Amazing Facts
Regularly updated list of facts that are amazing, unbelievable, and true. Featuring amazing world records, miracles, tales of longevity, and more!
In 2012, as phone booths become increasingly obsolete because of mobile phones, a Japanese artist has turned several booths in Osaka into aquariums.
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Fingers prune underwater not because of them absorbing the water or washing away the oil, but because of an evolutionary trait caused by the brain to enhance the grip of your fingers underwater.
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The oldest creature ever found was Ming the clam at an admirable 507 years old.
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Adam Rainer is the only person in recorded history ever to have been both a dwarf and a giant. At age 18 he measured 4 feet 8.3 inches. When he died at age 50 he measured 7 feet 8 inches.
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In 2007, a customer kindly gave a $10,000 tip to a Pizza Hut waitress after hearing she had financial troubles which had forced her to drop out of college.
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Canadian Nobel Prize recipient Dr. Frederick Banting, discoverer of insulin, sold the rights to the University of Toronto for $1 so that it was available to everyone.
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Self-made millionaire Harris Rosen adopted a Florida neighborhood called Tangelo Park, cut the crime rate in half, and increased the high school graduation rate from 25% to 100% by giving everyone free daycare and all high school graduates scholarships.
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Putting your car alarm remote under your chin or beside your head increases its range.
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Scientists lit a cave of natural gas on fire in 1971 expecting it to only burn for a few days; it still burns to this day. It has been nicknamed "The Door to Hell".
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The world's tallest snowman was created in Bethel, Maine in 2008. It measured in at 122 feet / 1 inch and weighed 13,000,000 lbs.
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A tortoise named Adwaita lived to 255 years old. To put it into perspective, he was born before the United States of America existed and his death was announced on CNN (1750-2006).
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Paul McCartney dreamed the melody of "Yesterday" one night and immediately wrote the music the next morning. He then looked around for a month to make sure that he didn't subconsciously plagiarize it from somebody else.
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In 1846, a 14 year old French peasant girl named Angelique Cottin was found to possess extraordinary electrical power. With a gentle touch she could knock over heavy pieces of furniture and even shock people near her.
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There's a woman named Veronica Seider who had vision 20x better than average. She could identify people more than a mile (1.6km) away.
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Between 2007 and 2012, Bill Gates gave away $28 billion; saving 6 million lives.
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A couple from Bristol who had trouble selling their house, found out they had an original Banksy on their wall, and received twice the asking price by selling the painting with a house attached.
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