Fun Facts: Continents move about the same rate as fingernails grow

Individual tectonic plates move at different speeds. Coastal California, for example, moves faster than the continental U.S. at 5 centimeters, or 2 inches, annually. The relatively fast movement explains why the region experiences so many earthquakes. ( )

After allegedly overhearing an expat say they missed eating Turkey on the holiday, the enterprising manager at Japan’s first KFC was able to capitalize on the country’s lack of traditional Christmas meal customs. Hence, chicken became the next best thing.  ( )

Mohammed can also be spelled as Muhammad, Mohamed and Mohammad.  ( )

Because a cow’s neck is far less mobile than a human’s, they also have difficulty seeing when descending downwards.  ( )

Nepalese workers receive extra time off to properly observe their national holidays, easing their regular six-day work week. ( )

The most common birthdays in the U.S. are in September. Some say that babies born in this month were conceived around the holidays when couples had more free time and felt more festive.  ( )

Negative attitudes toward left-handedness in China led people to force a right-handed dominance. Teachers may even change a child's writing hand to the right. ( )

Instead of tallow, candles are now commonly made of paraffin wax, which derives from petroleum, coal, or oil shale.  ( )

Moonquakes are not like earthquakes. Lunar seismic activity can last up to hours while terrestrial tremors usually last for seconds. However, moonquakes have so far been measured at smaller magnitudes. ( )

It’s no coincidence that the characters "J" and "I" sit next to each other in the alphabet. The letter "J," which originated as a fancy way of writing "I," eventually evolved to become its own letter in 1524. ( )

During dives, a blue whale's heartbeat slows down to four to eight beats per minute.  ( )

Allwine, who voiced Mickey Mouse from 1977 until his death in 2009, and Taylor, who voiced Minnie Mouse from 1986 to her death in 2019, kept their romance private but often praised each other publicly.  ( )

Today, many chef's hats still contain pleats as an ode to tradition rather than to signify skill. ( )

Art competitions were abandoned in 1952, because the International Olympic Committee required all competitors to be amateurs but found most of the artists to be professionals. ( )

Teeth can’t repair themselves since they are coated in enamel, which is not a living tissue. ( )

By the end of next year, the company C.A. Swanson & Sons was able to sell ten million turkey dinners. ( )

While there were plenty of turkeys at that time, historians say there are no records that suggest they were eaten. Instead, fowl such as ducks or geese were likely served instead. ( )

Glucose in the wood frog’s blood prevents the animal’s cells from being damaged when frozen. ( )

While a quick trip to Pluto would be a technological milestone, the fastest man-made object ever, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, can only travel about 400,000 miles per hour or 0.06% the speed of light. At that speed, it would take three-quarters of a year to reach Pluto. ( )

An established termite queen can lay up to 40,000 eggs every day to ensure a fast-growing colony. ( )

Because space is nearly a perfect vacuum, there's not enough air molecules for sound waves to travel. The only exceptions are sounds within a spacesuit or spaceship. ( )

A typical human cell is around 10 to 15 micrometers in diameter. ( )

While a penny weighs 2.5 grams, a Bee Hummingbird weighs 1.5 grams.  ( )

Of the world’s 1.42 million lakes with a size over 0.1 sq. km, Canada is home to 62% of them. ( )

The anatomy of a pig’s neck muscles and spine restricts them from looking upwards. ( )

The "Giant of Illinois" grew to almost nine feet tall because his pituitary gland released too much human growth hormone.  ( )

Relaxing during summer holidays could also contribute to less wear and tear to the nails. ( )

Astronomers estimate that the death rate for visible stars is 10,000 years, making it likely that the stars we see now still exist. ( )

Mirrors facing each other can produce just a few hundred reflections. ( )

In 2016, researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science revealed that previous estimates suggesting the human body was 90 percent bacteria were wrong. Instead, the average adult has about 40 trillion bacterial cells and 30 trillion human ones. ( )

Environmental factors during development, such as positioning in the womb and rate of growth, cause slight differentiation of each fingerprint.  ( )

Despite the grade, MLK Jr. graduated valedictorian of his class in 1951 and became one of the most highly respected speakers in U.S. history. ( )

Election days were set on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November for several reasons. Sundays were meant for worship, and Wednesdays were often market days. To accommodate for long travel, Tuesdays became the best day of the week to vote. Election days also couldn't be the first Tuesday of the month in order to prevent voting on Nov. 1, a day some Christians observed as All Saints' Day. ( )

