The word hundred is derived from the word "hundrath", which actually means 120 and not 100. Hundrath is Old Norse.
We've got spacecraft hurtling towards the edge of our Solar System really, really slowly. True or false.
False. We've got spacecraft hurtling towards the edge of our Solar System really, really fast. We all know rockets are fast, and space is big. But sometimes when we're talking about how long it takes for us to get to distant parts of the Solar System (eight months to get to Mars, are you kidding me?) it can feel like our spacecraft are just crawling along out there.
The world’s most failed pirate in history was a lady.
False. The world’s most successful pirate in history was a lady. Named Ching Shih, she was a prostitute in China. This was until the Commander of the Red Flag Fleet bought and married her. But rather than just viewing her as a wife, her husband considered her his equal and she became an active pirate commander in the fleet. Ching Shih soon earned the respect of her fellow pirates. So much so that after her husband’s death she became the captain of the fleet. Under Shih’s leadership, the Red Flag Fleet consisted of over 300 warships, with a possible 1,200 more support ships. She even had a possible 40,000 – 80,000 men, women, and children. They terrorized the waters around China. The Red Flag Fleet was such a fearsome band of raiders, that the Chinese government eventually pardoned Ching Shih and her entire fleet – just to get them off the high seas!
Month, orange, silver, white, and purple do not rhyme with any other word.
False, Month, orange, silver, and purple do not rhyme with any other word.
A chef's hat has exactly 100 pleats. True or False.
True, A chef's hat has exactly 100 pleats. Bon Appétit magazine brings us this tasty tidbit. A chef's tall hat (officially known as a "toque") is traditionally made with 100 pleats, meant to represent the 100 ways to cook an egg.
In a room of just 23 people, there’s a 50% chance that two people have the same birthday.
True. It's called the Birthday Problem. In a room of 75 there's a 99% chance of two people matching.
A cloud can weigh over a million pounds. True or False.
True. Your childhood dreams of floating on a weightless cloud may get rained on with this fact: the average cumulus cloud can weigh up to a million pounds. A million pounds! That’s about as heavy as the world’s largest passenger jet. Before you hop on a plane it’s important to check the weather—here’s how to predict the weather by these types of clouds.
The Biggest group project in history where everyone did their work was Julius Caesar's assassination. True or False.
False. He had 23 stab wounds, and 60 people agreed to stab him.
Julius Caesar is probably the most iconic name associated with the Romans. Likewise, his assassination and death are also highly notorious. Due to his coup d’état of the Roman Republic and his proclamation of himself as Dictator for Life, along with his radical political views, a group of his fellow Roman senators led by his best friend Brutus assassinated him on March 15th, 44 BC. During the assassination, Caesar was stabbed at least 23 times, before finally succumbing to his wounds. He passed away with fabled words to his former best friend Brutus, allegedly being “you too, sweet child?”
There are 24 different dialects of English in the US. True or False.
True.
No cat has been allergic to humans. True or false.
False. Some cats are actually allergic to humans. Though it's uncommon—since humans bathe more than your typical animal, and don't shed as much hair or skin—some animals can still be allergic to humans, according to Popular Science. (However, it's more often because of the perfume or cologne we wear, or the soap we use.) And for more trivia about our furry friends, here are 75 Animal Facts That Will Change the Way You View the Animal Kingdom.
Zero is one of the many numbers that can be represented in Roman numerals.
False. Zero is the only number that can't be represented in Roman numerals. The Latin word "nulla" would have been used instead.
Oxygen has a color. true or false.
True. As a gas, oxygen is odorless and colorless. In its liquid and solid forms, however, it looks pale blue. Some science facts are just plain weird.
It was named the Colosseum because it was next to a statue called the Colossus. True or False
True. It was originally known as the Amphitheatrum Flavium, or Flavian Amphitheatre, as it was constructed during the Flavian dynasty. Residents of Rome nicknamed it the Colosseo. This was due to the fact that it was built next to a 164-foot statue of Emperor Nero known as “the colossus of Nero”.
The word ‘lol’ was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2010.
False. The word ‘lol’ was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011.
Stop signs used to be orange. True or false
False. Stop signs used to be yellow. In 1922, the American Association of State Highway Officials met to determine a standard design for stop signs, and that's where they decided on the color—yellow. Wait, what? Yes, according to Business Insider, stop signs were yellow because they thought that would grab drivers' attention. They'd also considered red, but there was no dye available at the time that wouldn't eventually fade. By 1954, however, sign makers had access to fade-resistant porcelain enamel, and could finally start making stop signs the red color we recognize today.
Zero is an even number. True or False.
True. But people take longer to decide whether it's even or odd because it's not as easy for us to mentally categorise.
Chameleons change color to match their surroundings. true or false.
False. Yes, chameleons can change color by stretching and relaxing cells that contain crystals, which affects how the light is reflected. They can’t change into any color to match their surroundings, though, and their color changes don’t have much to do with camouflage. Instead, chameleons use the crystals mainly for communication (dark colors signal aggression, like when a female doesn’t want to mate), but also temperature control (lighter colors reflect the heat). Those changes aren’t directly used for camouflage, though—just the opposite, in fact. The dull brown and green “resting colors” of chameleons blend in with their surroundings until they switch it up.
Since the end of WWI, over 100,000 people have died from leftover unexploded bombs.
False. Since the end of WWI, over 1,000 people have died from leftover unexploded bombs.
However, not all of these shells exploded. Every year since the end of the war something called an “iron harvest” takes place. This is the annual “harvest” or unearthing of unexploded WWI bombs. As well as grenades, artillery shells, and other explosives which occurs mainly during the spring planting and autumn harvest in the fields that were once the Great War’s arena. Since 1919, over 1,000 civilians and ordnance collectors have died from explosions caused by these in France and Belgium.
The most common adjective used in English is ‘good’. True or False.
True.
Green Eggs and Ham started as a bet. True or False
True. The Dr. Seuss classic grew out of a bet with his editor that he could not create a book using fewer than 50 different words. The editor, Random House founder Bennett Cerf, but—you guessed it—$50 on the line, and lost.