Weird Science and Animal Facts Your Kid Will Love
The other day my son had to ask a few questions about a place to work in his science class. His favorite, and quite fair, was the question: why does the sun look yellow, and the stars farther away look white? One of the best things about being a parent is to take a fresh look at the world through the eyes of our children as they process and reflect on things that we as adults no longer even notice.
Children are curious creatures who enjoy asking unusual questions and learning funny, weird, or gross facts about the world around them. And for that reason, it’s always a good idea to arm yourself with a few lesser-known bizarre scientific facts at your fingertips so that the next time you’re video chatting with your nephew or your best friend’s daughter, you’ll need something to spice up the conversation.
So, I found 25 of them for you. Of course, I am not a scientist, but I did my best to make sure that all this is true.
1. Sneezing can reach speeds of 100 miles per hour. (This is better than a cheetah, which can only accelerate at 50-80 mph.)
2. Scientists believe that there are diamond rains on Saturn and Jupiter.
3. The skin of a polar bear is black (and the fur is hollow and transparent).
4. A cloud can weigh over a million pounds.
5. If you tickle a rat, it will emit a tiny giggle (although it is too high for people to hear). They also jump for joy, which is cute for a rat.
6. Snails have thousands of teeth.
7. Three percent of the ice in Antarctica is penguin urine.
8. Cats cannot taste anything sweet.
9. Sleeping turtles breathe from their ass.
10. The sun is more than 100 times wider than the Earth.
11. The heart of the shrimp is in her head.
12. Human teeth are not as sharp as shark teeth, but they are just as strong.
13. Humans don’t just have unique fingerprints; each of us also has a unique imprint on the language.
14. Wombats produce cubic droppings that resemble freshly baked bread .
15. Octopuses have blue blood.
16. There is no wind on the moon.
17. An African elephant can produce enough feces in seven hours to outweigh an adult.
18. By the way, “elephant dung coffee” is not just a thing, it is reportedly the most expensive drink in the world . The coffee beans are fed to elephants, who then digest them and discard them. The grains are ripped out of the dung, washed (phew!), Roasted, and the result is a flavor that is described as “chocolate malt cherry and a little herb” – without the usual bitter aftertaste that coffee is known for.
19. Anatydaephobia is “the fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you.” (This may sound more like a “phobia” than a phobia , but it’s interesting to think about it nonetheless.)
20. Lightning can be up to five times hotter than the surface of the sun.
21. The average moderately active person will take enough steps in his life to go around the whole Earth five times.
22. There are over a million ants for every person on Earth … and I’m sure that’s okay.
23. Fish can cough (but not sneeze or cry).
24. In space, one cannot burp. Since there is no gravity in our digestive system to separate liquids and solids from gases, if you regurgitate in space, you will simply vomit in your mouth.
25. Unless you are a frog, I suppose, because frogs cannot vomit. Instead, he can vomit out the entire stomach.
Go ahead and share this knowledge with the beloved child in your life – or your mom, partner, or friend. (Actually, we all know better about diamond rain and poop from a loaf of bread.)
Update (March 22, 10:57 am): After further research, I was unable to find a reliable scientific source to confirm that three percent of the ice in Antarctica, unfortunately (or fortunately), is actually penguin urine.