Facts That Will Make You Say I Had No Idea
Facts That Will Make You Say I Had No Idea
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00:00Eating too many carrots can turn you orange.
00:04You can taste garlic with your feet,
00:07and sharks have been around for longer than trees have.
00:11Got your attention?
00:12Good.
00:13If you're hungry for more fascinating facts like those,
00:17just stay tuned,
00:18as there's plenty more where they came from.
00:20To find out why a good night's sleep
00:22will instantly make you taller,
00:24or the reason you should never eat banana-flavored candy
00:27near a beehive,
00:28sit back, get comfortable,
00:30and be prepared to be blown away
00:32by some of the most incredible facts
00:34that'll make you say,
00:35I had no idea.
00:45Often, the most interesting facts
00:47are the ones that subvert our expectations.
00:50And with that in mind,
00:51you might be surprised to learn
00:52that strawberries are not technically berries.
00:56Shocking, I know.
00:57The truth is, a berry is a very specific classification.
01:02Not only must it have an outer skin and fleshy center,
01:05aka an exocarp and mesocarp,
01:07but internalized seeds too.
01:10Meaning that by this botanical definition,
01:13strawberries, which have external seeds,
01:16along with raspberries and blackberries,
01:18which are actually densely-packed collections
01:20of dozens of smaller fruits,
01:23have been lying to us this whole time.
01:25But I guess the question is, what fruits are berries?
01:29Well, not only are blueberries and cranberries the real deal
01:32but watermelons, grapes, eggplants,
01:35and even bananas are berries too.
01:38Sorry to say, but your whole life
01:40has been a berry big lie.
01:43In other fruity deceptions,
01:44did you know that despite their name,
01:46oranges aren't always orange?
01:49And I'm not just talking about unripe fruit.
01:51It certainly seems contradictory
01:53to the meaning of the word orange,
01:56seeing as how in English,
01:56the color was in fact named after the fruit.
01:59Orange derives from the ancient Sanskrit word niranga,
02:03which referred to the orange tree specifically.
02:06But strangely, oranges can on occasion actually be green.
02:10Oranges contain chlorophyll, a green pigmented chemical,
02:14which they use during photosynthesis.
02:16And the amount of chlorophyll in an orange's skin
02:18is directly related to the amount and intensity
02:21of sunlight an orange is exposed to.
02:24In particularly hot climates,
02:26they'll produce excess chlorophyll as sun protection,
02:29allowing them to redistribute sunlight's energy
02:32to avoid sun damage and dehydration,
02:35and causing the orange to become a shade of green.
02:37Not only are these green oranges safe to eat,
02:40but they're said to be even sweeter
02:42despite the misconception that they might've gone bad.
02:46Kermit wasn't lying when he said,
02:48it's not easy being green.
02:52Speaking of whom,
02:53we all know that Kermit is infamously romantically involved
02:57with Hollywood's hottest puppet, Miss Piggy.
03:00But did you know that beneath Piggy's voluminous blonde
03:03blowout and turned up snout
03:04is actually none other than Yoda?
03:08Okay, admittedly, that might be a slight exaggeration,
03:11but let me explain.
03:13Frank Oz is an actor, director,
03:15and the original puppeteer behind not only Miss Piggy,
03:19but Yoda too.
03:20And while you may think the two characters
03:22couldn't be more different,
03:23it seems Frank's voice didn't deviate
03:26too much between them.
03:27Take a listen.
03:29Looking for someone you have, I would say, hmm?
03:33I think it's not working between the two of us.
03:34Piggy, don't, don't.
03:35I'm trying to get into this stuff right now.
03:38Don't touch me.
03:39I'm trying.
03:40Oh, Kermit.
03:42Shift Miss Piggy down an octave or so,
03:44and you've pretty much got Yoda,
03:46all courtesy of the talented Mr. Oz.
03:50I mean, a voice that is both cosmically wise
03:52and capable of doing a pigified hyah!
