26Oxygen masks
Oxygen masks in airplanes aren't connected to an oxygen tank. Instead, they use a chemical reaction to generate it on the spot.
27. The Sand Octopus lacks color changing organs (chromatophores) so they shoot jets of water to create quicksand and then blast almost a foot into the ground. They then secrete mucus to reinforce the walls of their predator proof bunker and use one arm to create a ventilation “chimney.”
28. Oranges are sold in bright red net bags because the color of the net deepens the perceived color of the fruits. This is called Munker's illusion.
29. Semantic satiation (also semantic saturation) is a psychological phenomenon in which repetition causes a word or phrase to temporarily lose meaning for the listener, who then perceives the speech as repeated meaningless sounds.
30. In 2009, a drunk New Zealander lost a poker bet and had his name changed to "Full Metal Havok More Sexy N Intelligent Than Spock And All The Superheroes Combined With Frostnova". He found out that it was accepted 5 years later after receiving a confirmation letter.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
31Fingerprints
When 5 experts were given fingerprints that, unbeknownst to them, they had deemed a “match” earlier in their career, and told that these were from a suspect of the Madrid train bombings, 4 of the 5 experts now said that they didn't match, suggesting their judgment is affected by the context.
32. A medical examiner named Judy Melinek identified hundreds of bodies from the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, many of which were merely scraps of flesh or pieces of the limb. She was called in mid-August 2002 because they had found a foot bone on top of another skyscraper 1/5 mile away.
33. Blueberries and raspberries have the same pigment compounds, anthocyanins. Blueberries are blue because they are less acidic. If you add an acid like vinegar to crushed blueberries, they will turn red. Adding a base like baking soda will return them to blue.
34. Bette Graham became a typist to support herself and her son Michael in 1951. She was a poor typist and invented a white tempera paint to cover her mistakes. This led to her business Liquid Paper Co. which she sold 25 years later for $48 million. Michael went on to become a member of The Monkees.
35. To understand a pun, the brain's left and right hemispheres have to work together due to the unique structure of the joke.
