82/500
The Shortest Commercial Plane Journey in the World

The world’s shortest commercial plane journey is only 53 seconds long! Known as the Loganair Westray to Papa Westray route, the passenger plane flies between the two Orkney Islands – Westray and Papa Westray in Scotland. The flight covers a total distance of 1.7 miles.

81/500
This is How Nutella Was Born

After World War II, cocoa became extremely scarce. So, Pietro Ferrero sought to create a chocolate treat that would be both available and affordable. He came up with “Supercrema gianduja,” a sweet paste made primarily from hazelnuts, sugar, and a little bit of the rare cocoa. Today, we know that product by the name Nutella.

80/500
A Truly Ancient Plant

This is Dendrosenecio kilimanjari, a species of giant groundsel plants found on Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. It evolved about a million years ago.

79/500
Lake Missoula – A Proglacial Lake That was Capable of Causing Cataclysmic Floods

Around 13,000 to 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, there existed a proglacial lake named Lake Missoula in western Montana. Periodically, the ice dam that created the lake would rupture and cause cataclysmic floods. The flood would flow at 80 mph and release energy equivalent to 4,500 megatons of TNT, which is 90 times more powerful than the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated.

78/500
What Made Maria Teresa de Filippis Take Up Car Racing?

When Maria Teresa de Filippis was young, two of her brothers made bets, saying that she could not drive fast. Their goading made her take up car racing. At age 21, she made her competitive debut using a tiny Fiat 500 and had the second-fastest time in her class. She continued pursuing her interest in racing and became the first woman to race in Formula One.

77/500
Teens Develop Eco-Friendly Diapers Out of Mushrooms

Three Toronto-based teens won a STEM competition for their incredible idea of developing “eco-friendly” diapers using mushrooms! The idea is that the “Shiitake Diapers,” as they call it, would use highly absorbent mycelium, which is the root system of mushrooms, as the basis of these diapers. They would also harness harmful carbon dioxide to grow the mycelium. The teens won a $30,000 prize for their innovative idea.

76/500
This Blackjack Player was Banned by Casinos for Being Too Good

In 2011, Don Johnson, a professional blackjack player, single-handedly decimated the monthly revenue of Tropicana casino in Atlantic City when he won nearly $6 million in one night! Shortly before this, he had won $9 million from two other casinos. One casino, in particular, banned him while others changed the terms of his plays.

75/500
The Man Who Spent 30 Years in the Alaskan Wilderness by Himself

Self-educated naturalist, Richard Proenneke, spent nearly 30 years in the Alaskan wilderness all by himself. He single-handedly built a log cabin from materials that he acquired from the site. The cabin had a working fireplace, food storage, cache and so on. He documented his experience, and his journals were used to produce documentaries and write books later on.

74/500
How Two Brothers from a Triplet Fooled the Russian Prison System

In 1992, two brothers from a set of triplets fooled Russian prison authorities when they swapped places. When one of the brothers ended up in prison, the other offered to switch places with him so that he could briefly taste freedom. However, once outside, the man ran off with his brother’s girlfriend only to never return. It took the authorities years to realize that they had been duped.

73/500
How Did NASA “Email” a Wrench to Space?

In 2014, NASA “emailed” a wrench to space! When an astronaut aboard the International Space Station required a ratcheting socket wrench, the space agency had one designed and then emailed the file to him. Then, a 3D printer aboard the ISS built the tool in four hours. It was the first time that an object had been designed on Earth but built-in Space.

72/500
Here’s How this Famous Quote Ends

The famous saying, “when one door closes, another door opens,” is actually a famous quote by Alexander Graham Bell. The quote ends with “but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us.”

71/500
Have You Ever Experienced the Batman Effect?

The Batman Effect is a psychological phenomenon, in which we adopt an alter ego as an extreme form of “self-distancing.” It helps us to take a step back from our immediate feelings and see a situation more dispassionately. Experts say that it helps to reduce anxiety and boosts self-control and perseverance.

70/500
How the FBI’s Plan to Build a Secret Tunnel Underneath the Soviet Embassy Crumbled

In 1977, the FBI started building a tunnel underneath the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C to spy on the Soviets as part of Operation Monopoly. The poorly planned operation failed due to construction problems, technical issues, and a lack of knowledge of the embassy’s layout. It was later revealed that the Soviets knew about the operation all along because a mole in the FBI had already disclosed the information to them.

69/500
Stockholm’s Speed Camera Lottery Rewards Good Drivers

In 2010, the city of Stockholm conducted an experiment in which they used a speed camera to detect drivers who were speeding. Afterwards, they ran a Speed Camera Lottery, where good drivers were awarded a portion of the money that was received as fines from speeding drivers.

68/500
This Nazi Interrogator was Against Using Torture for Extracting Information

German interrogator, Hanns Scharff, was against the idea of using torture to extract information from POWs. Instead, he would take high-profile POWs on luncheons, swimming pool excursions, and nature walks, where they would have casual conversations, and the POWs would volunteer the information the Germans required. After WWII, Scharff moved to the US and even taught the US Army his interrogation techniques. He spent the last stage of his life as a mosaic artist.

