1. Bananas are berries, but strawberries are not.
It sounds completely wrong, but in plant science bananas are considered true berries while strawberries are not because they grow their seeds on the outside.
2. Octopuses have three hearts and blue blood.
One heart pumps blood around the body while the other two pump blood to the gills. Their blue blood comes from a special oxygen carrying molecule.
3. A day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus.
Venus rotates so slowly that it completes one spin later than one full trip around the sun.
4. Honey never spoils.
Archaeologists found honey in ancient tombs thousands of years old and it was still safe to eat.
5. There is a jellyfish that can live forever.
The tiny jellyfish called Turritopsis can return to its young stage instead of dying making it biologically immortal.
6. A snail can sleep for three years.
Snails take extremely long naps when the environment becomes too dry.
7. Your nose can remember fifty thousand different smells.
The human nose is much smarter than people think.
8. Hot water freezes faster than cold water.
This strange effect is called the Mpemba effect and scientists are still studying why it happens.
9. Butterflies taste food with their feet.
They land on plants and instantly know if it is good for eating.
10. Sharks existed before trees.
Sharks are more than four hundred million years old which makes them older than forests.
11. A cloud can weigh more than one million kilograms.
Clouds look light but they hold massive amounts of water.
12. The shortest war in history lasted less than forty minutes.
It was between Britain and Zanzibar in eighteen ninety six.
13. Sloths can take up to two weeks to digest a meal.
Their metabolism is extremely slow which is why they move slowly too.
14. You are taller in the morning than in the evening.
Your spine compresses throughout the day which makes you slightly shorter at night.
15. There is a rainbow that lasts for hours.
In Hawaii scientists once recorded a rainbow that stayed in the sky for nearly nine hours.
16. Sea otters hold hands while they sleep.
This keeps them from drifting away from each other in the water.
17. A group of flamingos is called a flamboyance.
The name suits them perfectly because of their bright pink feathers.
18. Cows have best friends.
They become stressed when separated from their favorite partner.
19. The Eiffel Tower grows taller in summer.
Heat expands the metal so the tower can grow by as much as fifteen centimeters.
20. There is a lake inside a lake in Australia.
Lake Hillier lies inside a larger lake and has bright pink water that still puzzles scientists.
21. Cats cannot taste sweetness.
They lack the taste receptors for sugar so sweet foods do not attract them.
22. Pineapples take almost three years to grow.
Behind every pineapple is a long slow journey.
23. The moon has moonquakes.
Just like earthquakes happen on Earth the moon shakes too caused by gravity and temperature changes.
24. An ostrich eye is bigger than its brain.
This giant bird relies more on its powerful eyesight.
25. A blue whale’s heart is the size of a small car.
Its heartbeat can be heard from more than three kilometers away.
26. There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on Earth.
Scientists estimate there are around one hundred billion trillion stars.
27. A cactus can explode if it absorbs too much water.
Pressure builds inside until the plant bursts.
28. Water can exist in all three states at once.
At a special temperature and pressure water can be a solid liquid and gas all at the same time. This is called the triple point.
29. Some metals explode when they touch water.
Elements like sodium create a strong reaction when dropped into water.
30. A chameleon’s tongue is longer than its entire body.
This helps it catch insects lightning fast.