03:56That's a tough gig.
03:57Oddly enough, though, it's not just Miss Piggy
04:00that Yoda shares part of his existence with.
04:02The man responsible for Yoda's design, Stuart Freeborn,
04:06not only modeled Yoda on his own appearance,
04:08which, as you can see, is pretty evident,
04:11but one of the world's greatest intellects too.
04:14No, not me, but Einstein,
04:16on account of his wisdom and intelligence.
04:19And while I wouldn't want to liken Einstein
04:21to a little green man,
04:23you have to admit there's certainly a resemblance.
04:27Which is the perfect segue into the next fact,
04:30which is all about uncanny resemblances.
04:33Did you know that when identical twins
04:35go out into the world and reproduce
04:37with their significant others,
04:38the twins' respective children are not only cousins,
04:41they can also technically,
04:43at least in the genetic sense, be siblings?
04:46No, before you ask,
04:48we're not taking a trip to Alabama here,
04:50but admittedly, this odd outcome
04:52does require a very specific scenario.
04:55Let's say that two identical twin sisters
04:58get into relationships with two identical twin brothers.
05:01Since all identical twins share 100% of the same DNA,
05:06the couples' resulting children
05:07would genetically be siblings.
05:10Pretty crazy, right?
05:12Even crazier, here's a real hot take.
05:16I bet you didn't know
05:17you can taste garlic with your bare feet.
05:19Yep, thanks to allicin,
05:21the chemical responsible for garlic's pungent odor,
05:24rubbing a clove of garlic on your feet
05:27will result in the flavor of garlic
05:29passing through your skin, entering the bloodstream,
05:32and eventually causing the taste of garlic in your mouth.
05:35Which of course is pretty mind-blowing,
05:37but also perhaps the most useless fact ever.
05:40But good to know that wearing shoes filled with garlic
05:42definitely won't keep your breath fresh.
05:45You know, in case your crazy old aunt
05:47tries to tell you it will.
05:49Either way, it's clear the body is capable
05:51of a lot of impressive things.
05:53For instance, we're told to eat
05:54a varied and nutritious diet,
05:56but did you know it's technically possible
05:58for you to survive solely on just potatoes and butter?
06:01Yep, according to Katherine Bosbaum,
06:04a cardiovascular dietician,
06:06while she strongly advises against it,
06:08there are a sufficient amount of macronutrients
06:11in potatoes and butter to allow the body
06:14to perform at a, quote, basic level.
06:16Needless to say, you probably shouldn't be indulging
06:19in a diet of just buttery potatoes.
06:22But there is another healthier food
06:24that could have some very strange side effects
06:26if you consume it too often.
06:28According to the University of Arkansas
06:30for Medical Sciences, if you chomp down
06:32on more than five large carrots a day for several weeks,
06:35your skin will gradually turn a shade of orange.
06:39Sure, it sounds like the whimsies of a cartoon,
06:41but thanks to the increased orange-pigmented beta-carotene
06:45in your blood, which then gets stored under your skin,
06:48you can actually develop a condition known as keratinemia,
06:52where your skin turns slightly orange.
06:55That said, if you too are a ghostly shade of white like me,
06:59then this might be a new and nutritious way
07:01to achieve a golden glow.
07:04Speaking of diet, what you eat usually determines
07:07how often you'll pass gas.
07:10The average tooter toots around 15 toots a day,
07:13with some even doing as many as 40.
07:16Finally, something I'm above average at.
07:19To put that into perspective, in just one day,
07:21on average, you will fart out enough gas
07:24to fill up an entire balloon,
07:26and about 20 balloons if you've had a Taco Bell.
07:30Hey, let's not talk about that too loudly.
07:32Disney might hear and get work underway
07:34on Pixar's latest cash-grab sequel.
07:37Coming this summer, up to Carl vs Crunchwrap Supreme.
