7 Emma Morano from Italy was the last one to die of those who were born in the 1800s. She has lived to see 118 years of human evolution. 

Emma Morano is the oldest of eight siblings born in 1899 in Italy. She has survived an abusive marriage, losing her only son, around 90 Italian governments, and both the World Wars.

She attributes her longevity to eating three eggs every day, two of them raw. She was married once, came out of it, and was never interested in marriage anymore. 

Several of her family members have reached their centenary, and most have lived above 91. She was diagnosed with anemia as a young woman during the First World War and had to follow a strict diet of two eggs a day and biscuits. Her doctor says she rarely ate fruits or vegetables.

She also believes that coming out of an unhealthy marriage only six months after the death of her only son was another big decision that helped her with a long and peaceful life. (Source)

8 Komodo dragons are the largest vertebrates known to reproduce asexually. They are the largest lizards and an endangered species. Self-fertilization might help in saving this endangered species, which is native to Indonesia. 

The Komodo dragon’s ability to self-fertilize their eggs is a recent discovery that can help save the species. Vertebrates usually reproduce sexually by the fusion of male and female gametes.

Species like these have evolved to reproduce asexually. Some females of snakes, small lizards, and birds are capable of producing eggs that do not require male fertilization. 

Only two mature female dragons in Europe have currently been studied on reproduction by self-fertilization. The researchers analyzed the genetic evolution using a technique called “genetic fingerprinting.”

This is a technique used in paternity tests in humans. Only a few blood samples were required to confirm these embryos had no father. (Source)

9 Cows have a panoramic view of 360 degrees that help them to look out for predators and humans from all angles. It is almost impossible to sneak upon them. 

Apart from being the best recyclers on the planet, a cow’s vision is panoramic. They can see from all directions without moving their heads.

They can almost see everything except what is directly behind them. It is dangerous to approach them from behind as they have a natural reaction to kick when it comes to unseen danger.

Even though they have a panoramic view, they have very poor depth perception. If there is a shadow or an object on its path, it is most likely to stop and inspect it before proceeding.

A cow’s depth perception may be a challenge for them while moving them through a fence or gate as such configurations can confuse them. (1, 2)

10 Mud-puddling is a behavior in many insects and butterflies where they change their nutrient intake pattern, like feeding on human sweat and drinking tears to meet their salt requirements. 

The puddling behavior is born out of the scarcity of sodium in their diet. Males benefit from the mud puddling as they have an increase in reproductive success.

These amino acids and sodium collected by a male are transferred to the female during mating for the better fertilization of the egg. Butterflies are very selective of their puddling spot as observed by many researchers. 

They seek these nutrients in rotting plants, mud, wet soil, and dung. Butterfly species like Halpe feed also on human sweat. Blood and tears are also unusual sources of their diet.

This behavior is commonly seen in males. The salts collected by the male are given to females as a nuptial gift. The extra nutrition is to make sure their eggs survive. (Source)

11 Your eyeballs have a separate immune privilege apart from your body’s general immune system. 

The eyes have a separate immune system called the “ocular immune system” to prevent local inflammatory and immune responses. The whole mechanism is not completely understood. This special relationship of eyeballs with the immune system is named “ocular immune privilege.” 

The immune privilege helps the eyes to be an excellent location for research and studies. It is possible to implant stem cells to the eyes and study their role in re-growing and repairing damaged tissue without being rejected like other parts of the body. (1, 2)

12 The Sun is not yellow. The color is the effect of an illusion created by Earth’s atmosphere. The color of the Sun is white. 

The Sun emits all colors of the rainbow. This combination is called  “white.” One of the interesting facts about the Sun is that it glows in all colors being a thermal body that emits thermal radiation because of its temperature.

Sun is all colors mixed together so that to our eyes it looks white. The atmosphere scatters out violet and blue more than other colors. As a result, sunlight appears slightly more red near the Earth’s atmosphere. (Source)