100 Interesting Facts About The World To Blow Your Mind

Published January 27, 2014
Updated March 12, 2024

Learn more about the amazing world with these interesting facts about life that are guaranteed to tantalize your mind.

Did you know that the smallest penguin on the planet is only 16 inches tall? Or that Mammoths roamed the Earth when the Great Pyramids were being constructed?

Satiate your curiosity for the world around you with these fascinating, hilarious, and downright interesting facts:

Curie Notebooks
Madame Curie's notebooks are still radioactive. Researchers wishing to study them must sign a waiver in order to do so.

Lorax Truax
In response to The Lorax the foresting industry published Truax to teach kids about the importance of logging.

Interesting Facts About Twister
When Twister was introduced in 1966, it was denounced by critics as "sex in a box."

Lifeforms Living On Your Skin
There are more lifeforms living on your skin than there are people on the planet.

Interesting Facts About Otters
Otters sleep holding hands.

Oj Simpson Terminator Featured
OJ Simpson was originally cast to play Terminator, but the studio was afraid that no one would buy him as a remorseless killer.

Leonardo Da Vincis Amazing Skill
Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

Initials On The Moon
The last man to walk on the moon, Gene Cernan, promised his daughter he’d write her initials on the moon. He did, and her initials, “TDC,” will probably be on the moon for tens of thousands of years.

Interesting Facts Mimic Octopus
The Mimic Octopus can not only change colours, but will mimic the shapes of other animals, like the flounder, lionfish, and sea snakes.

Fecal Matter Office Mugs
Twenty percent of office coffee mugs contain fecal matter.

Interesting Facts Human Population
If you were to remove all of the empty space from the atoms that make up every human on earth, the entire world population could fit into an apple.

Interesting Facts About Spy Cats
In the 1960s, the CIA tried to spy on the Kremlin and Russian embassies by turning cats into listening devices. The program, called Acoustic Kitty, involved surgically implanting batteries, microphones and antennae inside cats.

Interesting Facts About The World
The three wealthiest families in the world have more assets than the combined wealth of the forty-eight poorest nations.

The World's Longest Traffic Jam
A traffic jam lasted lasted for more than 10 days, with cars only moving 0.6 miles a day.

Interesting Facts Dueling In Paraguay
Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.

Caterpillars
Caterpillars completely liquify as they transform into moths.

Corpses On Mount Everest
There are over 200 corpses on Mount Everest and they are used as way points for climbers.

John D Rockefeller's Net Worth
When adjusted for inflation, John D. Rockefeller is the richest man in the history of the world with a net worth 10 times more than Bill Gates.

Interesting Facts Pulp Fiction
All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck at 4:20.

Interesting Facts Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss wrote "Green Eggs and Ham" to win a bet against his publisher who thought that he could not complete a book with only 50 words.

Insects Eaten During Sleep
A human will eat on average 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders while sleeping.

Interesting Facts About Chess
There are more possible iterations of a game of chess than there are atoms in the known universe.

University Of Nebraska Stadium
When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home, the stadium becomes the state's third largest city.

Russia Beer
Russia didn't consider beer to be alcohol until 2011. It was previously classified as a soft drink.

Lion Facts
If a male lion takes over a pride, he executes all of the cubs.

Scrooge McDuck's Net Worth
Forbes estimated in 2011 that Scrooge McDuck was worth $44.1 billion.

Snow
Two-thirds of the people on Earth have never seen snow.

Interesting Facts About Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
In Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller Psycho, the sound effects for the famous shower scene were actually created by repeatedly stabbing a casaba melon.

Weight Of A Hummingbird
A hummingbird weighs less than a penny.

Vacant Houses And The Homeless Population In America
There are more vacant houses than homeless people in the Unites States.

Interesting Facts About The 1904 Olympics
When St. Louis held the 1904 Summer Olympic Games, events included greased pole climbing, rock throwing and mud fighting.

Wooly Mammoth
The Woolly Mammoth was around when the Egyptian Pyramids were being built.

Soda Consumption In America
The average American drinks about 600 sodas a year.

Suppressing Sneezes
If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.

Two Headed Snakes
When snakes are born with two heads, they fight each other for food.

Walk The Earth
The average person walks the equivalent of three times around the world in a lifetime.

Interesting Facts
A shark can detect one part of blood in 100 million parts of water.

Interesting Facts The Jeep
The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.

FDA Regulations On Raisins
FDA regulations allow 10 insects and 35 fruit fly eggs per 8 ounces of raisins.

Jellyfish Are 95 Percent Water
A jellyfish is 95 percent water.

Shorter In The Morning
You are 1% shorter in the evening than in the morning.

Watch Every Video On Youtube
It would take over 1,000 years to watch every video on YouTube.

How Netflix Was Started
After racking up $40 in late fees for a VHS, Reed Hastings was inspired to start Netflix.

Ikea Beds Fact
1 in 10 European babies are conceived in an IKEA bed.

Hippo's Mouth
A hippo can open its mouth wide enough to fit a 4 foot tall child inside.

Hiccups
A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years.

Headless Cockroaches
A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off.

Air In Metros
Fifteen percent of the air you breathe in a metro station is human skin.