07:44With a churning gut in mind,
07:46did you know that your stomach acid is so potent
07:48that it can actually dissolve metal?
07:51Primarily, stomach acid consists of hydrochloric acid
07:54and other digestive enzymes which, with prolonged exposure,
07:58are literally capable of breaking down metals.
08:01Worse yet, if stomach acids were to come into contact
08:04with your skin, it would almost instantaneously
08:07cause chemical burns.
08:09But wait, if stomach acid is so strong,
08:12then how is it contained within the stomach
08:14without causing damage?
08:16Well, for that, we can thank the epithelial cells
08:19lining the stomach walls.
08:21These little heroes constantly produce
08:23a thick layer of mucus that acts as a protective barrier
08:26between the stomach and its acid.
08:29Alongside regular secretions of bicarbonate,
08:32which helps neutralize the acid,
08:34this ultimate team keeps your body
08:36from becoming its own dinner.
08:39So while mucus and acid may be essential parts
08:42of your stomach's functionality,
08:44you probably wouldn't want to find the stuff
08:46in your bed, right?
08:47Well, I'm afraid to say, a ton of bodily fluids
08:51are probably festering in your own mattress as we speak.
08:54By some estimations, over the course of 10 years,
08:57your mattress may increase in weight by anywhere
09:00between 10 and 100% due to accumulating bodily debris.
09:06As gross as it sounds, it's not all that hard to believe
09:09when you consider your mattress essentially soaks up sweat,
09:12dead skin cells, dandruff, mold, and even mites.
09:16Not to mention anything else that may get spilled in bed
09:19over the years, you filthy animals.
09:22As scary as a sweaty, moldy mattress may be,
09:25I guarantee Teratomas will give you an even bigger pride.
09:31What are they, I hear you ask?
09:33Well, they're rare tumors which themselves can grow bones,
09:36hair, and even teeth.
09:38Terrifyingly, there have even been cases of Teratomas
09:42containing brain matter and eyeball tissue,
09:45despite being located nowhere near the person's head.
09:48The exact cause of Teratomas isn't fully understood yet,
09:52though they're thought to occur due to defects
09:54in the types of cells found in embryos
09:56that change form to suit different purposes.
09:59These cells are ordinarily used by the embryo
10:02to form fat, muscles, teeth, nails, hair, and so on,
10:07hence why Teratomas are able to grow their own.
10:10Now, these bizarre tumors
10:11are not necessarily always cancerous,
10:14but the thought of a hairy-toothed Teratoma
10:16lurking around your body is disturbing nonetheless.
10:21You'll be pleased to know, however,
10:22that I do have some body facts for you
10:24that aren't quite so unsettling.
10:27For example, did you know you're actually taller
10:30in the morning than you are in the evening?
10:32Okay, so it's a very slight difference.
10:35However, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Ankit Batra claims
10:39that we have gravity to thank for this.
10:42Throughout the day, gravity slowly takes a toll on the spine
10:45as it compresses its discs.
10:47By the day's end, your spine will have compressed enough
10:50that you'll actually appear slightly shorter,
10:52typically by about half an inch.
10:55But don't panic.
10:56While you sleep,
10:56your rested body will allow your spine to decompress,
11:00meaning you can rise and shine at your very tallest.
11:03Similar to this, your body also has
11:05some wonderful length-related synchronicities.
11:09For instance, if you hold your arms apart,
11:11the total length spanning from your left to right fingertips
11:14is roughly equal to your overall height.
11:17So if you're a tasty 6'11 like me,
11:20then your wingspan should measure around 6'11 as well.
11:24Similarly, you'll find that your foot size
11:26is about the same length as your forearm.
11:29And you know what they say about big feet, right?
11:33Big arms.
11:35Talking of arms, our soft-bodied buddies
11:37in the cephalopod world, octopuses,
11:40not only have eight arms, or rather tentacles,
11:43but nine brains too.
