The world is full of wild and weird science facts! Here’s an illustrated collection of some of my favorite weird science facts. Do you have a fact for me to add? Post a comment!
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- Weird Science Fact: It rains sulfuric acid and snows heavy metals on Venus. The snow consists of lead and bismuth sulfides.
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- Weird Science Fact: There is no wavelength for magenta. Your brain interpolates between violet and red.
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- There are 10x more bacteria in your body than there are human cells, so if you just went by the numbers, you’re more bacteria than person!
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- Weird Science Fact: Cockroaches can live without heads several weeks.
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- Weird Science Fact: Canola oil comes from a rapeseed plant. There is no canola plant.
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- Weird Science Fact: Girls have more taste buds than boys. Females likely have a better sense of taste to protect unborn offspring.
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- Weird Science Fact: Bananas are high in potassium, which naturally includes a radioisotope. They can even trip radiation detectors!
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- Weird Science Fact: Adding salt to water actually lowers the water level rather than raising it. The ions help water molecules stack together better.
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- Macabre Science Fact: If you’re sealed in a room, you’ll die from carbon dioxide poisoning before you’ll die from lack of oxygen.
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- Weird Science Fact: Only 1 in 10 million living lobsters is red. Most are greenish-brown in color. Cooking changes a pigment protein, turning all lobsters red (except albino ones).
It’s funny how we keep associating potassium ( hence potassium 40) with bananas. The truth of the matter is that based on the K+ -content on a per 100 gram basis, bananas are 17th on the list among common foods! My data is from United States Department of Agriculture. see https://www.emsb.qc.ca/laurenhill/science/food2.html#potassium
So true, but people tend to eat a larger mass of bananas than most of those other foods, plus sometimes a shipment of bananas would trip the old radiation sensors in ports. While I am sure nuts could do the same, you never really hear about it. It’s also interesting how some people are horrified when you tell them their bodies contain low levels of radioisotopes.