Some things in our world are just so freaky that it makes people think there's no way they can be real. Take the platypus, for example: aside from its ridiculous appearance, it also has ten gender-determining chromosomes, electroreceptors, and little cheek pockets like hamsters. Or what about the fact that sharks can get freakishly old and some of them that are alive today have been in the ocean since the 1550s?
These are just some of the fascinating facts that folks shared in one online thread, prompted by one user asking, "What scientific discovery sounds fake but is 100% real and still freaks you out?" So, scroll down and read about other aspects of our Earth that make it just as fascinating and weird.
#1
One I never see people post is Oxygen.
The oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere only exists because of life. Without life continually replenishing it, it would eventually disappear.
The thing is, oxygen is *reactive*. It isn't inert like the nitrogen in our air. It's gradually pulled from the atmosphere when it bonds with rocks, volcanic gases, organic material—producing such hits as CO2, rust, and fun things like *fire.* If photosynthetic life stopped, free oxygen in the atmosphere would steadily decline as it was “used up” in chemical reactions.
Earth had almost no free oxygen before microbes evolved photosynthesis and began releasing it as a waste product. Over millions of years, that waste gas built up until it reached today’s level of ~21% of the atmosphere.
The kicker is that oxygen was actually toxic to most life at the time. It led to the "Great Oxygenation Event", which triggered one of Earth’s earliest mass extinctions. It’s a bit like if human-produced pollution and waste gas accumulated until it was so thick it was impossible to breathe and k****d off most life, but new life evolved that needed our pollution to live.
When free oxygen is hit by ultraviolet radiation, it breaks apart and forms ozone. The ozone layer exists because of atmospheric oxygen, and it protects the surface from that ultraviolet radiation. No oxygen, no ozone, and a lot more skin cancer. Or worse.
Because oxygen wouldn't really be in the atmosphere without life, it's also a potential biosignature. If we ever detect a planet with a stable, oxygen-rich atmosphere (especially alongside gases it shouldn’t chemically coexist with) it’s strong evidence that something is actively producing it... possibly even life.
The oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere only exists because of life. Without life continually replenishing it, it would eventually disappear.
The thing is, oxygen is *reactive*. It isn't inert like the nitrogen in our air. It's gradually pulled from the atmosphere when it bonds with rocks, volcanic gases, organic material—producing such hits as CO2, rust, and fun things like *fire.* If photosynthetic life stopped, free oxygen in the atmosphere would steadily decline as it was “used up” in chemical reactions.
Earth had almost no free oxygen before microbes evolved photosynthesis and began releasing it as a waste product. Over millions of years, that waste gas built up until it reached today’s level of ~21% of the atmosphere.
The kicker is that oxygen was actually toxic to most life at the time. It led to the "Great Oxygenation Event", which triggered one of Earth’s earliest mass extinctions. It’s a bit like if human-produced pollution and waste gas accumulated until it was so thick it was impossible to breathe and k****d off most life, but new life evolved that needed our pollution to live.
When free oxygen is hit by ultraviolet radiation, it breaks apart and forms ozone. The ozone layer exists because of atmospheric oxygen, and it protects the surface from that ultraviolet radiation. No oxygen, no ozone, and a lot more skin cancer. Or worse.
Because oxygen wouldn't really be in the atmosphere without life, it's also a potential biosignature. If we ever detect a planet with a stable, oxygen-rich atmosphere (especially alongside gases it shouldn’t chemically coexist with) it’s strong evidence that something is actively producing it... possibly even life.
68points
#2
I’m a nurse, worked in an AIDS clinic for a while, before anti-retrovirals. All our patients passed away. Now it’s a manageable chronic illness, at least in the US.
53points
#3
Apparently there’s a cloud somewhere in space scientists believe is made out of the same chemicals as alcohol
There’s a booze cloud in space.
There’s a booze cloud in space.
42points
#4
Every single thing they learn about the platypus.
theytookthemall:
We all know how weird they look, and that they lay eggs, and they're mammals but don't have nipples, and the males have venom.
Many people don't know that the platypus is one of three known mammals to have a sense of electroreception (the others are the echidna, and a type of dolphin). As far as we know the platypus and echidna (which is much less reliant on electroreception) evolved the sense entirely separately from any other animal; the nerve that goes to the electroreceptors in their bill is the trigeminal nerve, which is homologous to the trigeminal nerve in humans and other mammals.