11:46Yep, in addition to one big central brain,
11:49they essentially have a mini-brain
11:51in each of their eight tentacles,
11:53which allows the tentacles to behave autonomously
11:56as they touch, taste, and move without specific control
12:00from the central brain.
12:01Octopuses really are earthbound aliens.
12:04In addition to this, they have not one, not two,
12:08but three hearts.
12:09One of them pumps blood around the body
12:11while the other two pump blood to their gills.
12:14Oh, and FYI, in case octopi weren't weird enough,
12:17their blood is blue,
12:19thanks to a protein called hemocyanin,
12:22which contains copper as opposed to the iron
12:25found in mammals' blood.
12:26Nevertheless, with all these brains and hearts,
12:29it doesn't look like the Wizard of Oz
12:31will be having a visit from an octopus anytime soon.
12:35And while octopuses might have nine brains,
12:37did you know that our one human brain
12:40isn't even fully developed until the age of 25?
12:43You see, brain development begins from the back
12:46and works forward, meaning the frontal lobes
12:48are the last to develop.
12:50As a result, under-25s may be less skilled
12:53at the planning and reasoning that area is responsible for.
12:57I'm definitely over 25 though,
12:59so I'm not exactly sure what my excuse is.
13:04Anyway, here's another fun,
13:06albeit gross animal fact for you.
13:08Did you know that giraffes drink each other's urine?
13:12Well, specifically, the males drink the urine of females.
13:15I mean, just look at this fella go.
13:20And no, it's not just because men are gross.
13:31We're not here to kink shame.
13:33It actually serves a purpose in the species' survival.
13:36Essentially, an interested male
13:38will purposefully headbutt the female's bladder
13:40to encourage her pee.
13:42After having a tipple of the tinkle,
13:44he'll then be able to determine
13:45whether or not she's ovulating.
13:47If the pee's got that extra kick to it,
13:49then it's time to churn some butter.
13:53Ah yeah, let's move on.
13:56Here's a question,
13:57you ever stuck your head in a cow's mouth?
14:00Hopefully not, as I can tell you from first-hand experience,
14:03it doesn't end well.
14:05However, if you did,
14:06you'd find that cows actually have no top teeth
14:09at the front of their mouths.
14:10Instead, what appears to be just squidgy gums
14:13is actually a tough dental pad
14:15that allows for some serious grass-grinding action.
14:20If you're not ready to send the mushed material
14:21back to the molars.
14:22And speaking of animal teeth,
14:24if you had to guess,
14:25how much do you reckon an elephant tooth weighs?
14:27For context, a human tooth can weigh up to around 2.28 grams,
14:32which is pretty puny when you consider
14:34that an elephant tooth can weigh in at a beastly nine pounds.
14:39Yeah, that's heavier than a typical newborn human baby.
14:42You'd need a jackhammer to perform a root canal
14:45on one of these bad boys.
14:47While elephants might be the largest land animals,
14:50the world's largest animal is, of course, the blue whale.
14:54As a matter of fact, this creature is so hefty
14:56that some of its arteries are big enough
14:58for a small child to wiggle through,
15:01with the aorta being nine inches wide.
15:04That's pretty mind-boggling when you look at your own veins
15:07and consider how tiny they are.
15:09Sticking to the theme of sizable animals,
15:11I bet you didn't know that penguins
15:13actually used to be taller than humans.
15:16Yep, an extinct breed of penguin
15:18that lived around 37 million years ago
15:20named the Colossus penguin is believed to have stood
15:23at a mighty seven feet tall.
15:25By comparison, today's tallest penguin, the emperor,
15:28peaks at just over four feet.
15:30I mean, I'm not one to advocate animal extinction,
15:33but I'm kinda glad about this one.
15:36There's something very creepy about the idea
15:38of giant penguins waddling around watching and waiting.
15:43Speaking of extinction, one animal
15:44which has certainly triumphed
15:46over this elimination risk is the shark.
15:49As a matter of fact, sharks are actually older than trees.