Tongue Is The Strongest Muscle
The tongue is the strongest muscle in the human body.

Guinness Book Of Records
Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.

Giraffe Tongue
A giraffe can clean its own ears with its 21-inch tongue.

Grumble Of Pugs
A group of pugs is called a grumble.

Gender And Lightning
Men are 6 times more likely to be struck by lightning than women.

Interesting Facts Pope Is A Harlem Globetrotter
In 2000, Pope John Paul II was named an 'Honorary Harlem Globetrotter.'

Twitter
The words written on Twitter every day would fill a book of 10 million pages.

Frozen Lobsters
Frozen lobsters can come back to life when thawed.

Population Of Africa
Africa's population will more than double to 2.3 billion people by 2050.

Fortune Cookies Interesting Facts
Fortune cookies are actually an American invention -- Charles Jung created them in 1918.

Donald Duck Comics
Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.

French
French was the official language of England for over 600 years.

The Most Interesting Facts About The World
A flea can jump 350 times its body length, the equivalent of a human jumping the length of a football field.

Tommy Lee Jones And Al Gore College Roommates
Actor Tommy Lee Jones and former vice-president Al Gore were freshman roommates at Harvard.

Fascinating Facts About US State Names
Tennessee was originally known as Franklin; West Virginia was nearly named Kanawha, and Utah almost became the state of Deseret.

Falling Coconuts Versus Shark Attacks
You are more likely to die from a falling coconut than a shark attack.

Chance Of Winning The Lottery
The chance of you dying on the way to get lottery tickets is actually greater than your chance of winning.

Eye Size
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

Peter Freuchen
In 1926, Arctic explorer Peter Freuchen was trapped under an avalanche while on an expedition. He escaped from death by fashioning a shiv out of his own feces and amputating his foot.

Elvis Presley 8th Grade Music
Elvis Presley got a 'C' in his 8th grade music class.

Average Human Consumes Insects
The average person consumes a pound of insects per year, mostly mixed in from other foods.

Coca Cola Coloring
Coca-Cola would be green if coloring wasn’t added to it.

Dust Mites And Mattresses
The average mattress doubles in weight over the course of 10 years due to accumulation of dust mites and dust mite poop.

Countries That Don't Use The Metric System
The United States, Burma, and Liberia are the only countries in the world that have not officially adopted the metric system as the standard of measurement.

Earth
Earth is the only planet not named after a god.

Cows Best Friends Fact
Cows have best friends and experience stress when they are removed from them.

Doctor Claimed Autism Vaccines
The doctor who claimed there was a link between autism and vaccines created fraudulent data for his study and lost his medical license.

Dangers Of Going To Work
Going to work is statistically three times more dangerous than war.

1881 US Presidents
During the year 1881, three men served as President of the United States: Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, and Chester A. Arthur.

Africa Before Colonial Rule
Before colonial rule Africa comprised up to 10,000 different states and autonomous groups with distinct languages and customs.

Pig Execution
In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child.

Automobiles In Los Angeles Interesting Fact
Almost a quarter of the land area of Los Angeles is taken up by automobiles.

Ostrich Brain Fact
An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

Facts About Sneezing
If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib.

Origins Of Phrase To Get Fired
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them use to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."

Jiffy Unit Of Time
A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

Bayer Heroin Featured
For years, the pharmaceutical company Bayer held the trademark for the word “heroin” and sold the drug as a cough and headache remedy.

Polar Bear Camouflage
Polar Bears trying to blend in with the ice will cover up their black nose with their paws.

NFL Playing Time
In an average NFL football game, there are only about 12 minutes of actual play time.

Mosquitoes
It would take 1,200,000 mosquitoes, each sucking at once, to completely drain the average human of blood.

Average Life Span Of Left Handed People
Approximately 2,500 left handed people die a year as a result of using equipment designed for right handed people.

Millionaire Fascinating Facts
If you started with $0.01 and doubled your money every day, it would take 27 days to become a millionaire.

Baby Robins Earthworms Picture
Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day.

Military Statues
In a statue dedicated to a person, if the horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

Biggest Tapeworm Interesting Facts About Life
The biggest tapeworm found inside a human body was 35 meters long.

Mental Capacity Of Dogs
Dogs are capable of understanding up to 250 words and gestures, and have demonstrated the ability to do simple mathematical calculations.

Blue Whale Fart Bubbles
Blue Whale fart bubbles are large enough to enclose a horse.

Louis Armstrong Lip Callouses
Louis Armstrong played the trumpet so much that he got callouses on his lips. He cut them off with a razor blade.

Longest Jellyfish
The longest jellyfish on record measured 160 feet.

Breathing
Due to breathing, your ribs move about five million times a year.

Living To 116
Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

British Tanks And Tea
Since 1945, all British tanks come with tea making equipment.


And if you enjoyed these interesting facts about the world, check out our other posts on space facts, and amazing facts that will make you the most interesting person in the room!

author
Alec
author
Alexander is a Brooklyn-based cofounder of All That's Interesting with an undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in History and Economics and an MSc from the School of Oriental and African Studies in Economics. He specializes in American history, the Cold War, and true crime.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.