A Million Earths Would Fit Inside the Sun

If the sun were hollow, you could fit a million Earths inside it, according to Cornell’s Ask an Astronomer. That’s because the sun has a radius 100 times that of the Earth!

Michelangelo Hated Painting the Sistine Chapel and Wrote a Poem About It

There are plenty of stories about how painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was quite literally a pain for Michelangelo—the artist had to be in an incredibly awkward position to complete the work of art. He supposedly hated the task so much that he wrote a poem about it.

The sonnet, which was originally written in his native Italian in 1509, has been translated by American poet Gail Mazur. Here’s a sample: “My stomach’s squashed under my chin, my beard’s pointing at heaven, my brain’s crushed in a casket, my breast twists like a harpy’s.”

At Any Given Moment, There Are Approximately 2,000 Thunderstorms Happening on Earth

Some areas of the planet experience extreme weather more often than others. But at any given time there are an estimated 2,000 thunderstorms happening in different locations on Earth, according to the National Severe Storms Laboratory.

Annually, there are about 16 million thunderstorms across the globe and around 100,000 of them occur somewhere in the United States.

The Slinky Was Created by Accident

Inventor Richard James, a naval engineer, was trying to create a spring that could help stabilize equipment on boats in choppy waters. However, his spring’s ability to move seemingly on its own proved more interesting and became the prototype for the Slinky in 1943.

A Brewery in Canada Makes Beer Using Water from 20,000-Year-Old Icebergs

Everyone wants their beer to be cool and refreshing, but one Canadian brewery also wants their beer to be as pure as possible. That’s why Quidi Vidi Brewery in Newfoundland and Labrador harvests water directly from icebergs that are up to 20,000 years old and float down the area’s Iceberg Alley. According to NPR, “The ice formed tens of thousands of years ago from compacted snow … [which] means there are no minerals and lots of tiny bubbles trapped inside. It gives the golden beer a special, very light taste.”

Penguins Used to Be Six Feet Tall

Those tiny tuxedo birds we know and love today used to be the size of a high school linebacker. According to a 2017 report published in Nature Communications, there’s evidence that extinct Kumimanu biceae penguins once stood close to 6 feet tall and weighed more than 200 pounds.

The Wizard of Oz’s Full Name is Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs

In the original 1900 Wonderful Wizard of Oz novel, written by author L. Frank Baum, the titular magic man revealed that his full name was actually much longer: Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkel Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs.

In the story, Oz, as he calls himself, explains, “It was a dreadfully long name to weigh down a poor innocent child, and one of the hardest lessons I ever learned was to remember my own name. When I grew up I just called myself O.Z., because the other initials were P-I-N-H-E-A-D; and that spelled ‘pinhead,’ which was a reflection on my intelligence.”

The Creator of the Pringles Can is Buried in One

The ashes of Fredric Baur, who created the iconic Pringles can in 1966, found his eternal resting place in one when he died in 2008. And FYI, his remains are in an original flavor can.

The Word “Tragedy” Comes from an Ancient Greek Word Meaning “Goat Song”

While “tragedy” is the word we use for a terrible event or a sad outcome, it has roots from the Middle English word “tragedie,” which can be traced back to Medieval Latin’s “tragēdia” and the Latin “tragoedia.” That word originates from the ancient Greek word “tragōidía,” meaning “goat song,” according to Oxford Dictionaries.

A commonly accepted theory for the etymology is that Greek tragedies were known as goat-songs because the prize in Athenian play competitions was a live goat.

An Apple Can Last up to 10 Months

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, if you pick an apple off a tree, it’ll last a few weeks before it starts to soften and rot. But if you store an entire harvest under “controlled-atmosphere conditions,” it’ll last up to 10 months.

So, when you buy fruit at the grocery store, the produce may not be as fresh as you expect. “Apples are harvested once a year in the U.S.,” says Alisha Albinder, a fourth-generation fruit grower. “If you’re eating a New York apple not in the fall, then it’s safe to say that it’s been in storage.”

Fleas Are Among the World’s Best Jumpers

Take that, Olympians! Fleas use their toes and shins to jump, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge. They can spring up to seven vertical inches, more than 80 times their height.

There Is a Boston Typewriter Orchestra

When you’re in the mood to play a song or two, you could grab a guitar or sit down at a piano. But for some Massachusetts residents, typewriters are the instruments of choice. The Boston Typewriter Orchestra was founded in 2004 and its members use old typewriters to produce unique sounds that they turn into music—they’ve even released an album.

As typewriter musician Brendan Emmett Quigley explains, different typewriter models result in different noises. For example, “a Smith-Corona Galaxy 12 has a power space function that makes a nice metallic clang sound.”

It Takes 68 Days to Swim the Full Length of the Mississippi River

On July 4, 2002, marathon swimmer Martin Steel began a journey in northern Minnesota that saw him making his way down the 2,348-mile Mississippi River in an effort to become the first person to swim its entire length. On September 9, he reached his goal, ending up in the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana after an incredible 68-day journey. That’s about 34.5 miles a day!

Yawning Cools Your Brain

Research conducted at the University of Vienna suggests that yawning may play an essential role in cooling our brains. But yawning to cool the brain is “not functional” when the outside temperature is as hot as the body, explained the study’s lead author Jorg Massen. And if you’re wondering: Yes, sleep deprivation does increase brain temperature, which could be a factor in why we yawn more when we’re tired.

The World’s Oldest Hotel Has Been Operating Since 705 A.D.

The Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan in Yamanashi, Japan, holds the Guinness World Record for being the oldest hotel in the world. The hot-spring hotel sits at the foot of the stunning Akaishi Mountains and has been in operation since it was founded by Fujiwara Mahito in 705 A.D. Since then, it’s been in the hands of some 52 generations of the same family for more than 1,300 years.

36 Really Cool Animal Facts

1. When opossums are "playing 'possum," they are not playing. They actually pass out from sheer terror.
2. The two-foot long bird called a Kea that lives in New Zealand likes to eat the strips of rubber around car windows.
3. Snakes are true carnivores as they eat nothing but other animals. They do not eat any type of plant material.
4. The Weddell seal can travel underwater for seven miles without surfacing for air.
5. According to tests made at the Institute for the Study of Animal Problems in Washington, D.C., dogs and cats, like people, are either right-handed or left-handed—that is, they favor either their right or left paws.
6. An iguana can stay under water for 28 minutes.
7. Crocodiles and alligators are surprisingly fast on land. Although they are rapid, they are not agile, so if you ever find yourself chased by one, run in a zigzag line. You'll lose him or her every time.
8. Horses can't vomit.
9. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
10. Butterflies taste with their feet.
11. Penguins can jump as high as six feet in the air.
12. All polar bears are left-handed.
13. An eagle can kill a young deer and fly carrying it.
14. It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog vomits its entire stomach out so the organ is dangling out of its mouth. Then the frog uses its forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and swallows the stomach back down again.
15. The leg bones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk.
16. The katydid bug hears through holes in its hind legs.
17. Slugs have four noses.
18. Ostriches stick their heads in the sand to look for water.
19. In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years there were no reported cases of an ostrich burying its head in the sand.
20. It's possible to lead a cow upstairs, but not downstairs.
21. A shrimp's heart is in its head.
22. A snail can sleep for three years.
23. The chicken is one of the few things that man eats before it's born and after it's dead.