15:52While that seems unfathomable,
15:54according to London's Natural History Museum,
15:57the earliest shark fossil dates back to 450 million years ago.
16:02Compare that with trees which are thought
16:04to have emerged 380 million years ago,
16:07and you can see how sharks really are the original gangster.
16:11While trees aren't quite as old as sharks,
16:13they are older than rot.
16:15What I mean by this is that until
16:17around 300 million years ago,
16:19the organisms that decompose wood hadn't yet evolved,
16:23meaning that when trees died, they didn't rot.
16:25Instead, they would simply remain lying where they fell,
16:28eventually being compressed into the ground
16:30where they would be pressurized for millions of years,
16:33resulting in the formation of coal.
16:35When this age of non-decaying trees came to an end,
16:38it meant most trees would rot away
16:41before they could form coal.
16:42That's why coal is a non-renewable energy source today,
16:46as the vast majority of it was formed
16:48during that decayless golden age.
16:51But of course, coal isn't the only precious thing
16:54to be found inside the Earth.
16:56Our home planet is full of gold.
16:59It's estimated that 99% of the gold atoms on Earth
17:02are actually lurking inside the Earth's core,
17:06having been pulled in way back
17:08when the Earth's surface was still molten magma.
17:11What's more, there's so much gold in there
17:13that there's actually enough to cover
17:15the entire surface of the Earth
17:17in 1 1⁄2 feet of the stuff.
17:20Man, imagine covering the world knee-deep in gold.
17:23That'd really show the aliens
17:24how we do things here on Earth.
17:28Speaking of life on Earth,
17:29here's a fact that'll really put your existence
17:31into perspective.
17:33We currently live closer in time to the Tyrannosaurus rex
17:36than the Tyrannosaurus rex did to the Stegosaurus.
17:40Only 65 million years separate us from the T. rex,
17:44while 83 million years separated the T. rex
17:47from the Stegosaurus.
17:49Even weirder than that, Trilobites,
17:51which are an extinct group of marine arthropods,
17:54not only existed before dinosaurs,
17:56but had gone extinct and even fossilized
17:59by the time dinosaurs showed up to the party.
18:02Considering that humans have only been around
18:04some 300,000 years and will each live
18:07for about 77.2 years on average,
18:10it really proves how cosmically insignificant we all are.
18:15In fact, if you weren't already having an existential crisis,
18:18try this on for size.
18:19If all the empty space inside the atoms
18:21that make us up was suddenly removed,
18:24we'd each be able to fit into a particle of dust.
18:28More shockingly, the entire human race
18:30would form the size of about a sugar cube.
18:33And if I had to guess,
18:34I'd imagine it would feel something similar
18:37to being on the subway.
18:39Existential crisis over.
18:41Wanna hear a fun fact about Be Amazed?
18:43I currently have a little over 11.5 million subscribers,
18:47meaning I have roughly the same amount
18:49of amazing people subscribing to my channel
18:51as the population of Belgium,
18:54but I think we can do even better than that.
18:56So make sure to subscribe
18:57and let's continue growing
18:59this fantastic fun fact community.
19:01Cool, now let's get back to the video.
19:04If it was possible for cars to drive upwards into the sky,
19:08how long do you think it'd take to reach outer space?
19:11You might assume it'd take forever,
19:13but considering space begins only around 60 miles up
19:16at a constant speed of just 60 miles per hour,
19:19you'd reach outer space in one speedy hour.
19:22I mean, just compare that with the fact
19:24that a typical commercial flight travels
19:26at a speed of around 500 miles per hour
19:28and takes more than five hours to get from LA to New York.
19:32Holiday in outer space doesn't seem all that far away.
19:36But back down to earth now,
19:38and some countries have some pretty interesting things
19:41going on, like for example,
19:43did you know that in Russia,
19:44rich people have been known to hire out fake ambulances,
19:48or rather, ambulance taxis?
