THE OLYMPICS

According to a study, bronze medal winners are happier than silver medal winners. This is due to counterfactual thinking: the silver medalists are more likely to compare themselves with gold medalists, while the bronze medal winners are more likely to compare themselves with 4th place finishers.

CHINA

In 2013, a US IT worker outsourced his own job to a man in China. He paid the man 1/5th of his salary and then he sat at his desk browsing the internet. He was found out after a security audit discovered some suspicious VPN activity.

SLEEPING

1-3% of the population are known as the sleepless elite. This group of people routinely get 6 hours or less of sleep daily and remain totally functional.

FLAGS

There is a hotel that sits right on the border of Switzerland and France. A set of stairs started in France and ended in Switzerland. The upper rooms were thus ideal as a hideout for French Resistance members during WWII as the Nazis weren't allowed to cross into the Swiss side.

CHICKENS

If you hold the head of a chicken still and draw a straight line while the chicken is looking at it, the chicken will be hypnotized for 30 minutes.

MIKE TYSON

At 13, Mike Tyson's school classified him as borderline mentally handicapped.

THE BRITISH ARMY

Celebrated British military surgeon, James Barry, was found to be a woman on his death.

WORLD WAR 2

Harry Patch, the last surviving soldier of World War 1, died at the age of 111 years, 1 month, 1 week, and 1 day.

CANDY

Canadians make a candy called tire d'érable by pouring maple syrup on snow, then rolling it onto sticks.

FINGERPRINTS

Your fingerprint is not protected under the 5th amendment. Therefore police can force you to unlock a phone with fingerprint locks, but not password locks.

THE ROYAL FAMILY

When Princess Diana was stripped of her title "her Royal Highness," a young Prince William told her "Don't worry, Mummy, I will give it back to you one day when i am king."

DRIVING
Your dorsolateral striatum is the part of your brain that takes over when you drive to work and don't remember how you got there.

PITBULLS

When confronted by police, a man took his pitbull off the least, pointed at the police and yelled "kill em boy, kill em!" The dog responded by biting him on his backside and chasing him into a nearby apartment where the officers arrested him.

OCTOPUS

A baby octopus is about the size of a flea when it is born.

BALDING

The more likely a man can grow a beard, the greater the risk he will go bald.

MARS

In 20-70 million years, Mars' moon Phobos will get close enough to the surface of the planet that it will be ripped apart by the tidal forces. The resulting debris will most likely give Mars a planetary ring.

PLANETS

The sun and moon appear to be the same size because of an astonishing coincidence: the moon is 400 times smaller but also 400 times closer.

LOBSTERS

Lobsters are biologically immortal. They don't age and will never die unless they are killed.

MATH

A Russian mathematician solved a 100 year old problem. He declined the Fields medal, $1 million in awards, and later retired from math because he hated the recognition the math community gives to people who prove things.

NINTENDO

Nintendo has banked so much money, that they could run a deficit of over $250 million every year and still survive until 2052.

WARPLANES

Russian fighter pilot Alexey Maresyev's plane was shot down by the Germans in 1942 and he crash-landed in enemy territory. Both of his legs were severely mangled, but he managed to get himself to friendly turf after crawling for 18 days in the snow. His legs had to be amputated below the knee. He got himself on crutches and prosthetics and within a year, danced in front of a judge to prove he was battle ready. He then went on to fly 86 combat missions and took out 11 enemy warplanes.

POLIO

Jonas Salk declined to patent his polio vaccine. He said "There is no patent, could you patent the sun?"

CHEESE

Albertville, France's electricity is powered by Beaufort cheese. Since whey is unnecessary to make Beaufort cheese, bacteria is added to the whey. This transforms the whey into biogas. This gas is then fed through an engine which heats water to over 90 degrees C to generate 2800 MWh/yr of electricity.

GIVING BIRTH

If a foreigner gives birth on a plane while flying over the United States, the baby is automatically a U.S. citizen.

SLEEP

If you take a nap after learning something new, it can help your retention of it.

BEARDS

In the Victorian Era, doctors prescribed beards to help keep men healthy.