Science is a broad topic, and researchers are discovering strange things every day. The lessons that they taught you in high school science class barely scratch the surface of the weird phenomena that happen on Earth and beyond. Here are some fun bits of science fact to shake up your perceptions about nature.
1. Bananas give off radioactivity
There’s no need to panic. Your morning fruit has not been slowly killing you with radiation, but there is a tiny bit of radioactivity from bananas that is given off by the potassium contained naturally in the fruit. In case you’re still worried, you should know that it would take about 10 million bananas to produce a lethal amount of radiation in your body, so it’s impossible to consume a dangerous amount in a single day.
2. Hot water turns to ice faster than cold water
This is a very counter-intuitive idea, but it has been proven by scientific experimentation. Scientists theorize that the motion of hot water molecules enables a faster release of heat than in cold water. The term for this is the “Mpemba effect,” which is named after a student in Tanzania. Researchers are considering how hot water could be used for developing more efficient cooling systems.
3. Humans share DNA with plants
Researchers who study the human genome have found that one percent of our genetic information is similar to some portions of plant DNA. This has led scientists to conclude that there is some plant biology in the remote past ancestry of our evolutionary timeline. However, don’t worry about sprouting leaves from your head. Given that there are over 3 billion base pairs of DNA in our genetic code, this tiny bit of plantlike code in our genes is not really significant.
4. It’s raining diamonds
You may have heard famous rap artists talk about raining diamonds in a metaphorical sense, but scientists believe that there is some basis for this in reality. Gigantic planets, such as Jupiter or Saturn, exert such intense pressure that they could compress substances in their atmospheres into diamonds. A laboratory experiment successfully proved this phenomenon by reproducing the natural state of our solar system’s gas giants. It’s possible that up to 2.2 million pounds of diamonds could fall on certain areas of Saturn each year.
5. The human stomach can digest razor blades
Don’t test this at home, but the human stomach is capable of digesting razor blades. If you somehow, through sabotage or accident, end up getting a razor blade in your lasagna and swallow it, you will probably be okay. The strength of stomach acid is ranked very high on the pH scale. With a level between 1 and 2, where lower numbers denote stronger corrosive power, the human stomach is capable of dissolving metal objects. Research shows that the thick back of a razor blade dissolves in about 2 hours when immersed in human stomach acid.