Did you know that dogs see the world in slow motion, that humans are some of the biggest
things in the universe, and that the Earth is actually flat?
Intrigued?
Oh I'll bet you are, so let's dive straight in and explore five mind blowing facts that
sound like BS, but are actually true.
Number 5: The Earth is Flat Oh jeez, not you too Strange Mysteries?
Surely you don't believe the world is flat, do you?
Well yes, we do, because it is, and that's a fact…comparatively speaking, kinda.
Let's explain.
In this instance we're not talking about the shape of the Earth, because anyone with half
a brain knows our world is round and a little bit pair-shaped, despite what Shaq says.
No, we're talking about the Earth's surface.
And it turns out that, compared to most objects the surface of our world is as flat and smooth
as a baby's behind.
Everest is our highest peak at 8.9 kilometres above sea level, with the Mariana Trench our
lowest at 10.9 kilometres below sea level.
But if you were to shrink Earth down to the size of an eight ball, you wouldn't be able
to detect Everest, the Mariana Trench or indeed anything at all.
And conversely, if you were to expand an eight ball to the size of a planet, the imperfections
of the ball would be larger, deeper and taller than anything we have on Earth.
A more astounding comparison can be made with a basketball, because if one of those was
expanded to the size of the Earth, its 1.7mm deep dimples would be about 300 kilometres
deep.
So compared to how rough most objects are, yeah, the Earth is pretty flat.
And that, my friends, is how you click-bait idiot flat-earthers into boosting your viewcount.
Number 4: Dogs See The World in Slo-Mo It's true, and it's not just dogs either.
Animals that are smaller than humans and which possess faster metabolisms perceive time to
move slower than we do, and thanks to the way the nervous system of an organism processes
sensory information.
This feature has been developed to help certain creatures react to their environment in an
appropriate amount of time; for example, while a hawk may need to react fast to snare its
prey, a tortoise's lifestyle means it doesn't need this ability.
Scientists test animal time perception by measuring how quickly they can detect a flash
of light in a second, and while humans come out at about 60 hertz, dogs are one third
slower at 80 hertz.
Houseflies see things in super slow motion at 250 hertz, and your cute old kitty cat
is actually worse at reacting than we humans are, as they operate at 55 hertz.
The Sea Turtle's 15 hertz was the slowest reaction seen in one particular experiment,
but we know that some deep-sea marine creatures have figures in the single digits and below.
This knowledge makes me wonder about a few things.
First of all, could there be a universe-sized being capable of viewing billions of years
in no time at all?
Also, we know we can manipulate time-perception in humans, so how long before we get slow-motion
pills which allow us to perform a Matrix-style bullet-dodge.
And finally, if dogs do see in slow motion, why do they fall for the fake thrown stick
trick every single time?
Number 3: Placebos Work Even if You Know Do human beings have the power to heal themselves?
Might positive thinking be as powerful a medicine as those produced in the lab?
Based on an investigation conducted at Harvard University, it certainly seems so.
Dr Ted Kaptchuk is a professor of medicine who has proved on a number of occasions that
certain symptoms such as pain, nausea and fatigue can be helped with placebo pills,
even if the patient is aware they're taking a placebo - and what's crazier is that it
works even better if you tell someone they're taking a "super strength" placebo.
Kaptchuk points out that this doesn't work for every illness, and you're not gonna cure
cancer or prevent heart attacks with a few sugar pills.
But for diseases which produce self-observed symptoms, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome
or Chronic Fatigue, you may be able to reduce someone's suffering by inducing a mental treatment
for the pain, rather than simply blocking it off with painkillers.
Clearly, the human mind possesses many great abilities, and we are nowhere near unlocking
them all.
Oh, and swearing loudly has also been known to reduce pain.
So the next time you get a papercut to the eye, feel free to let loose.
Number 2: The Coldest Place in the Universe is on Earth
When you imagine the vastness of space and the amazing collection of bizarre objects
contained within, it seems odd that Earth should hold any sort of record at all.
We're probably not the only place to harbour life, we're certainly not the only planet
to hold water, but we may in fact be home to the coldest place in the universe.
So where is it, and has anyone tried to lick it?
Well the coldest place we know of outside of Earth is the Boomerang Nebula, which is
5,000 light-years away and has a temperature of 1 Kelvin, or minus 272.15 Celsius.
This cold spot was caused by the rapid expansion of gas generated by a dying star, but on Earth
our coldest spot is artificial, as it was created in a laboratory.
In 2015 a team of MIT physicists cooled sodium potassium atoms down to 0.0000005 Kelvins,
or minus 273.15 Celsius, and this record might be beaten later this year.
In August NASA plans to send the Cold Atom Laboratory to the International Space Station,
where they're going to try and freeze atoms to one billionth of a degree above absolute
zero, at which point molecules stop moving and my ex-girlfriend's heart seems to operate.
Oh, and speaking of people, here's another interesting fact.
Number 1: Humans Are Some of the Biggest Things in the Universe
True dat.
On a scale from the largest thing we know of all the way down to the smallest thing
we've ever detected, humans are firmly entrenched in the larger half of that scale.
We are closer in size to the entire observable universe, the area containing every star,
planet and galaxy we know of, than we are to the smallest measurement we know of, the
Planck length.
Crazy right?
I'll bet many of you have seen those incredible Youtube videos which zoom further and further
out from our Sun to bigger stars and galaxies which dwarf our tiny area of the cosmos, and
these can make you feel completely insignificant.
But you can counter that by going the opposite way, and when you do it makes you realise
you're actually rather important.
Go check out Cary and Michael Huang's awesome Scale of the Universe website if you don't
believe us.
If you do, you'll see that we're a fair way towards the larger end of the scale, with
the likes of red blood cells, chromosomes and clay particles smack bang in the middle,
like Malcolm, except with fewer zany hijinks.
Obviously this fact changes if we find out the universe is infinite, but conversely it
could become even truer should we discover new things which are smaller than us too,
or if things can be infinitely small.
Pretty fascinating stuff right?
But did you know that there are many widely shared facts which sound true but are actually
BS?
And these so-called-facts cover topics such as the world, your brain, and how often you
can fold a piece of paper.
You can find out more about this in our Bonus Video “BS Facts You Thought Were True" which
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