19:50Yep, according to Insider,
19:52wealthy Moscow residents have been known
19:54to hire these siren-blasting ambulance replicas
19:57for $200 an hour as a way to pass right through traffic.
20:00While unethical and, of course, illegal,
20:03there's no denying that this crafty idea
20:05is the perfect crime.
20:07I mean, who's gonna stop and question an ambulance
20:09when it could well be tending to an emergency?
20:11But enough about the never-ending awfulness
20:14of the super-rich, let's move over to Japan,
20:16where we find the Nakisumo Crying Baby Festival.
20:20The 400-year-strong annual tradition sees sumo wrestlers
20:23holding random people's babies and trying to make them cry.
20:27As bizarre as this sounds, the traditional belief
20:30is that if the sumo can make the baby cry,
20:32then the baby's cries will ward off evil spirits and demons,
20:36therefore meaning it'll grow to be healthy and strong.
20:39Makes perfect sense.
20:41Speaking of wrestlers, I bet you didn't know
20:43that Abraham Lincoln was actually
20:45an elite wrestling champion before becoming president.
20:49Okay, so not quite in the WWE sense,
20:51but nevertheless a wrestler.
20:53In fact, over 12 years, Lincoln reportedly amassed
20:56over 300 victories and lost only one match.
21:00A president that can pass important legislation
21:02and destroy his adversaries in a cage match?
21:04Now that's someone who'd get my vote.
21:07Another world leader with quite the unorthodox background
21:10is Pope Francis.
21:11It's hard to imagine the Pope leading a normal life.
21:14However, the now 86-year-old actually revealed
21:17that back in his native country of Argentina,
21:19he used to work as a bouncer.
21:21Of course, this was likely an issue,
21:23so we'll currently have to depend on Photoshop
21:26for images of the Popemeister working the door.
21:28But still, it's pretty hilarious to think
21:30that the head of the Catholic church
21:32was once asking for people's IDs
21:34and breaking up drunken scuffles.
21:36He really has done God's work.
21:39Moving on, do you know why we say the phrase,
21:41raise a toast?
21:43Well, it's actually said to date back to the ancient Romans
21:46and is way more literal than you may think.
21:49Back in their day, the wine Romans drank
21:51was often poor quality.
21:53So folks would regularly toss a chunk of toasted bread
21:55into it to soak up some of the bitter sediments
21:59and make it more palatable,
22:00meaning they would quite literally raise a toast
22:03when there was something to raise a drink to.
22:05The perfect fact to bore people with
22:07at your next dinner party.
22:09Something else that's pretty astonishing to think about
22:11is that today, every two minutes,
22:14there are more photos taken than in the entire 19th century.
22:18Of course, cameras were new and hard to use back then,
22:21and people didn't have one in their pocket at all times
22:23like we do nowadays.
22:25Even so, it's estimated that an astounding
22:285.5 billion photos are taken every day now.
22:32But while technology undeniably has many benefits,
22:35I mean, how else when I see countless pictures
22:38of Sarah from Accounting's Cat,
22:40it does unfortunately come with its downfalls.
22:43Allow me to introduce you to Gary Kreman.
22:45Gary is the founder of the popular online dating site,
22:48Match.com.
22:50But in an extremely unlucky
22:52yet incredibly ironic twist of fate,
22:54Gary lost his own girlfriend to a guy
22:57she met on Match.com.
22:59Now, you might be thinking Gary was heartbroken
23:01and cursed the day he ever created Match.com,
23:04but that's where you'd be wrong.
23:06He was actually rather pleased.
23:08Yep, despite losing the woman you'd assume
23:10to be the love of his life,
23:12Gary looked on the bright side
23:13and considered the whole ordeal
23:14to be a testament to his business.
23:17Yikes, some people really are married to their work.
23:20Even more extreme, Ed Hendrick,
23:22often referred to as the father of the Frisbee,
23:25had a dying wish for his ash remains
23:27to be made into a Frisbee.