Even fewer people know -- though few are surprised -- that the platypus genome is WEIRD. Like, real weird. The overwhelming majority of mammals have two s*x chromosomes: XX, or XY. The platypus has TEN s*x chromosomes, so male platypus are XY XY XY XY XY.
They also lack the SRY gene, which in most other mammals is the key to s*x determination - it's pretty much what tells a developing fetus to start developing testes, which in turn leads to testosterone production and so on. Until very recently we didn't know how s*x determination worked in platypus, but we've recently discovered that they do have a gene called AMH, which is another gene that contributes (but does not initiate) s*x determination in mammals. That's weird, and also interesting that AMH is found on the 'oldest' chromosome, X1, which also is more homologous to the Z chromosome, from the ZW s*x-chromosome set that is found primarily in birds. This suggests that there was separate, convergent evolution in monotremes and other mammals. There's also some random reptilian homologies thrown in there, too, just for good measure. It's really true that everything we learn about them makes them seem even stranger.
Bonus facts if you made it this far: they also have cheek pockets like hamsters, and can use their tail to carry nesting materials!
theytookthemall:
We all know how weird they look, and that they lay eggs, and they're mammals but don't have nipples, and the males have venom.
Many people don't know that the platypus is one of three known mammals to have a sense of electroreception (the others are the echidna, and a type of dolphin). As far as we know the platypus and echidna (which is much less reliant on electroreception) evolved the sense entirely separately from any other animal; the nerve that goes to the electroreceptors in their bill is the trigeminal nerve, which is homologous to the trigeminal nerve in humans and other mammals.
Even fewer people know -- though few are surprised -- that the platypus genome is WEIRD. Like, real weird. The overwhelming majority of mammals have two s*x chromosomes: XX, or XY. The platypus has TEN s*x chromosomes, so male platypus are XY XY XY XY XY.
They also lack the SRY gene, which in most other mammals is the key to s*x determination - it's pretty much what tells a developing fetus to start developing testes, which in turn leads to testosterone production and so on. Until very recently we didn't know how s*x determination worked in platypus, but we've recently discovered that they do have a gene called AMH, which is another gene that contributes (but does not initiate) s*x determination in mammals. That's weird, and also interesting that AMH is found on the 'oldest' chromosome, X1, which also is more homologous to the Z chromosome, from the ZW s*x-chromosome set that is found primarily in birds. This suggests that there was separate, convergent evolution in monotremes and other mammals. There's also some random reptilian homologies thrown in there, too, just for good measure. It's really true that everything we learn about them makes them seem even stranger.
Bonus facts if you made it this far: they also have cheek pockets like hamsters, and can use their tail to carry nesting materials!
41points
#5
Grizzly bears run as fast as the average horse.
39points
#6
Apparently we don't just get baby teeth and adult teeth, there's a third set that doesn't usually develop, and there's a human trial in Japan of a therapy that aims to change that - regrowing teeth in adulthood is straight science fiction to me, and I'm happily baffled.
39points
#7
We almost didn't make it. At some point, the main human population dwindled to less than a thousand individuals.
38points
#8
Somewhere deep in the ocean, there are sharks that were alive in the year 1550....
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37points
#9
Blind people (born that way) can't get schizophrenia. At least no case has been documented. That just really disturbs me.
Edit: You have to be born blind to not get schizophrenia, and no, blinding people will not magically cure them of the condition.
Edit: You have to be born blind to not get schizophrenia, and no, blinding people will not magically cure them of the condition.
35points
#10
Just the vastness of space. And that it’s expanding. Into what? Into nothing? That doesn’t work in my brain.
34points
#11
Split brain experiments.
People had their left and right brain hemispheres disconnected from each other, usually as a treatment for epilepsy. The scientists would give the patients tasks to complete or questions to answer to study how the split brain operated.
Your brain has different functions on the left side of the brain than right. For example, speech and language is exclusive to only one side. The brain halves are not symmetrical in terms of functionality.
______
“The split-brain experiments studied people whose Corpus Callosum had been surgically cut to treat severe epilepsy. This disconnected the left and right hemispheres so they could no longer communicate normally. Researchers like Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga then tested what each half of the brain could perceive independently.
