We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us their favorite science fact. Here's the totally out-there but fully fact-checked results.
1. “There are more ways to shuffle a deck of cards than there are atoms in the entire earth.”
By rough approximation, there are 1049 to 1050 atoms that make up Earth. To figure out how many combinations can be made from 52 cards, you simply have to multiply 52x51x50x49...etc. That means there are on the order of 1067 ways to shuffle a deck of cards!
Submitted by fiftytwofactorial
2. “Humans are one of the few mammals to not have a penis bone.”
3. “In the Hudson Bay area gravity is actually lower than in other parts of the world.”
Gravity is actually slightly variable all over the world, largely due to differences in the amount of crust below any given point. One well-accepted idea is that the Hudson Bay area has less gravity (a VERY slight difference) because the crust below might be thinner — some deep crust of the Earth may have been pushed to the sides by the ice sheet that was there during the last ice age, giving the region less mass.
Submitted by spazzypea
4. “Birds are actually dinosaurs’ closest living relatives, not reptiles!”
In fact, biologist could easily make the argument that dinosaurs never went extinct in the first place because birds are the descendants of dinosaurs. That's why those in the ~know~ refer to the extinct dinos as "non-avian dinosaurs."
Submitted by marleep3
5. “Due to the electrons of your atoms repelling the electrons of other atoms, you never actually touch anything.”
On an atomic level, we are all just kinda hovering around!
Submitted by jennorourkep
6. “The sum of all positive integers from 1 to infinity is –1/12th”
Yes, you can make a mathematical proof of this concept, which probably means everything EVERYTHING is a lie.
Submitted by Caitlin K.
9. “A frog cannot vomit. To regurgitate material, it first spews out its stomach, then uses its legs to push material out. It then swallows its stomach back inside.”
Submitted by BoomCheese8
10. “There are more bacterial cells in your body than human cells. Like, think about that. You are more bacteria than you are human.”
In fact, there are about 10 times more bacteria cells than human cells. The bacteria cells are a lot smaller though, so in terms of the space the cells takes up, we are still more human!
Submitted by sarahlizzie0302
11. “Phi, also known as the golden ratio, is present in numerous natural things from flower petals to reproductive dynamics. Always be on the lookout for 1.618….”
12. “We are all made of stars.”
The dusty remains of stars, to be specific. Every element, heavier than hydrogen or helium, including all that carbon in your body, formed when stars died in violent supernova explosions.
Submitted by Amlys López, Facebook
13. “A million seconds from right now is 11 days from now. A billion seconds from right now is in 30 years.”
Specifically, 11 days, 13 hours, 46 minutes for the million and 40 seconds and 31.71 years for the billion. Really puts those big numbers in perspective!
Submitted by Chris Coyle, Facebook
14. “Starfish are brainless”
Starfish do lack a centralized brain, but they still have a nervous system and are sensitive to things like touch and light. So watch your mouth!
Submitted by gooseberry
15. "There are more muscles in an elephant’s trunk than in the entire human body."
There are around 40,000 muscles in the trunk of an elephant, compared to about 600 in a human.
Submitted by madisonf7
16. “Santa’s reindeer would be females. Only female reindeer keep their antlers throughout winter.”
While the existence of Santa's reindeer is a question outside the bounds of science, it is true that female reindeer are likely to be the only reindeer with antlers on Dec. 25. That's because the males shed theirs earlier in the season. This would make Santa's antler-bearing team an all-female one.
Submitted by hiltyjr
17. "The sun will run out of fuel in ~5 billion years."
And when it does, shit is going to get real.
Submitted by beccal4db0ee25d
18. "There is a gene in charge of embryonic development called sonic hedgehog."
And not everyone is stoked on it.
Submitted by Juliat406c14d14
19. "Woolly mammoths existed during the time of Ancient Egyptians."
Most of them went extinct long before, and the Egyptians themselves would have never interacted with them, but the last population of woolly mammoths went extinct 7,700 years ago in Alaska, a time when neolithic human populations were living in Egypt. (Though this is before the dynastic period that is generally considered to be the beginning of Egyptian history).
Submitted by Jennifer Abbassian, Facebook
20. "You can fit all the planets in our solar system between the Earth and moon."
21. "When we are developing from one cell, the 'mouth' end forms second. What forms first? Your butthole. So just to be clear, biologically the first thing you are…is an asshole."
It's true, that's why we are called deuterostomes (rough translation: mouth second)! Keep that in mind next time you are feeling high and mighty!
Submitted by lizza421579f2b
