Sometimes you learn things that you 100% did not think could be true. Science has uncovered some crazy facts that seem unbelievable, but are backed up with data. You can try to wrap your mind around these perplexing theories.
1. Humans and bananas share 50% of their DNA.
Humans and bananas look nothing alike, yet researchers have found that we have 50% of the same DNA sequences as bananas. This percentage used to actually be higher in the past, but due to the genetic modification of bananas and the evolution of humans through time, our similarity to bananas has decreased.
2. Carrots were originally purple.
The vegetable that is now distinguished by its orange color used to be purple in the wild. Purple carrots were what was found in nature and the norm, until the Dutch found some mutations of orange and yellow carrots in the 17th century. The Dutch farmers decided they liked the new offshoots of orange carrots and cultivated them to make more orange carrots. Orange carrots came to dominate when scientists realized that they contain higher amounts of beta-carotene which the body converts to vitamin A.
3. You are 1% shorter in the evening.
Measure how tall you are in the morning versus how tall you are in the evening and you will find that you have shrunk. While we are moving about during the day, the cartilage in our bones compresses to perform different movements we may partake in such as walking and dancing. When we are sleeping during the night, our cartilage elongates to its usual length making us about 1 centimeter taller in the morning.
4. Octopuses have 3 hearts.
You might think that you are the most loving person, but actually, an octopus has you beat. All vertebrate animals usually one have one heart, but an octopus has three. One heart pumps blood throughout the body, and the other two hearts pump blood throughout its gills. The octopus needs two hearts to pump blood through its gills because the gills are the organ that allows it to breathe underwater, which is hard work.
5. A strawberry is not a berry.
A strawberry may not be a berry, but an avocado and a banana are classified to be berries. The scientific definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Unfortunately, strawberries come from a flower with more than one ovary which makes them an aggregate fruit.
You learn new things every day. And sometimes you just learn things that seem crazy, but are true.
All gifs courtesy of Giphy.