Montpelier, Vermont, has the smallest population of any state capital at 8,000 residents. While it is the only state capital without a McDonald's, there is one right outside its city limits. ( )

While adult feet can produce a cup of sweat each day, kid’s feet can sweat twice as much. ( )

According to the WorldAtlas, the precious metal is located 1,800 miles below the surface of the Earth and at many thousands of degrees. ( )

Each foot also has over 100 muscles, ligaments, and tendons. ( )

This is why insects can never get very big. Their respiratory system wouldn't allow oxygen to travel to the inner parts of a larger animal fast enough. ( )

Receiving two X chromosomes with the orange gene is not common, especially when other colors, such as black, are much more prevalent among cats. ( )

The whale's massive tongue helps the animal to eat massive amounts of krill, about 40 million krill a day.  ( )

Bumblebees, which have a large body size and relatively small wings, were previously expected to struggle flying at high altitudes. However, alpine bumblebees surprisingly proved that they can hover at extreme barometric pressures, according to two researchers from the University of California and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. ( )

According to the American Museum of Natural History, platypuses are unlike all other mammals when it comes to producing milk for their young. ( )

Cumulus clouds measuring one kilometer by one kilometer weigh about 131,894 gallons, according to the Library of Congress. ( )

Switzerland’s Animal Protection Ordinance states that guinea pigs "must be kept in groups of at least two animals." ( )

Japan is the country with the highest density of vending machines in the world. (Fox News)

The race, known as the Sahara Marathon or Marathon of the Sands, is 160 miles long and takes place in southern Morocco. ( )

The reason behind the planet’s retrograde, or backward, rotation is not clear. One theory suggests that a giant collision with another large body disturbed Venus’ counterclockwise rotation and caused the planet to spin the other way. ( )

Titin, which starts with "methionylthreonylthreonylglutaminylarginyltyrosylglutamylsery," is the body’s largest known protein that maintains muscular passive elasticity. ( )

According to NASA, the celestial body is slightly more than one-quarter the size of Earth. ( )

According to the American Mathematical Society, neither one side of the coin nor the other is more likely to come up during a coin flip. Instead, the coin will land slightly more often on the same side that it started with. ( )

The fruit flies were sent into space in 1947. ( )

Space junk of that size could cause catastrophic damage to a satellite if a collision occurs, according to the European Space Agency. ( )

Phantom pregnancy occurs in 10 to 20% of pandas, according to the director of a China research and conservation center. ( )

Before the Polar Bear Holding Facility was created in the small town of Churchill, Canada, in the1980s, dangerous polar bears were shot instead. ( )

Air sacs in our lungs would slowly collapse if we didn’t sigh every five minutes, according to UCLA and Stanford researchers. ( )

According to Rare Historical Photos, "baby cages" were popularized in London partly due to an 1884 book that stated fresh air was required to renew and purify blood, suggesting that exposure to cold temperatures allowed babies to build an immune system. ( )

The now-famous kids’ toy used to be an off-white dough people would roll across their walls. ( )

The most commonly eaten variety in the U.S. is the Cavendish banana, partly due to its long shelf life, lack of seeds and lower production costs. ( )

This birthing method actually helps snap the female giraffe's umbilical cord. It also stimulates the newborn's first breath and even prevents damage to their necks. ( )

At dinner parties, attendees would not eat the fruit but admire it. ( )

At this speed, blood can travel about three feet per second, according to the Albert Vein Institute. ( )

The French capital removed its stop signs to make police intervention "from secondary ways" smoother and avoid penalizing residents, according to the country's police prefecture. However, other cities in France still use them. ( )

A forestry expert estimated the burden of producing disposable chopsticks in 2013, according to the South China Morning Post. ( )

While $1 million is a hefty price, some zoos are far from going bankrupt over the pandas, according to Business Insider. Scotland's Edinburgh Zoo saw a 51% increase in attendance due to their pandas in 2012. The National Zoo in Washington, D.C., also saw its food and merchandise sales double following the arrival of its two pandas in 2001. ( )

While men and women have different productivity levels depending on office thermostat settings, the relationship between temperature and female work performance was more pronounced, according to a USC study. ( )

While a slug's jaw cuts off larger pieces of food, its flexible band of teeth scrapes up the food particles. ( )

It may take a total of 11.5 days of clicking to burn one calorie, according to Wired. ( )

The Laurentide Ice Sheet, which once covered much of Canada, caused a large indentation near the Hudson Bay. One theory suggests that the Hudson Bay's lack of mass has affected its gravity. ( )

