‘What is something that most people won’t believe, but is actually true?’ 23 bolts from the blue

It all started when Aden_Elvis77 asked this over on Reddit.

‘What is something that most people won’t believe, but is actually true?’

And it got people sharing all sorts of amazing facts. Here are 23 favourites.

1.

‘Humans can smell some components of the smell of rain (the geosmin part of petrichor, specifically) far better than sharks can small blood in water.’
Ratmatazz

‘It’s such a great smell, too.’
DepecheClashJen

2.

‘Humpback whales will turn on their back and let seals jump on their stomachs to save them from orcas because they f-cking hate orcas.’
chinabot1

3.

‘The number of ants on Earth has a mass greater than all birds and mammals combined.’
InquisitaB

4.

‘The Rope Around The Earth Problem.

‘Take a rope tied tautly around a basketball. Now the rope must be lengthened so that there is a one foot gape between the ball and the rope at all points, as if the rope is hovering a foot away around the entirety of the ball. How much must the rope be lengthened to accomplish this? 6.28 Feet.

‘Now take a rope around tied tautly around the equator of the earth. We have the same goal for the one foot hovering gap around the entirety of the earth. How far must the rope be lengthened? 6.28 Feet.

‘This is so counter intuitive just about no one will believe it until shown the math.’
-Slartibart

5.

‘There would be a lot more ancient Egyptian mummies if we didn’t grind most of them up to paint with or…eat.’
Faust_8

‘You can’t just say that and not fucking explain anything.’
Pope_Industries

‘The answer is: Victorians be wack. Mummy brown was a very popular paint pigment for the time, creating a rich brown color that couldn’t easily be replicated, and eating bits of mummies (mixed into other things mind you, it was considered a medicine and not a food) was thought to possibly cure diseases.

‘Probably had 0 scientific backing behind it even back in the day but trendy rich people are trendy rich people no matter the era.’
MadameCat

6.

‘The shortest commercial flight in the world lasted 57 seconds. It was a Loganair flight between two Scottish islands, Westray and Papa Westray. It was recorded the shortest commercial flight, with the distance of 1.7 miles.’
AnneKellyy

‘What’s crazy is that flight distance is less than the length of the runway at Heathrow.’
8REW

7.

‘More plastic flamingos exist on earth than living flamingos.

‘The same is true for unicorns.’
Positive-Source8205

8.

‘Birds require gravity to swallow food because they have no sphincter. Because of this birds would starve in space.’
skith843

9.

‘Humans are the best long distance runners in the animal kingdom.’
Misterfrooby

10.

‘Sharks are older than trees.’
com2420

‘And older than the rings of Saturn.’
Shinynales

11.

‘There was more time between the building of the Great Pyramids and Cleopatra, than there is between Cleopatra and now.’
RMSQM