17 Factoids That Sound Fake but Are Actually True

1.

Many lipsticks contain fish scales. The ingredient called guanine is used in many lipsticks to create a shimmery effect. This ingredient comes from fish scales and in the cosmetic industry it is called “pearl essence.”

2.

Pigeons can identify breast cancer in mammograms just as well as human experts can. Scientists did an experiment and taught pigeons to differentiate between the slides of patients with breast cancer and those of healthy people. The birds are able to accurately sort the slides by categories and recognize which of them shows cancer and which doesn’t.

3.

A human body contains 0.2 mg of gold. Gold is found in the blood and it is necessary for our joints. It is also an essential element in transmitting electric signals throughout the body. An average person’s body, weighing 70 kilograms, would contain a total mass of 0.2 milligrams of gold. If the amount of gold in the human body was turned into a solid cube, it would measure around 0.22 millimeters.

4.

Eggplant contains nicotine. Eggplant is technically a berry and its seeds contain nicotine. Its concentration is about 100 nanograms per gram of eggplant. However, in order to consume an amount of nicotine equal to 1 cigarette, you’d need to eat around 20 pounds of eggplant, and would likely be taken to the hospital. This would not be because of the nicotine, but the enormous amount of fiber that you’d consume by eating so much eggplant in one serving.

5.

Thanks to high-resolution flat screen TVs, dogs are able to see TV screens as well as humans. Dogs can see images on TV screens similar to the way we do, and they are intelligent enough to recognize animals shown in movies and on TV series, exactly the way they would in real life. They even recognize animals they’ve never seen before and TV dog sounds, like barking.

6.

There’s a spa house in Japan where you can take a noodle bath. Ichiro Furuya, the owner of the spa, claims that “Lately people are very concerned about having beautiful skin, and they know about the effects of collagen, which is contained in our pork-based broth. In this bath, everybody can have fun and take advantage of the healthy elements of ramen noodles.”

7.

Cows that are called by name produce 258 liters more milk than those who are nameless. British researchers compared production from the country’s National Milk Records with the survey responses of 516 dairy farmers to see if there was a connection between the amount of milk and cow naming. Dairy farmers who called their cows by name got 2,105 gallons (7,938 liters) of milk from their cows, compared with 2,029 gallons (7,680 liters) per 10-month lactation cycle.

8.

Bananas are radioactive. There are over 1,000 varieties of bananas growing around the world. It’s a scientifically proven fact that bananas contain the radioactive element Potassium-40. There’s even a radiation measurement called “Banana equivalent dose,” which stands for the dose of radiation one person consumes while eating one banana.

9.

You can save 584 gallons of water by peeing in the shower. According to a study, if you shower once every day and you pee during that shower, you could save 1.6 gallons of water from not flushing the toilet. So to do the math, for 365 days in a year, there’s a total of 584 gallons of water that you could save just by peeing in the shower.

10.

There are no “Stop” signs on the roads in Paris. There’re 6,100 streets in Paris, and none of them have a stop sign for drivers. The last stop sign was removed somewhere between 2012 and 2014, and since then Parisian traffic functions completely without them. The reason behind this is that the car on the right in Paris always has priority.

11.

Kids perform better at boring tasks when dressed as Batman. According to a study, children are more likely to work harder while dressed in a Batman costume. The Dark Knight isn’t the only character costume that inspires kids to be heroes when performing everyday tasks, however. Scientists found that kids dressed as Bob the Builder, Rapunzel, and Dora the Explorer also appeared to work harder.

12.

There is an underwater mailbox in Japan and you can send a mail from it. The deepest underwater box usually receives around 1,000 to 1,500 pieces of mails every day, many sent by family members for their loved ones, and this little piece of infrastructure carries a special significance. It is located in Susami Bay, Japan and was placed 10 meters deep off of the coast. You can buy a waterproof card, write a message on it, and send it to whomever you want while diving.

13.

The color of the apple has nothing to do with how sweet it is. According to an apple classification guide, the Red Delicious, which has a deep red color, is less sweet than a Fuji, which has a faded-red color, but is considered to be a “super-sweet” variety.

14.

The world is blurry to babies when they’re born, and their vision doesn’t get super-sharp until they’re around 1-year-old. When your baby is born, they see you and the world around them with fuzzy eyes. They focus better on objects that are up to 10 inches away from their face. This is the right distance for your baby to observe your face while you are holding or nursing them. At around 3 months, your baby’s eyes can follow things around, so, if you wave a colorful toy near their eyes, they will track the movement. By the age of 12 months, babies see things very clearly, both near and far. They can even quickly focus on fast-moving objects.

15.

Pandas can fake pregnancy. Panda’s birth rates are extremely low, so caregivers usually treat it as a special occasion when a panda gets pregnant. They treat this panda with increased attention and give them more delicious food. Pandas have also been known to fake pregnancies to receive more attention and goodies from their caregivers. The fake pregnancy is not easy to tell from a real one from the start, as the animals show all signs of pregnancy, including the physical changes.

16.

Crows hold grudges. Studies have found that crows remember the faces of people who did them wrong and can later recognize this person and enact revenge on them.

17.

Queen Elizabeth was a mechanic during WWII. During WWII, Elizabeth was an 18-year-old princess. She joined the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service and trained in London as a mechanic. She was also a military truck driver. Elizabeth is the only female member of the royal family who served in military forces and is the only living head of state who served in World War II.