From chicken nuggets to Skittles, we love bite-sized things. So it’s no surprise that ‘bite-sized’ bits of information are also a pretty popular subgenre of infotainment. We enjoy ‘snacking’ on fun facts, stories, and other tidbits that tell us more about the world we live in.
The Ask Me Knowledge Instagram account gathers the best fun, interesting, and unexpected facts about the world. We also reached out to Emma Cahill, Ph.D., who is a lecturer in neuroscience at the University of Bristol.
So get comfortable in your armchair (reportedly invented in the 1830s) and make sure to upvote the facts that surprised you. And if you want to learn more tidbits about our world, Bored Panda has got you covered; you can find our other articles here and here.
More info: Instagram
#21
Inmates in federal prisons holding some of Brazil’s most notorious criminals are able to read up to 12 works of literature, philosophy, science or classics to trim a maximum 48 days off their sentence each year, the government announced. Prisoners will have up to four weeks to read each book and write an essay which must “make correct use of paragraphs, be free of corrections, use margins and legible joined-up writing,” said the notice published on Monday in the official gazette. A special panel will decide which inmates are eligible to participate in the program dubbed “Redemption through Reading”. “A person can leave prison more enlightened and with an enlarged vision of the world,” said a lawyer, who heads a book donation project for prisons.
Report
282points
She also spoke about bits of information that we tend to remember more easily than others. "Being accurate at remembering is really pretty tricky because memory is a reconstructive process. Some types of memory like are prone to interference by information that comes shortly afterward, like how it is difficult to remember a numerical code when a few are presented in a short space of time, that relies on short-term memory. People can be better at remembering certain types of information because they have practiced techniques in how to encode the information in a richer way by using associations or thinking of memory triggers. "
#22
The young owls resting on a tree branch don’t fall off, thanks to the strength of their back toe called the hallux. The hallux tethers the creature to the branch and it won’t move until the owlet bends its leg. Adult owls are able to support the weight of their heads as they gain strength after a few months. But younger owls struggle to do so and have to lie down while napping.
Report
277points
#23
On second place, the joint-second fastest athlete American sprinter Tyson, has served two do_ping bans and was stripped off his 2012 Olympics silver. Jamaica's Usain Bolt holds the record for the three fastest 100m sprints in history.
.
Additional Information: Usain St Leo Bolt, OJ, CD is a Jamaican former sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is a world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay. Finishing the 100m in under 10 seconds is an exceptional physical and psychological achievement that only 124 men have accomplished. For historical context, the first 100m Olympic gold medal winner finished the sprint in 12 seconds. In total Bolt has broken the 10-second barrier 49 times during his career, earning him six gold medals in world championships and Olympics. Bolt holds nine out of the 30 fastest 100m times and is the only athlete on that leaderboard to have never failed a dr_ug test. It is not only his 100m feats that set him apart, however. In a world of ever-improving performances and otherwise short-lived triumphs, “Lightning” Bolt has also set and continually defended the world record in the 200m, a discipline he has excelled in since his youth.
Report
275points
#24
Back in 2011, Roman Ostriakov, a homeless man from Ukraine living in Genova, was convicted for theft after he stole cheese and sausages amounting to €4 from a supermarket. A customer had seen Ostriakov put two pieces of cheese and a packet of sausages in his pocket and only pay for breadsticks at the cashier. He was subsequently sentenced to six months in jail and a €100 fine in 2015. The case went through three rulings in court before it was rejected in May 2016 in a historic ruling citing that the ‘right to survival prevails over property.’ It cited the importance of maintaining a shared humanity and that no one should be allowed to starve in a civilized society.
Report
270points
"There are many distractors in everyday life, open tabs on the computer, the bleep of a phone, advertisements, doom scrolling and click bate headlines. These tend to be designed with noises or stimuli that are ‘salient’ and sensational, and so attention-grabbing. How prone we are to fall for their temptation is probably a combination of how we are feeling and whether you have learned what you want to ignore. Thankfully we can become desensitized to many of those stimuli, so we are not just doomed to react under their control," she clarified when we asked what modern factors of life impede our attention span.