Right-handed people tend to live longer than left-handed people by nine years, according to a 1991 study. ( )

NASA is in the process of developing its next generation of spacesuits, which will cost over $1 billion. ( )

The length of an Earth day has been gradually increasing over the planet's 4.5-billion-year history. This is due to the Moon's influence in slowing down Earth's rotation, according to Dr. Rosemary Mardling, a mathematical scientist at Monash University. ( )

From Honeycrisp to Granny Smith, there are 7,500 known varieties of apples in the world. ( )

The word peachtree was deeply rooted in the Georgia city due to an indigenous Muscogee settlement that translated into "Standing Peach Tree." ( )

In the late 20th century, airlines began reducing cruising speeds in order to save on fuel costs, which spiked dramatically following the 1970s oil crisis. ( )

Because motorists spend a lot of time and gas waiting for left turn signals, UPS drivers usually make only right turns. This strategy also helps curtail accidents at traffic lights. ( )

While American kids make up 3.7% of the world’s children, they have almost half of all toys and children’s books, according to the Los Angeles Times. ( )

A forest area equivalent to the size of Italy was lost that year due to deforestation. ( )

A study into 3,000 sleep-deprived Brits revealed that people were most likely to wake up at 3:44 a.m. ( )

Flamingos typically live near lakes with extremely high salt concentrations, so they often resort to boiling geysers for fresh water. ( )

One jar of Nutella is sold every 2.5 seconds across the globe. ( )

That is enough to write 45,000-50,000 words or the entirety of "The Great Gatsby." (Fox News)

The first people to vote from space were two Russian cosmonauts in 1996. NASA astronaut David Wolf became the first American to vote from orbit the following year. ( )

The word "hello" was previously used to attract attention, such as, "Hello, what do you think you're doing?" ( )

The original owner of the book, a doctor, sourced the binding from a deceased female patient at a hospital where he worked. According to him, "a book about the human soul deserved to have a human covering." ( )

It would require 1.3 million Earths to fill the volume of the sun. ( )

The distance between sea level and the edge of space is 62 miles. ( )

Wheels were added to suitcases in 1970, one year after Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. ( )

His teacher later bumped his grade to an A after the U.S. Congress accepted it as America’s national flag. ( )

People will waste sixth months of their lives waiting for traffic lights to turn green. ( )

Humans will start the day just slightly taller. ( )

Writers used to use wet bread as erasers until the modern rubber tools were invented around 1770. ( )

Many Russians considered beer a soft drink until a decade ago. ( )

The Australian marsupials are the only animals known to produce cube-shaped feces. ( )

Salivary gland production varies between two to six cups per day. ( )

The underwater mailbox was proposed to attract more tourists and divers to Susami Bay. ( )

The addictive quality and small packaging of cheese makes the dairy product highly targeted among shoplifters. ( )

The 1992 law helps prevent people from spitting gum on the ground. ( )

The "immortal jellyfish" can also hit the reset button when it becomes injured or threatened. ( )

Birds, monkeys and even snakes have been spotted inside the Vietnamese cave. ( )

An average person in the Western world eats about 70,000 pounds of food in a lifetime. ( )

The Eiffel Tower was scheduled to be demolished after 20 years. ( )

Lightning also moves about 30,000 times faster than a bullet. ( )

Dubai's Burj Khalifa set the record as the world's tallest building in 2010, when it first opened. ( )

People would spend five years of their entire life with their eyes closed solely from blinking. ( )

Antarctic glaciers contain so much water that they would raise sea levels by 190 feet if they ever completely melted. ( )

A quarter-pound burger requires the equivalent of about 10 bathtubs of water to be created. ( )

Mount Everest could grow 10 inches in the span of a human lifetime. ( )

There are more trees on Earth than there are stars in the Milky Way. ( )

Honeybees must visit 2 million flowers to create one pound of honey. ( )

The length of the Great Wall of China equates to more than half the Earth's circumference. ( )

While it took over a century for the human population to go from 1 to 2 billion people, it took just over a decade for 7 billion to go to 8 billion. ( )

The Eiffel Tower can stretch an extra six inches depending on the temperature. ( )

On Venus, a day shockingly lasts longer than a year. ( )

Data equivalent to a quarter-million Libraries of Congress are created every day. ( )

The total length of a human's blood vessels could circle the Earth at least twice. ( )

In 2010, the longest traffic jam in history occurred in China, lasting 12 days. ( )

There are over 100 strikes per second around the world. ( )