23:30Rather disturbingly,
23:31his hope was that his family would gleefully play with him
23:34and toss him around the park,
23:35and indeed, his wish was ultimately granted.
23:38Talk about a work-hard, play-hard attitude.
23:40It's the magical modern fairy tale
23:43of the man who turned into a Frisbee.
23:46Heartwarming.
23:48Sticking with the theme of jobs,
23:49did you know that in the 1870s,
23:51the city of Liege in Belgium
23:53decided to employ cats as mailmen?
23:56Yeah, you heard that right.
23:58After training 37 of them,
24:00they sent them on their merry way
24:02with newspapers attached to them,
24:04and it went about as well as you would imagine.
24:07The quickest delivery time was about five hours,
24:09though most of them took all day.
24:11Afraid to say Lord Fluffington
24:13didn't get employee of the month.
24:16Okay, so we know animals aren't always the best employees,
24:19but did you know they can actually keep pets of their own?
24:23Weirdly, the Texas Screech Owl
24:25has been observed numerous times
24:26taking blind snakes home to their nests.
24:29Not to eat, however,
24:31but to keep alive as something like a pet,
24:33which seems to be for the purpose
24:35of eating small bugs and parasites that make their way in.
24:38It seems strange a skilled predator such as an owl
24:41would show mercy to the blind snake,
24:43but then again, who could say no to that adorable foosh?
24:48That said, perhaps the most adorable fact I've heard
24:51is that baby elephants can laugh.
24:53As a species, elephants frequently engage
24:55in playful behavior with one another,
24:57and it's been observed that when doing so,
25:00baby elephants may produce a specific sound
25:02we'd liken to laughter.
25:04And not just elephants either, but rats too.
25:07Lab scientists have found that when engaging in rough play
25:09or even being tickled, rats will let out a little giggle,
25:13a specific high-pitched squeak
25:14which isn't omitted in any other circumstances
25:17except joyful and playful moments.
25:21Moving on to something less adorable,
25:23I bet you didn't know
25:24that the smell of freshly cut grass
25:26is actually just the grass screaming in distress
25:29as a result of essentially being decapitated.
25:32While not literally screaming in an audible way,
25:35it's the plant equivalent of screaming.
25:37The scent of cut grass comes from organic compounds
25:40known as greenleaf volatiles,
25:42which grasses release as an announcement
25:44that they're under attack.
25:46This allows neighboring parts of the plant network
25:49to start acting accordingly.
25:51Some of these compounds stimulate the formation of new cells
25:54or act as antibiotics against bacteria or fungi
25:57at the wound site.
25:59Fascinatingly, when some non-grass species of plants
26:02experience similar damage when nibbled by little critters,
26:05they emit pheromones that can attract predatory insects
26:08to eat the smaller bugs that typically try to eat the plants.
26:12It's basically the plant equivalent of a dinner bell.
26:15In other plant pheromone fact news,
26:16there's a chemical compound found in bananas
26:19and banana-flavored candy known as isoamyl acetate
26:22that is also used in a pheromone
26:24that honeybees use as an attack signal.
26:27Meaning that if you go near a beehive
26:29whilst chomping on a banana,
26:31it will quite literally send the bees bananas.
26:35Now for a little bit of geography.
26:37Looking at a map, it initially seems like the US and Russia
26:40are pretty darn far apart.
26:42However, remembering that the Earth is spherical,
26:45sorry, flat earthers,
26:46it turns out Russia is actually only 2.4 miles away
26:50from the US.
26:52How?
26:53Well, it comes down to America's little Canada-adjacent
26:55home away from home, Alaska.
26:58Between Russia and Alaska,
27:00there are two islands in the Bering Strait
27:02known as the Diomede Islands,
27:04one of which is owned by Russia
27:05and the other owned by the US.
27:08At their narrowest point,
27:09the islands are separated by only two miles of water.