#25
Morgan Freeman in an interview said: "I always wanted an earring. It has to do with my attachment to the sea. When I was around 35 I was separated from my wife and she said, 'I'm going to pierce your ear.' I'm an avid sailor, a dyed-in-the-wool blue-water man. You know why sailors used to wear a gold earring? It's enough money to bury you in a foreign country. There are two or three tricks to being a good sailor. One is courage. You have to be willing to face the sea. And the rest is just knowledge – you can learn a lot by listening to other sailors about how to survive almost unsurvivable situations." "I've been in dangerous storms. There comes a moment when you think you may not get through, and in that moment there's a peacefulness that settles over you and you're no longer afraid. That's also the moment when you have to say, "I'm going to face this demon. I'm going to stand up and I'm going to do what I have to do. Not just by lying down and letting the sea wash over me, but by fighting it."
Report
261points
#26
Typical ending in many tales is ‘Bad criminal/animal was punished by local government official. {And men and women lived happily}/{Ghost with grudge never came because her grudge was vanished.}’....The Korean mode of storytelling began with either "Once upon a time back when tigers used to smoke," "Once upon a time when tigers smoked pipes," "A long, time ago when tigers were smoking," or "Once upon a time when tigers were smoking.”
.
That intro to a story does sound odd to those of us who are used to "Once upon a time. "A long time ago, before the 17th century, tobacco was touted as a medicinal product in Korea, and smoking tobacco was something most could afford to do. Alas, in the 17th century, tobacco became a luxury item, and only aristocrats were allowed to smoke tobacco. Peasants used to watch the well-to-do enjoy their smoking of tobacco, and the peasants would lament, "We miss the days when even the tigers were smoking." Back when tigers used to smoke," would not be acceptable these days.
Report
251points
#27
Cats have been carried on ships for many reasons, most importantly to control rodents. Vermin aboard a ship can cause damage to ropes, woodwork, and more recently, electrical wiring. In addition, rodents threaten ships' stores, devour crews' foodstuff, and can cause economic damage to ships' cargo, such as grain. They are also a source of disease, which is dangerous for ships that are at sea for long periods of time. Rat fleas are carriers of plague, and rats on ships were believed to be a primary vector of the Black Death.
Report
246points
#28
She did so to hide any privacy complaints. She had affairs with married men (as per sources) and waited for her husband and others to die before publication of her autobiography.
Report
245points
#29
Horses are smart like that... Back in the early 1900s, when a local person (let's assume) used to get so drunk at the bar that he would subconsciously pass out there, the other local drinkers would put him in his buggy and slap his horse on the butt to send it off home. The horse knew the way and would carry the drunk man back to his house every time.
Report
238points
#30
In modern fairy tales, wolves are often depicted as cunning animals and described as evil animals. But they are not just the most loyal animal in the world but one of the most loyal animals to humans. In fact, they have a family life that may be more than human relations. In general, a group of wolves will contain a male wolf, a female wolf, their children, and be repeated, which is very similar to the family in humans. This makes wolves loyal animals and one of the most faithful animals not just to their partner but to their group and family.
Report
236points
#31
Rottnest Island is the only place quokkas still come together in large numbers: There are as many as 12,000 of them there, of fewer than 14,000 total in the wild—down from probably many tens of thousands in their heyday. When they're not posing for the camera, they usually spend their days sleeping and resting under shady bushes or dense vegetation or munching on grass, leaves, seeds, and roots. But, judging from the photos, these charming creatures don't seem to mind taking time out of their busy schedules to interact with tourists, either. In fact, they look rather elated! Thanks to its adorable expression, the quokka is known as the “happiest animal on earth.”
Report
233points
#32
The book claims to "reveal the most comprehensive understanding of men's knowledge and understanding of the opposite s € x." The book has a rating of 4.3 out of 5 on Amazon's book discovery platform Goodreads. Empty books or blank books are novelty books whose title indicates that they treat some serious subject, but whose pages have been left intentionally blank. A number of such titles have been published as attempts at satire or polemic, to some commercial success. The joke is that "nothing" is the answer to whatever the title of the book asserts. In 2017, The Guardian commented that the trend of publishing political empty books had led to "the noble art of political parody [descending] into a one-joke turn that avoids words".