67/500
South Korean Soldiers Hold Hands to Avoid Getting Pulled Across the Border into North Korea

At the demilitarized zone between South and North Korea, there are conference rooms where meetings between the two rival countries are held on rare occasions. It is said that when South Korean soldiers open the doors of the DMZ, they hold hands to prevent being pulled across the border into North Korea.

66/500
How Timothy Leary Escaped Prison

In 1970, American psychologist Timothy Leary received a 20-year prison sentence due to drug related crimes. Upon his arrival at prison, he was given a few psychological tests, which were used to assign inmates to appropriate work details. Having designed some of these tests himself, Leary answered the questions in a way that got him assigned as a gardener at a lower-security prison, from which he escaped.

65/500
The Incredibly Smart Hunting Tactic of the Mugger Crocodiles

Mugger crocodiles use an innovative technique to lure water birds. During the birds’ breeding season, the crocodiles balance twigs and sticks across their snouts and lay perfectly still in shallow waters, pretending to be a log. Attracted by those nice nest-making sticks, the unsuspecting bird gets too close, and that’s when the crocodile lunges and gets his kill.

64/500
Nearly All the Artichoke in the World is Produced Here

The rural town of Castroville in California is known as the “Artichoke Center of the World.” Nearly 99.99% of all commercially produced artichokes come from California, where they are grown throughout the year. The town even has a 20-foot tall statue of an artichoke.

63/500
Highway Hypnosis is a Real Thing

Highway hypnosis, also called white line fever, refers to an altered mental state, in which you can drive a truck, car, or any other vehicle great distances while responding to external events in the correct, safe, and expected manner, but have no recollection of consciously doing so. The phenomenon is a manifestation of the process of automaticity, where the subconscious and conscious mind can focus on different things at the same time.

62/500
How Bill Gates Prevented Reporters from Photographing His Wedding

When Bill Gates got married on the Hawaiian Island of Lanai, he bought out all the rooms at a 250-room hotel to make sure that media personnel cannot stay there. He also reportedly hired all of Maui’s helicopters to prevent photographers from flying over the venue of the wedding.

61/500
What is the Most Recyclable Material in the World?

Aluminum is among the most recyclable materials, and discarded aluminum holds more value than other items in the recycling bin. Nearly 75% of all the aluminum that is produced in the US is still in use today.

60/500
The Biggest Spider Webs You’ve Ever Seen

Some of the biggest spider webs are built by a species called Anelosimus eximius. These are social spiders that work together as a community. They build webs that can be over 25-feet-long and five-feet wide, and each web can house as many as 50,000 spiders.

59/500
The Truth Behind the Myth that Carrots Improve Night Vision

During WWII, Britain created the lie that carrots improve night-time vision to distract the Nazis from a new radar technology that they had developed to thwart the Luftwaffe’s nighttime raids.

58/500
Keith Flint Made Money Every Time Someone Cracked a “Firestarter” Joke

Keith Flint, the English singer and member of the band called The Prodigy, became a popular pub owner following his music career. He kept a jar at his pub, and customers were required to put a pound in it if they made a “Firestarter” joke when they saw him lighting the pub’s fire.

57/500
The Story of the Michelin Man

The Michelin Man, the Michelin tyre company’s official mascot and one of the oldest trademarks in the world, is white because rubber tyres used to be light-white, gray-white, or translucent-beige colored. From 1912, we started adding carbon as a strengthener and a preservative to the base rubber material, which made it black.

56/500
What Every Air Traveler in the US Should Know

In the United States, if an airline bumps a passenger from their flight due to overbooking or any other reason and it causes the passenger to be delayed for more than two hours (or four hours for international flights), the passenger will be entitled to four-times the value of the flight they were bumped from, but airlines may cap this amount to up to $1,550.

55/500
Buddhists Fined for Releasing Crabs for Good Karma

In 2015, two Buddhists released £5,000 worth of crabs and lobsters into the sea off Brighton in a religious ceremony for good karma, but they were fined nearly £15,000 for releasing non-native species into the wild and causing “untold damage” to the environment.

54/500
This Skink is Undergoing a Major Evolutionary Transition

Scientists think they are witnessing a major evolutionary transition in a species of skink that is found in eastern Australia. Though the creature was thought to be oviparous (egg-laying), it turned out to have dual reproduction habits. The ones found in coastal regions lay eggs, whereas those found in colder mountain regions give live birth.

53/500
The Kowloon Walled City – The Most Densely Populated Place on Earth

The most densely populated area to have ever existed on Earth was Kowloon Walled City, a largely self-governed and crime-infested block in Hong Kong. In 1987, around 33,000 people lived within the 6.4-acre area, and it had a population density of around 3,250,000 people per square mile.