The most famous finding came from vision experiments. If an image was flashed only to the left visual field, it went to the right hemisphere. Since language is usually centered in the left hemisphere, the patient often could not verbally say what they saw. But their left hand, controlled by the right hemisphere, could still point to or grab the correct object. This showed the information existed in the brain even though the speaking part could not access it.
In one famous split-brain experiment, a command was shown only to the patient’s right hemisphere, such as:
“Walk over there.”
The patient stood up and began walking. When researchers asked why, the speaking left hemisphere had never seen the instruction because the hemispheres were disconnected. But instead of saying “I don’t know,” the patient confidently answered something like:
“I’m going to get a Coke.”
The significant part is that the patient was not lying or joking. They genuinely believed the explanation they gave. Their brain automatically generated a reason that felt real and coherent to them, even though the true cause of the action was hidden from the part of the brain responsible for speech. The brain is designed to make sense of our experience. The ‘thinking’ part of the brain couldn’t access the reason the decision was made, so it invented one. Apparently convincing enough for the patient to feel as though it actually happened that way. That’s what made the experiment so unsettling and influential; It suggested that humans can sincerely experience invented explanations as genuine motives.”
_____
I love listening to philosophers, scientists, neurologists, and ordinary people deconstruct this phenomenon. I’ve spent a good chunk of time becoming familiar with these specific experiments, yet the implications never fail to fascinate me.
People had their left and right brain hemispheres disconnected from each other, usually as a treatment for epilepsy. The scientists would give the patients tasks to complete or questions to answer to study how the split brain operated.
Your brain has different functions on the left side of the brain than right. For example, speech and language is exclusive to only one side. The brain halves are not symmetrical in terms of functionality.
______
“The split-brain experiments studied people whose Corpus Callosum had been surgically cut to treat severe epilepsy. This disconnected the left and right hemispheres so they could no longer communicate normally. Researchers like Roger Sperry and Michael Gazzaniga then tested what each half of the brain could perceive independently.
The most famous finding came from vision experiments. If an image was flashed only to the left visual field, it went to the right hemisphere. Since language is usually centered in the left hemisphere, the patient often could not verbally say what they saw. But their left hand, controlled by the right hemisphere, could still point to or grab the correct object. This showed the information existed in the brain even though the speaking part could not access it.
In one famous split-brain experiment, a command was shown only to the patient’s right hemisphere, such as:
“Walk over there.”
The patient stood up and began walking. When researchers asked why, the speaking left hemisphere had never seen the instruction because the hemispheres were disconnected. But instead of saying “I don’t know,” the patient confidently answered something like:
“I’m going to get a Coke.”
The significant part is that the patient was not lying or joking. They genuinely believed the explanation they gave. Their brain automatically generated a reason that felt real and coherent to them, even though the true cause of the action was hidden from the part of the brain responsible for speech. The brain is designed to make sense of our experience. The ‘thinking’ part of the brain couldn’t access the reason the decision was made, so it invented one. Apparently convincing enough for the patient to feel as though it actually happened that way. That’s what made the experiment so unsettling and influential; It suggested that humans can sincerely experience invented explanations as genuine motives.”
_____
I love listening to philosophers, scientists, neurologists, and ordinary people deconstruct this phenomenon. I’ve spent a good chunk of time becoming familiar with these specific experiments, yet the implications never fail to fascinate me.
32points
#12
Haplodiploidity.
At it's simplest, it's a weird way of determining gender. In Hymenoptera (ants, wasps, bees etc.), if an egg is fertilized, it becomes female but if it's not fertilized, it becomes male. So males only have half a set of DNA, all from their mother.
That's pretty simple but the effects on evolution are earth shattering. Those ridiculously huge colonies of ants and bees? Wouldn't work without it. The quirks of it basically mean that a worker bee shares ~2/3rds of it's DNA with it's sisters but it only shares 50% of it's DNA with it's own sons. That means it's more beneficial from an evolutionary perspective, to raise your sisters, than your own sons and so workers actually benefit from NOT reproducing themselves, leading to these giga-colonies where self interest has been twisted into selfless co-operation.
And that's before it can be twisted even further through the unique form of parasitism known as Dulosis.