27:13Who'd have thought that Russia and the US
27:15were such close neighbors?
27:18In other crazy geographical news,
27:20America's Appalachian Mountains, the Scottish Highlands,
27:23and North Africa's Atlas Mountains
27:24are actually originally all from the same mountain range.
27:28This mind-bending fact is possible
27:30because millions and millions of years ago,
27:33before humans or even dinosaur life existed,
27:36Earth was home to one enormous supercontinent named Pangea.
27:41Much of our understanding of this emerges from the fact
27:44that a lot of the continents,
27:45such as South America and Africa,
27:47seem to effortlessly fit together,
27:49as well as the distribution of similar fossilized remains
27:52across those connecting regions.
27:54Over the millennia, Pangea gradually split apart
27:57as a result of tectonic plate movement
28:00with vast tracts being submerged underwater.
28:03But at one time, the mountains found in the Appalachian,
28:06Scottish Highlands, and the Atlas Mountains
28:08were indeed all connected as one landmass.
28:13While we're in the Scottish Highlands,
28:14let's head south to England a moment
28:16for a surprising language factoid.
28:19Did you know that England isn't even
28:20in the top five list of countries
28:22with citizens who speak English by population?
28:25As a result of the British Empire,
28:27ex-colonies with larger populations actually topped the list,
28:31namely the USA, India, Pakistan,
28:33the Philippines, and Nigeria.
28:36England, meanwhile, are slacking behind in sixth place.
28:39But while we're talking about nations,
28:41did you know that the colors of the Olympic rings
28:44were selected very specifically?
28:46To jog your memory, they're blue, yellow,
28:48black, green, and red.
28:50The reason being that at least one of these colors,
28:53including the white background of the flag,
28:55features on every one of the flags
28:58of the participating nations.
29:00Not only that, but the five rings also represent
29:02the five inhabited continental landmasses,
29:05Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and Australia,
29:09meaning the Olympic flag basically represents
29:11the whole world.
29:13And it's not just the Olympic flag
29:15that holds secrets in its design.
29:17Ever wondered why the F and J keys on a keyboard
29:20have little ridges on them?
29:22Well, believe it or not, they're actually there
29:24so that typists can align their fingers
29:26without even looking at the keyboard.
29:28Pretty neat, huh?
29:29Something else you probably don't know the purpose of
29:31is that tiny handle on maple syrup bottles.
29:34Well, while the tiny little hand handle
29:36might seem useless now,
29:38it actually derives from a time when maple syrup
29:41came in huge five-pound ceramic bottles
29:43and therefore needed handles to be carried.
29:46As maple syrup transitioned into being stored
29:48in smaller glass bottles,
29:50the handle was retained as a nod
29:52to the classic maple syrup containers,
29:54albeit much, much smaller.
29:57And now for a slightly less whimsical change of pace,
30:00here's a not-so-fun fact about death.
30:03Slightly unnervingly, when you die,
30:05it's believed that your hearing is the last sense to go.
30:09In a 2020 study, researchers found that,
30:11quote, actively dying patients' brains,
30:14where most functions had ceased,
30:15were still active in response to sound.
30:18Can you imagine what that must be like?
30:21The lights going out, the senses of touch,
30:23taste, and smell departing you,
30:25leaving you only with the fading sounds of what's around you.
30:29It's a pretty eerie thought.
30:30Now, of course, there's a big difference
30:32between hearing sounds and actually understanding them,
30:35so it's unclear whether dying people can make sense
30:38of the sounds around them in their last moments.
30:40But just in case,
30:42please make sure to blast highway to hell
30:44in my final moments.
30:45I'm going out in style.
30:49And with that, I bid you farewell.
30:51Don't worry, not forever, just until the next video.
30:55I wanna know though,
30:56do you have any shocking and interesting facts
30:58I should know about?
31:00Drop them down in the comments below,
31:03and be sure to like and subscribe.
31:04Oh, and thanks for watching.