People Share the Craziest Science Facts they Never Learned in School

Home EducationPeople Share the Craziest Science Facts they Never Learned in School

People Share the Craziest Science Facts they Never Learned in School

By Joe Burgett - March 22, 2021

Where We Get The Color Red For Stuff

The red pigment E120, also known as Carmine, is used as a food dye and in cosmetics, especially the classic red lipstick. It is made from crushed insects! Specifically, it comes from cochineal scales. (Don’t fret too much about this, however. You eat a lot of insects without realizing it each year too. A new study from an insect control company estimated that we eat, on average, 140,000 ‘bug bits’ every year. Mealworm, maggot, and roach pieces are found in everyday foods like chocolate, coffee, and wheat flour. The FDA allows small amounts of insect matter in our food.)

Reddit User -SendJustice

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The Crazy Skylab Prank

When the replacement crew for Skylab entered the empty space station, they found that it wasn’t empty at all. In fact, three figures were inside. Upon further inspection, the replacement crew found out that these were dummies placed in flight suits by the previous Skylab crew before they left.

Reddit User -Bobby-Boi

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Why Eye Colors Evolved As They Did

The human eye may have evolved a distinct color contrast to make it easier to follow one’s gaze. This evolution helped facilitate communication and cooperation among members of a social group. (It also has to do with melanin, which did not change into various colors until people navigated into Europe. The main gene that controls eye color is relatively closely linked to the genes that cause skin color. It is believed that the ancient human ancestors all had dark brown or nearly black colored eyes and very dark hair)

Reddit User -Intellect_

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Our Body Temperature Evolution

The average body temperature of a “healthy” human has actually dropped from 98.6 degrees to 97.5 degrees over the past 150 years. (That standard of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit was made famous by German physician Carl Reinhold August Wunderlich, who published the figure in a book in 1868. Modern studies, however, have called that number into question, suggesting that it’s too high. A recent study, for example, found the average temperature of 25,000 British patients to be 97.9 F. This is due to climate change, but there are still many people who remain in the 98.6 degrees sector.)

Reddit User -Bps4986

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Crazy Thing Floridians Did For Money

In Vernon FL, aka Nub City, did something crazy during the late 1950s to early 1960s. Two-thirds of all insurance claims in the United States for accidental loss of limbs were in that area. People were purposefully maiming themselves for the insurance money! (Of course, Florida is known for doing several other crazy things throughout history. But we’ll leave it at this.)

Reddit User -Ice_Burn

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The United States Army Committed Sheep Genocide To Stop An Nerve Agent

In 1968, the United States Army killed about 6,000 sheep after accidentally releasing a gaseous nerve agent (VX) on a huge flock of them. This came after a test at the Dugway proving grounds in Utah. Today, the ordeal is known as the Dugway Sheep Incident. The first documented admission from the Army about this came in 1998. (The Army does not come forward about a lot beyond this. Agent Orange was also released by them and resulted in several American troops having bad side effects.)

Reddit User -LogicBomb69

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The Rarest Panda In The World

There is another kind of Panda that is brown and super rare. It’s a subspecies of the Giant Panda and only inhabits in Qinling Mountains of China. (Of course, China is pretty much where all Pandas live outside of Zoos. They literally have ALL wild Pandas within Chinese borders. According to the World Wildlife Foundation, pandas are no longer considered endangered, but that doesn’t mean conservation efforts should slow down. Pandas remain scattered and vulnerable, and much of their habitat is threatened by poorly-planned infrastructure projects. And remember: there are still only 1,864 left in the wild.)

Reddit User -Manaluuu

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When An Animal Rights Group Covered Up Animal Abuse

The American Humane is an organization that provides the “No animals were harmed” verification on Hollywood productions and has done so for decades. However, they were found to have colluded with studios to cover up major animal abuses on movie sets in the past. (This was exposed in bombshell reports in the early 2010s.)

Reddit User -SubstantialRange

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The Full Moon Naming System

Each full moon of the year has its own special name, such as Harvest Moon. These names come from Native American, Colonial American, or other traditional North American sources passed down over several generations. (The Moons were also named by Ancient Egyptians, the Mayans, and many more too.)

Reddit User -OldMcNick

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The Reasoning Behind The Native American Body Paint

Most indigenous communities who paint their bodies live in areas where there is an abundance of bloodsucking horseflies, mosquitoes, or tsetse flies. A 2019 study showed that white, painted stripes on the body protect skin from insect bites, hence protecting them from airborne diseases. (This is indeed one of the main reasons for body paint, along with specific tribal reasonings that differ from tribe to tribe.)

Reddit User -MalalaTargaryen

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