Report
233points
#33
In 2003, after mentioning this desire in an interview, a friend of his who owns a mall with a supermarket closed it all down for a day to grant him his wish. To give it a feeling of authenticity, Michael's staff, family, and friends populated the grocery store. Some dressed up like the store's staff, others like shoppers. Even the muzak was customized for his experience. Then, the King of Pop put on a single yellow latex glove and pushed his cart up and down the aisles. He played around a lot in the store and likened the experience to being at Disneyland, because as he says, "I got to do something I don't normally get to do." I'm not sure he got an authentic grocery shopping experience but it is fascinating, if not heartbreaking, to watch him try.
Report
230points
#34
After running late to class, George Dantzig copied down two problems he thought were homework and solved them. Those two problems were in fact two famous unsolved problems of statistics, which later earned him his doctorate. One day In 1939, George Bernard Dantzig, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, arrived late for a graduate-level statistics class and found two problems written on the board. Not knowing they were examples of “unsolved” statistics problems, he mistook them for part of a homework assignment, jotted them down, and solved them. (The equations Dantzig tackled are more accurately described not as unsolvable problems, but rather as unproven statistical theorems for which he worked out proofs.) Six weeks later, Dantzig’s statistic professor notified him that he had prepared one of his two “homework” proofs for publication, and Dantzig was given co-author credit on another paper several years later when another mathematician independently worked out the same solution to the second problem.
Report
220points
#35
According to a sheriff office in Salem, Oregon, deputies have heard a man “calling for help from inside the residence” when they arrived at the scene. Upon entering the home, they've found Alexander, the pizza lover, who reportedly suffers from severe health issues, in “need of immediate medical attention.” Alexander was whisked to the hospital, where he was then recovering there. The sheriff's office expressed their gratitude to delivery driver Tracey Hamblen, who saved Alexander's life, “for his quick actions and willingness to take time out of his day to care for others.” The Domino's crew was widely praised on social media for their life-saving actions. Sarah Fuller, the general manager at a Salem-area Domino’s, however, insisted that the team was just doing their job. “Alexander is just an important customer that’s part of our family here at Domino’s. He orders all the time so we know him. I think we were just doing our job checking in on someone we know who orders a lot. We felt like we needed to do something,” she told back in 2016.
Report
194points
#36
John McCue first became inspired to patch up some of the road hazards in Stellarton, Nova Scotia after he and his mother drove over a particularly nasty pothole. “There was one story a couple of weeks ago where a car was driving through and it nailed one of the biggest potholes here and it ripped the axle right off the car,” McCue told CBC. Rather than waiting for the city government to fix the pavement, McCue grabbed a snow shovel and started shifting gravel and road fill from the roadside ditches and moving it into the potholes. Now that passing traffic has packed the filling into the holes, McCue said that the road is significantly better than when he started. That being said, local police officers had warned McCue that if he did not stop his mission, then he would be charged.
Report
192points
#37
The 1988 movie comedy A Fish Called Wanda features a scene where actor Michael Palin gets some French fries stuffed up his nose. A person named Ole Bentzen found the scene so sidesplittingly funny for almost 25 minutes that his heart rate rose to an estimated 250-500 beats per minute, leading to a heart attack as he laughed his way into the afterlife.
Report
190points
#38
Due to the common association of the label with cheap, low-quality, and often dangerous products, the phrase "Made in China" is often used in a pejorative manner to refer to any low-quality products regardless of origin
Report
173points
#39
The adaptation of several anatomical and biochemical mechanisms to establish an immune privileged microenvironment within the eye makes the eye immunologically unique. It is a tissue site where we may learn how immunity is regulated in inflammation and at rest. Certain sites of the mammalian body have immune privilege, meaning they are able to tolerate the introduction of antigens without eliciting an inflammatory immune response. Tissue grafts are normally recognised as foreign antigen by the body and attacked by the immune system. On such problem is autoimmune retinopathy, which is “usually manifested as a vascular problem” . This means that the immune system attacks and inflames the blood vessels in the back of the eye, on the retina, which can affect vision.
Report
151points