13 Facts That Might Teach Quite A Lot Of People Something New

Knowledge is something that can always be improved. At the same time, it's also a thing that no matter how much effort you put in, you'll have some blind spots because it's impossible to know absolutely everything, isn't it? There are things that we are doomed to never learn about. But today's list isn't about them. Instead, it's about the things many people don't know but can learn about. And when is a better time to start than now?

More info: Reddit

13 PHOTOS

#1

If you want to stop and have a chat, you won't die if you move out of the walkway.

#2

Ctrl Backspace deletes the entire word.

#3

A burial plot is called a graveyard if it's part of a church lot. It's called a cemetery if separate.

Probably many of us have heard the saying that “knowledge is power” at least once in our lifetime. This phrase comes from the Latin aphorism "scientia potentia est" (the words can be placed slightly differently, but it doesn’t change the meaning). Commonly, it’s attributed to Sir Francis Bacon, former Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, as the expression "ipsa scientia potestas est" ('knowledge itself is power') occurred in his book “Meditationes Sacrae” (1597). 

As you can see, Francis Bacon didn’t use the exact aphorism that’s assigned to the “knowledge is power” saying. The first time this exact Latin phrase was written was in the 1668 version of “Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes, an ex-secretary to F. Bacon. 

#4

The only difference between chemistry and biology is life. If it's alive, it's biology, if it's not its chemistry.

#5

Scuba is an acronym, standing for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.

#6

A company called Warner Chappell Music collected licensing fees for the use of the song “Happy Birthday to You” until 2015. That’s why characters in movies often sing other songs like “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” and restaurant chains often have their birthday songs they sing to customers.

Yet, even though knowledge is power, everyone carries different levels of it. And this leads to the phenomenon of the “curse of knowledge” or “the curse of expertise.” It’s a cognitive bias where people incorrectly assume that everyone knows as much as they do on a certain topic. This makes it hard for them to imagine what it’s like to not have that knowledge.  

One of the most interesting experiments done about this curse, which also quite easily explains the phenomenon, was conducted in 1990 by a Stanford University psychology graduate student Elizabeth Newton. She created a game, where people were assigned roles of “tapper” and “listener.” Tappers had to tap out the rhythm of a well-known song on a table, while the listeners had to guess the song. 

Out of 120 songs tapped out during the experiment, only 3 were guessed correctly. Yes, only 3! When a tapper taps, they hear the tune in their mind along with the taps, while the listener only hears the uncoordinated tapping sounds. And due to the curse, the tappers couldn’t see why it was so hard for listeners to understand the tune. 

#7

Irukandji jellyfish grow only to about 1 cubic cm in size but have an incredibly painful sting. One symptom of the sting is a strong impending sense of doom. Victims have begged their doctor to be killed as they were certain they would die anyway.

#8

Bananas are berries, and Antarctica is a desert.

#9

Mammals pee an average of 22 seconds, no matter if mouse or elephant.

This works with any other type of knowledge. Knowing some piece of information makes it hard to understand how others don’t know it, hence the curse in the phenomenon’s name. 

And it’s not the only thing that's so cursed about it. This phenomenon creates quite a few problems between people: 

• This makes some teachers have difficulty understanding how their students can’t comprehend a topic;
• Makes it difficult to communicate; 
• Makes it hard to understand or justify your past behavior;
• Makes it hard to predict or understand the behavior of others.
• So, be aware that as you learn new things from this list, you might fall for the curse of knowledge. After all, as the question that prompted this thread suggests, the majority of people don’t know these facts, so don’t forget that! 

Also, maybe you know any other facts that not many others know that weren't mentioned in this list? Share it with us in the comments! And don't forget to upvote the most interesting facts you learned from this list!

#10

Squirrels run faster up trees than on flat surfaces

#11

Font describes the variation in style in which something is written: size, italic, bold, all caps, etc.

The typeface is the variation in the style of letters (Arial, Times New Roman, Comic Sans) that most people refer to as fonts.

#12

Most of the people involved in the Hindenburg disaster lived.

#13

The Amazon River is over 4,000 miles long and doesn't have any bridges that cross it.