Fascinating Facts and Trivia

Around 98 percent of the universe is invisible. The only things we can see through naked eye or telescopes are the planets and stars, which comprise very little.

Most of the mass of the universe is made of dark matter and dark energy whose presence is only felt through its gravitational pulls on planets. Research is still ongoing to understand the dark particles better.

Alcohol is considered to be a performance enhancing drug when it comes to competitive shooting.

Consuming a low amount might help in slowing the shooter’s heart rate and helps in remaining calm, which is important in the sport.

In 2009, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and World Anti-Doping Agency banned the drug specifically for the sport.

Manatees use their farts to swim.

They can regulate the distribution of their intestinal gases.

This means that they can choose to hold in the gas to be more buoyant and reach the water surface, or, they can release the gas when they want to dive below.

Speaking of farts Peter Hawkins who voiced Bill and Ben(The Flowerpot Men) for the Watch With Mother strand of children's programmes on the BBC in the 70's(yes I know it was earlier but I was watching from then) said the word Bill and Ben used 'flobbadob' came from a fart he made as a kid in the bath!

(06-02-2020 20:41 )billyboy1963 Wrote:  Most of the mass of the universe is made of dark matter and dark energy whose presence is only felt through its gravitational pulls on planets. Research is still ongoing to understand the dark particles better.

Absolutely loving the fascinating facts on this thread lads, although the latest thinking on Dark Energy suggests that it may not exist after all.
The most recent theories posit that gravitons, which were assumed to have zero mass, actually do have a residual mass, thus doing away for the need for dark energy.
Hopefully they'll soon discover a new "accumulative" theory of gravity which will do away with the need for dark matter too.

Nowadays, scientist laugh at the old idea of an aether, which was assumed to be necessary for light waves to propel themselves across the vacuum of space. I reckon in few decades, we'll look back and laugh at the notion of dark energy and dark matter

Sadly, I don't know the latest thinking on manatees using farts as a means of propulsion, but I'm pretty sure that my uncle Bob can do this too.

This thread has proved phenomenally popular(nominated for an award in its first year as was I) but it is open to anyone with something interesting to say or tell-all contributions are welcome. If it leaves you with a sense of "well, I never knew that!" then it has done its job.

Pteronophobia is the fear of being tickled by feathers.

It’s also a fear of feathers themselves.

The word “ptero” is the Greek word for feather, and “phobia” is also Greek, meaning fear.

Snakes can help predict earthquakes.

They can sense a coming earthquake from 75 miles away (121 km), up to five days before it happens.

Bananas are curved because they grow towards the sun.

Bananas go through a process called “negative geotropism.” Instead of growing towards the ground, they start growing towards the sun.

The fruit grows against gravity, which gives the banana its familiar curved shape.

A swarm of 20,000 bees followed a car for two days because their queen was stuck inside.

When the car parked, the thousands of bees swarmed onto the car and had to be taken off by beekeepers.

The next day, the bees were back on the car because the queen was still inside and the swarm had to be taken off again.