Don’t you think cool facts are like a bag of chips? You can’t stop yourself from having more and more. And I know you have a good appetite for cool facts. That’s why I have listed 35 of the best ones below.
These facts were shared on an Instagram page called Weird Facts with a whopping 1.2 million followers. Ready to learn some awesome stuff? Let’s go!
Last week, I spoke to Steven Wooding, who is a member of the Institute of Physics in the United Kingdom, who elaborated on what kind of mindset a true, curious, impartial scientist ought to have.
“Scientists have to be curious about how the world works and persistent in their work, as it may take years for it to pay off. Creativity to imagine what might be possible and attention to detail to gain knowledge are also very important,” Steven told us during an interview.
“We have to be open-minded to new facts and let data guide the way, rather than just what we think. On the other hand, we should also be critical of data. One experiment doesn’t make a fact. A fact comes from experiments that can be repeated and verified many times over.”
“According to the researcher, the advent of internet newsfeeds and platforms like TikTok and Twitter has shortened our attention spans. As a result, we tend to have a lower tolerance for long-form content that requires more focus and energy from us.”
“If you feel you are time-pressured, it’s probably only natural that you don’t want to invest a chunk of time on one article but instead scan the headlines to get lots of little bits of information. I have certainly noticed myself being less likely to read a long article unless it’s something that genuinely interests me,” he said that on the one hand, we’re saving time, but on the other hand, we’re staying at a very superficial level of information.
“The negative impact is that we won’t reach a deeper level of understanding of something and end up missing out. This is ironic, as people today rush around trying not to miss out on things,” Steven told us.
“It’s essential to have a growth mindset and realize that you probably know very little. We can only gain more profound knowledge of the world by investing time in exploring it. This issue goes back to short attention spans, which gives us a broad, but the shallow spread of knowledge. Take the time to read a book on a subject, and you are bound to learn more,” the expert gave some advice, urging everyone to build their patience for content that isn’t just bite-sized.
“Red flags to watch out for that a claim may be fake: it’s outlandish, it’s too good to be true, you haven’t seen the claim anywhere else, you’ve never heard the source, the source isn’t reputable, you can’t find two other sources making the same claim, your gut tells you, ‘this can’t be true,'” Mike told shared with us.
“The rise of social media has decreased the reliability of the information because misinformation can spread so quickly before it can be corrected,” the expert said that one basic thing we can do to check the reliability of a fact is… to start off with a simple and humble Google search. We should be on the lookout for additional sourcing and evidence. If we can’t find anything, we should remain skeptical.
“Do this and think before reposting or you may be contributing to the problem. Amplification doesn’t make a claim true or accurate,” he said.
Mike said that sources like Associated Press, Reuters, and The New York Times can be considered to be trustworthy. “They employ fact-checkers and editors that ensure the information they post is correct. They’re basically doing the research and homework for you. There are literally too many online sources to list that can’t be trusted and should be avoided. Anyone can basically post anything they want… proceed with caution,” he told us.
“Our attention spans have been reduced to mere seconds at a time because that’s the way information and entertainment are fed to us now. People get tiny bite-sized bits of news by scrolling a Twitter feed, they entertain themselves by scrolling quickly through Instagram and TikTok. It’s creating a habit that doesn’t have to be,” he said.
