Unbelievable facts

But men at the same jobs are allowed to wear glasses! Women have to wear contact lenses instead, even if it hurts their eyes or they have eye infections. Some women even had to get laser eye surgery just to keep their jobs.

In parts of Africa, wild greater honeyguide birds really can help people find honey. The birds chatter, fly from tree to tree, and lead honey hunters toward hidden wild bee nests. People also use special local calls to ask for the birds’ help, like the Yao “brrr-hm” call in Mozambique. After humans open the nest and collect the honey, the honeyguides can eat the leftover beeswax and larvae. It is one of the rare cases where wild animals and humans work together without training.

In Albertville, France, a biogas plant uses whey left over from making Beaufort cheese to generate energy. The whey is fermented to make methane gas, which then helps produce electricity. Smithsonian reported the plant could make about 2.8 million kWh each year, enough for a community of about 1,500 people.

Over 60% of Gen-Zers and millennials moved back home in the past two years because of high housing costs, student debt, and inflation.

In Costa Rica, scientists tried a wild forest-healing idea in the late 1990s. They spread about 12,000 metric tons of orange peels and pulp on a worn-out pasture in Área de Conservación Guanacaste. Sixteen years later, researchers found the place had turned into a thick young forest, with 176% more aboveground biomass in the studied 3-hectare area.

Researchers in Switzerland found that wastewater and sewage sludge carry tiny traces of precious metals every year. Across the country, they estimated about 43 kg of gold and 3,000 kg of silver in a year. These tiny bits mostly come from industries that use precious metals, like watchmaking, electronics, and gold refining. It sounds like hidden treasure, but in most places the metal is spread out so thinly that recovering it would cost more than it is worth.

The superb lyrebird of Australia is one of nature’s best sound mimics. Its song can copy many other birds, and some lyrebirds can also copy human-made sounds like chainsaws, car engines, and camera-style clicks, especially when they hear those sounds around them.

At the University of Coimbra’s Biblioteca Joanina in Portugal, bats are treated more like tiny night guards than pests. The old library holds rare books from the 16th to 18th centuries, and the bats help by eating insects that could damage paper and bindings. At night, staff cover the historic tables with leather sheets. In the morning, they clean up after the bats and the books stay protected.

Middle Island is so close to the mainland that foxes can cross over at low tide. The penguin colony crashed from about 600 birds in 1999 to fewer than 10 by 2005; one research paper says only 4 birds were recorded arriving to breed that year. After the Maremma guardian dogs started work in 2006, the island had no recorded fox attacks while the dogs were there, and the colony reached an estimated 180 penguins in the 2016–2017 breeding season. In 2017, some penguins arrived before the dogs returned, foxes attacked again, and the attacks stopped once Eudy and Tula, the guardian dogs, came back.

Port Lockroy is known as the UK’s most southerly public post office, and about 70,000 cards are posted from there each year to over 100 countries. In one recent season, the team counted 938 eggs in 545 occupied gentoo penguin nests on Goudier Island, and later recorded 694 chicks.

Researchers found that roundhead parrotfish can spend up to an hour making this cocoon before sleep. In one study, fish with intact cocoons had far fewer parasite bites than fish whose cocoons were removed. Scientists think the cocoon may block parasites physically, chemically, or by hiding the fish’s smell.

Many birds swallow tiny stones, sand, or small shell pieces because they do not have teeth to chew like humans do. These little hard pieces sit in the gizzard, a strong muscular part of the stomach. When the gizzard squeezes, the stones help crush seeds, nuts, and other tough food into smaller pieces. It works like a tiny food grinder inside the bird.

A 2025 study in JAMA Network Open found a surprising link between golf courses and Parkinson’s diagnosis. Researchers studied medical records from parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin and found that people living within one mile of a golf course had 126% higher odds of a Parkinson’s diagnosis than people living more than six miles away. The researchers said pesticides used on golf courses may be one possible reason, especially where groundwater is easier to contaminate. The study shows a link, not definite proof that golf courses cause Parkinson’s.

In 1999, Mexia Supermarket in Fort Worth, Texas was abandoned with food still inside the building. After the power went out, meat, dairy, and produce rotted in the heat, creating a terrible smell and attracting flies, rats, and other pests. The Fort Worth Health Department declared the store a health hazard. Cleanup crews wearing protective gear then spent about two weeks removing the spoiled food, fumigating the building, and cleaning the site. The case later appeared on Life After People as a real example of what can happen when a grocery store is left abandoned.

When the cruise ship MTS Oceanos sank off South Africa in 1991, the engine room flooded and the ship lost power. The captain and some crew members left while many people were still on board. Instead of freezing, the ship’s entertainers stepped up. Musicians, a magician, and other staff helped radio for help, guide passengers, and keep the rescue moving until helicopters and nearby ships arrived. In the end, all 571 people on board were safely rescued.

Brighton’s Volk’s Electric Railway opened in 1883 and is still known as the world’s oldest operating electric railway. It carries passengers along Brighton’s seafront, right beside the beach.

Airplane windows do not always line up with seats because the windows are built into the aircraft body, but the seats are arranged later by the airline. Airlines can choose different cabin layouts, seat spacing, business-class sections, extra-legroom rows, galleys, and lavatories. That means the same type of plane can have different numbers of seats depending on the airline.