Facts That Blew Our Minds in 2024
After a year of reporting, chewing gum, space capsules, and minivans are just a few of the things we now see in a new light.
Throughout 2024, academic fraud, infectious disease outbreaks, the evolution of artificial intelligence, and extreme weather events have been investigated. The quirks of animal behavior and the latest developments in psychedelics research have also been explored. Along the way, surprising were uncovered—and they will astonish you too.
1.Your body contains actual fragments of your MOM—and possibly your grandmother, siblings, aunts, and uncles as well.
2. Children with cystic fibrosis are no longer automatically eligible for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, thanks to a new drug that works so effectively, these children are now expected to live nearly normal lifespans.
3. In 1998, Aaron Sorkin told ABC executives that adding a laugh track to his first TV show, Sports Night, would feel like wearing an Armani tuxedo, then ruining it by spraying Cheez Whiz all over himself. Despite his objections, Sports Night still premiered with a laugh track.
4. Hitching the evangelical wagon to Donald Trump has meant unhitching it from the life and teachings of Jesus.
5. The Walmart Effect: New research suggests that the company makes the communities it operates in poorer—even taking into account its famous low prices.
6. Why Do Rich People Love Quiet? The sound of gentrification is silence—emptying out vibrant communities as wealthier residents move in, creating a quieter, more subdued atmosphere that reflects the shift in economic and social dynamics.
7. Over 10,000 barcodes are scanned every second across the globe.
8. Brains have a texture similar to that of tapioca pudding.
9. Generative AI has been trained using subtitles from over 53,000 movies and 85,000 TV show episodes.
10. Each sperm whale clan has its own unique set of clicking sounds for communication, with some of these sounds possibly being older than Sanskrit.
11. Chewing gum became a staple in baseball partly because in 1932, Philip Wrigley, heir to the Wrigley Company, began supplying it to players in the Chicago Cubs clubhouse after taking ownership of the team.
12. The reaction to the January 6 pardons reveals that the US president faces no significant opposition or limitations from within his own party.
13. During the French and Indian War, onions were used as a remedy for treating wounds.
14. Minivan sales in the United States have dropped by approximately 80 percent from their peak in 2000.
15. You can now purchase a fitness tracker for your pet, and humanity has essentially maxed out the available space in airplane overhead bins.
16. Study-abroad accents could actually be genuine.
17. Kids don't necessarily need to eat vegetables.
18. A tick bite can cause an allergy to mammalian meat, to the point where some ranchers are becoming allergic to their own cattle.
19. The energy needed to display a new Instagram post from Cristiano Ronaldo to each of his followers could power a house for several years.
20. A group of butterflies crossed the Atlantic Ocean nonstop, completing the journey in just about eight days.
21. Early space capsules had no handholds or footholds on the outside, which made it difficult for some spacewalking astronauts to return to the spacecraft.
22. California grizzly bears were mostly vegan, but over time, human influence has made them more carnivorous.
23. Mushroom genes can make petunias glow. Meanwhile, in the Middle Ages, people took their pet squirrels for walks and dressed them in elaborate accessories.
24. Each sperm whale clan has its own unique set of clicking sounds for communication, with some of these sounds potentially being older than the Sanskrit language.
25. Comic Sans was originally designed for a program featuring an animated character, with the font intended to mimic the informal, playful style of hand-written text.
There you have it... we’re always looking for something to wow us!