Did you know that humans have been making our favorite TV snack, popcorn, for over 7000 years? It seems hilarious to imagine the first person seeing a solid corn kernel “explode” into a white, edible puff. While it often gets lost in the onslaught of information out there, the truth is that there are cool new details about our planet and universe being discovered every day.
We’ve gathered some fascinating facts about the world that people only stumbled across recently. So get comfortable as you read through, upvote your favorites and share your thoughts in the comments section below.
#1
Elephant (Tarra) and a dog (Bella) had become close friends at a sanctuary in Tennessee. Unfortunately, one day Bella was killed by coyotes, and Tarra found her body and carried it a mile back to the barn where the staff were.
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242points
#2
When Fox refused to pay for Deadpool screenwriters Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick to be on set every day during filming, Ryan Reynolds paid with his own money to make sure they were there in order to keep the project on the right track & maintain the original creative team.
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213points
#3
Billy Idol was first choice for the role of T-1000 in Terminator 2, but a motorcycle accident in 1990 prevented it. During his time in hospital he also swore never to wear the Confederate flag again after a black employee explained his feelings on it.
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210points
#4
There was a real-life Lord of the Flies-esque situation where school boys were stuck on a deserted island for 15 months but the boys banded together rather than feuding.
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202points
#5
When the studio refused to meet Sienna Miller's pay request to star in the film 21 Bridges, Chadwick Boseman gave her part of his salary in order meet her number because he said "that's what you should be paid".
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200points
#6
That elephants stay cancer free as they have 20 copies of a key tumor-fighting gene; humans have just one.
200points
#7
In parts of the UK, a rule from 1902 mandates that homes facing each other at the rear must be built 21 meters apart. This specific distance was determined by two urban designers who measured how far apart they could see each other's nipples through their shirts.
194points
#8
Isidor Straus, co-owner of Macy's, and his wife Ida died on the Titanic after refusing a lifeboat to prioritize women and children.
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186points
#9
The Luddites were not anti-technology. They were highly-skilled laborers who protested wage reduction and job replacement due to automation.
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155points
#10
Astronauts on board the ISS need to sleep near a ventilator fan. Warm air does not rise in space so astronauts in badly-ventilated sections end up surrounded by a bubble of carbon dioxide.
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151points
#11
During a screening of "A Fish Called Wanda," Danish audiologist Ole Bentzen died from heart fibrillation, caused by an increased heart rate due to extended laughter. Newspapers reported he died laughing. Writer John Cleese considered using it for publicity but ultimately deemed it inappropriate.
146points
#12
In 2012 a British man named Wesley Carrington bought a metal detector and within 20 minutes found gold from the Roman Age worth £100,000.
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146points
#13
Stephen Hawking completed a final multiverse theory explaining how mankind might detect parallel universes just 10 days before he died.
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141points
#14
Scientists used a dating method to show a Viking ax cut trees on the North American continent exactly 1000 years ago, in 1021 C.E. This dating method uses a spike in solar radiation that left a mark in tree rings around the world. This proves the Vikings arrived before Christopher Columbus.
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137points
#15
when Domino’s Pizza entered the Italian market in 2015, the company had an ambitious plan of opening 880 outlets across the country by 2030. It got as far as opening 29 branches, that were all closed by 2022
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133points
#16
There are over 1,000 homes in Edinburgh, Scotland that nobody has lived in for over 10 years. The most common reason is a reclusive homeowner passing away and nobody realizing they've inherited the property.
131points
#17
In 2022 seat belt use in the US was 91.6% of occupants (8.4% unrestrained) and unrestrained occupant deaths accounted for 49.8% of deaths.
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128points
#18
Columbia Pictures refused to greenlight the 1993 film Groundhog Day without explaining why Phil becomes trapped in the same day. Producer Trevor Albert and director Harold Ramis appeased the studio, but deliberately placed the scenes too late in the shooting schedule to be filmed.
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120points
#19
In 1968, over 6000 sheep were killed in Utah and popular theories pointed to the Army. It was revealed 30 years later that it was indeed the result of nerve agent testing. Families nearby developed nervous system illnesses, but the Army accepted no responsibility.
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120points
#20
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) was written by Robert Louis Stevenson during a 6-day [substance] binge. His wife Fanny said: "That an invalid in my husband's condition of health" was able to do "the manual labour alone of putting 60K words on paper in 6 days seems almost incredible".
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116points