Honestly, I could fill this whole thread with just stuff about ants. Hymenoptera saw the rules of evolution and decided they didn't want to play that game, they'd make their own version.
At it's simplest, it's a weird way of determining gender. In Hymenoptera (ants, wasps, bees etc.), if an egg is fertilized, it becomes female but if it's not fertilized, it becomes male. So males only have half a set of DNA, all from their mother.
That's pretty simple but the effects on evolution are earth shattering. Those ridiculously huge colonies of ants and bees? Wouldn't work without it. The quirks of it basically mean that a worker bee shares ~2/3rds of it's DNA with it's sisters but it only shares 50% of it's DNA with it's own sons. That means it's more beneficial from an evolutionary perspective, to raise your sisters, than your own sons and so workers actually benefit from NOT reproducing themselves, leading to these giga-colonies where self interest has been twisted into selfless co-operation.
And that's before it can be twisted even further through the unique form of parasitism known as Dulosis.
Honestly, I could fill this whole thread with just stuff about ants. Hymenoptera saw the rules of evolution and decided they didn't want to play that game, they'd make their own version.
32points
#13
Quantum Entanglement, I guess quantum physics in general. There are very fundamental things we just don’t understand.
31points
#14
The fact that your brain basically rewrites your memories every time you remember them:) Like… there’s a chance some of your strongest memories aren’t even fully accurate anymore. That genuinely freaks me out a bit.
30points
#15
Peritoneal dialysis. So dialysis is normally a machine that replaces a kidney. But peritoneal dialysis is when you get a bunch of clean fluid injected into your abdominal cavity and let it slosh around all day. Then at the end of the day you place a drain to let this fluid that's now kinda like urine slosh out.
Somehow this works almost as well as a real kidney.
Somehow this works almost as well as a real kidney.
29points
#16
In Gabon, central Africa, there's a layer of rock known as the Francevillian Formation. It was laid down on a seabed about 2 billion years ago, something like 1.4 billion years before the beginning of multicellular life as we know it. In this rock there are grooved, spiral-shaped impressions of various sizes, the largest about 17 centimeters in diameter, and they kinda look like late Precambrian animal fossils other than the fact that they're too old by a factor of three.
Some skeptical scientists have suggested that they are probably just mineral concretions (similar to manganese nodules that we find on the ocean floor today), as some crystals also leave impression patterns like this as they form and interact with surrounding minerals. But there is also evidence that at that place and time, an inland sea combined with nearby volcanism caused nutrients to be trapped and concentrated, encouraging unusually prolific cyanobacteria growth and raising the local oxygen levels well above the Earth's average at the time- perhaps the ideal chemical environment for weird evolutionary experiments. So we *might* be looking at the fossils of some bizarre strain of life that got an early start on multicellularism 1.4 billion years ahead of time, before going extinct when its anomalously hospitable environment naturally disappeared.
Some skeptical scientists have suggested that they are probably just mineral concretions (similar to manganese nodules that we find on the ocean floor today), as some crystals also leave impression patterns like this as they form and interact with surrounding minerals. But there is also evidence that at that place and time, an inland sea combined with nearby volcanism caused nutrients to be trapped and concentrated, encouraging unusually prolific cyanobacteria growth and raising the local oxygen levels well above the Earth's average at the time- perhaps the ideal chemical environment for weird evolutionary experiments. So we *might* be looking at the fossils of some bizarre strain of life that got an early start on multicellularism 1.4 billion years ahead of time, before going extinct when its anomalously hospitable environment naturally disappeared.
24points
#17
Ants measure distance by counting their steps. Scientists proved this by taking some ants out of a line and putting tiny stilts on them. Those ants then over shot the food source they were going too.
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23points
#18
Gamma ray burst.
One could be coming to microwave our entire planet into sterility and we won’t know until it happens.
One could be coming to microwave our entire planet into sterility and we won’t know until it happens.
23points
#19
Mantis shrimp's punch. That impossible punch similar to a .22 bullet, 1500+ newtons of force and the cavitation bubble that reaches tempreature hotter than the surface of sun. All of this in under 3 milli second. WHAT.
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23points
#20
Lobster are biologically immortal and the only reason why they pass is because they exhaust themselves, either because of molting being too taxing, not getting enough food, get eaten, or get sick.
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23points