1 | There is a fruit that tastes like chocolate pudding
Black sapote has another irresistible name: fruity chocolate pudding. Native to Central and South America, the fruit tastes like sweet custard with a hint of chocolate, according to Good Morning America. When fully ripe, the taste (and texture) has been described as the exact replica of chocolate pudding.
2 | Too much water can kill you
Drinking too much water can be deadly. When you drink a lot of fluids, you can suffer from water intoxication, or hyponatremia, which occurs after drinking indecent amounts of water, often during endurance events, when participants also lose sodium through sweat. There have been many famous cases, including 2002 Boston Marathon runner Cynthia Lucero, who died of overhydration.
3 | The highest temperature ever recorded on Earth was 2 billion degrees, Kelvin
To give you an idea of how hot it is, the temperature inside our Sun is only about 15 million degrees, Kelvin. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have set a record temperature in their lab using superheated gas of approximately 3.6 billion degrees Fahrenheit, which is…significantly warmer than any temperature your oven can reach.
4 | The moon is (slowly) slowing down the rotation of the Earth
Every hundred years, the moon adds about 1.4 milliseconds to the day. While it may not be significant, it adds up: When dinosaurs roamed the planet, days lasted 23 hours, according to NASA.
5 | You may be drinking water that is older than the solar system
According to The New York Times, the water on our planet could have formed from ice grains floating in a cosmic cloud 4.6 billion years ago. Not impressed? It follows that “the same liquid that we drink and that fills the oceans maybe millions of years older than the solar system itself.” Something to keep in mind while you stay hydrated!
6 | Giant squids have the largest eyes of any animal on Earth
If you’re not scared enough of giant squids, consider that their eyes are 11 inches in diameter. This makes them the largest eyes in the animal kingdom.
7 | During Prohibition, moonshiners used “cow shoes” to disguise their tracks
To keep their distillers out of sight, moonshiners during Prohibition often wore “cow shoes” with blocks of wood attached to the sole to make their footprints resemble those of a cow.
8 | Tree rings expand in wet years
You probably already know that tree rings can tell you how old a tree is. But they can also show you the conditions of a particular year, according to NASA: thinner rings appear in dry years, and thicker ones mean there was a lot of rainfall.
9 | The hottest inhabited place in the world is Ethiopia
Dallol, Ethiopia has the highest average temperature of any inhabited place on Earth. Climate data recorded between 1960 and 1966 had an average high of 106 degrees Fahrenheit. (Even in winter, average highs were between 97 and 98 degrees.)
10 | Hot water freezes faster than cold water
Crazy, right? Several explanations for the “Mpemba effect” have been proposed, including one that warm containers conduct heat more efficiently, and another that suggests that warm water evaporates faster.