Sometimes, reality is stranger than fiction. Other times, reality straight-up seems like fiction. We're not talking about magic and mermaids and knights in shining armor—we're talking about the strangest little-known things on the planet. A 1,500-year-old plant, an island full of adoptable dogs, even a machine that prints brick roads. Yes, the world is full of amazing, astonishing, truly incredible things you never knew existed. Herein, we've rounded up our 50 favorites that will make your head spin. And for more incredible trivia, check out the 50 Amazing Facts Guaranteed to Make You Smile.
You already know that home insurance, car insurance, and life insurance exist—but what about alien abduction insurance? For $19.95 you can get just that from the Saint Lawrence Agency in Altamonte Springs, Florida. The unique company has sold more than 6,000 policies to date, all for $10 million worth of coverage, according to the Miami Herald. However, in order to qualify for a claim, you'll have to make your way back to Earth. And not just that: You'll also need the signature of an "authorized, on-board alien." Er, good luck with that! And for more random trivia, check out the 40 Random Obscure Facts That Will Make Everyone Think You're a Genius.
Found in the Namib Desert, the Welwitschia Mirabilis consists of two leaves, a stem base, and roots, according to the South African National Biodiversity Institute. "Carbon dating tells us that on average, welwitschias are 500 to 600 years old, although some of the larger specimens are thought to be 2,000 years old," the Institute writes. "Their estimated lifespan is 400 to 1,500 years. Growth occurs annually during the summer months."
Milan's Bosco Verticale, or vertical forest, may look like a bizarre art installation from the future, but it's actually quite real. The twin high rises were completed in 2014 and include nearly 500 medium and large trees, 300 small trees, 5,000 shrubs, and 11,000 plants—as well as more than 100 residential apartments. What's more, they're incredible for the environment: Each year, the towers can transform approximately 44,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into oxygen. And for oddities that are closer to home, check out The Weirdest Thing Every State Is Extremely Proud Of.
If you have a knack for expressing regrets and are good at making others feel better about an inconvenient or unpleasant situation, then you might be perfectly suited for a career as a professional apologizer. Companies like Southwest Airlines hire qualified candidates to deal with irate customers, which means that you can get paid to offer effective apologies. "You have to be able to assess the circumstance, understand what the issue is, what led to the issue, and turn it around to a response that the customer can relate to," the hiring manager told WalletPop.
Based solely on how cute they are, quokkas should be the most popular animals in the world. But unfortunately, they're still fairly little-known. So what makes the quokka so incredible? It's simple: Thanks to their bone structure, quokkas always appear to be smiling. You can find these marsupials on the small islands off the coast of Western Australia. Some people have even dubbed them the "happiest animal in the world," according to National Geographic.
It can take weeks to properly lay down a brick road by hand. Or, you could get the same result much faster by using a Tiger Stone road-printing machine. After workers load bricks into the hopper, the machine arranges them and lays them out in the desired pattern just like a printer rolls out paper. And for more information on the world's most helpful machines, check out the 30 Inventions That Are Way Older Than You Probably Thought.
The Hang Son Doong Cave in Vietnam (that's a photo of it, above), is the largest cave in the world—and it's got some pretty epic proportions. The cave was recently surveyed at 2.5 miles long with some passages as wide as 300 feet and, in places, more than 600 feet high. Stunningly, that's enough space to fit an entire New York City block of 40-story buildings, according to National Geographic. And for some caves closer to home, check out The 23 Most Magical Caves in the United States.
If you're considering redecorating your home and want your space to be both tasteful and tasty, you may want to try lickable wallpaper. Inspired by Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, this delectable decor totally exists—although it's marketed more for theme parties than for everyday use.
If you came across Australia's Lake Hillier or Hutt Lagoon without knowing anything about them, you might think that you had wandered into a Candyland-like dream world. That's because both the lake and the lagoon are bubblegum pink. The coloring is thought to be due to the high levels of salt in the water. And for the incredible waterfronts you'll need to see to believe, check out the 23 Spectacular Lakes in America You Never Knew About.
Possibly one of the most romantic places in the world, the Klevan train tunnel in Klevan, Ukraine, is a three-mile leafy passageway (that's a photo of it, above) that's sometimes called "The Tunnel of Love." The path, which follows a railroad track, was shaped by a train that molded the trees. The train still operates today, but at a much lower frequency. That means tourists are free to walk the tunnel and take in this stunning sight.
Fortunately, these massive rodents went extinct around the end of the last ice age, some 10,000 years ago. The animals weighed more than 200 pounds and were similar in size to modern-day black bears. Scientists have found the giant beaver fossils at sites around the lakes and wetlands of North America, from Florida to the Yukon. And for more interesting animals, check out the 75 Animal Facts That Will Change the Way You View the Animal Kingdom.
Visitors to northwest China will get a sight worthy of a Dr. Seuss book if they make their way over to the rainbow mountains at Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park. The range is striped with an array of colors, which are the result of sandstone and minerals that have been pressed together for more than 24 million years.
In 1985, a bottlenose dolphin and a false killer whale got a little frisky and produced a baby. The female offspring, named Kekaimalu, was deemed a "wholphin" and is the only known living hybrid of the two species. However, she did produce three babies of her own with a bottlenose dolphin, one of which still lives with her at Sea Life Park on the island of Oahu in Hawaii (that's one on the left).
In Japan, nature is given a little helping hand when it comes to its shape. There, you can find pears, apples, watermelons, and more in the shape of cubes, hearts, and even people. Or, if you prefer veggies, there are also heart- and star-shaped cucumbers. You can buy fruit molds to grow your own oddly shaped fruit or buy it pre-grown.
You can't be afraid of getting up close and personal when you're a professional face feeler. Also called "sensory scientists," these pros touch other people's faces after they've used products like razors or lotions, and then give their expert opinions on how the products can be improved.
Usually a part-time job for those in the business, these professionals tend to work just two to three hours a day and two to three days a week, while making around $10 to $25 an hour for their touchy-feely know-how, according to ABC News.
Out in space, there's a cloud called Sagittarius B2 that's made up of ethyl formate. That doesn't sound too crazy, until you find out that ethyl formate is what gives rum its recognizable aroma. That means the space cloud may very well smell like rum. And for more fun facts, sign up for our daily newsletter.
Inside the massive Llechwedd Slate Caverns in Gwynedd, Wales, there's a 10,000 square foot cave and includes an enormous underground trampoline park. The subterranean playground features six giant netted trampolines which are suspended at various heights, ranging from 20 to 180 feet above the cave floor. There's also an industrial slide which is the length of a double-decker bus that connects each neon-lit level.
Roses are red, violets are blue, and the Rafflesia is a crimson-colored monstrosity compared to those two plants. The world's largest flower, the Rafflesia, doesn't have leaves, roots, or a stem, but does boast enormous "petal-like lobes" and a spiky center. The giant plant can weigh more than 20 pounds and emits a pungent odor that smells like rotting meat.
With their striking black and white stripes, zebras are pretty amazing creatures on their own. However, when one of the animals mates with another equine (such as a horse or donkey), the hybrid offspring is called a zebroid. The individuals can be zorses, zonkeys, or zonies, among other combinations (that's a zonkey, above).
Anyone who finds themselves going through a lot of candles might want to start using the Rekindle candle holder by British designer Benjamin Shine. As your candle burns in one of these holders, the wax falls into a hollow base which fills up to create a brand new candle. Genius!
The palmaris longus is a muscle that you might have in your forearm… or you might not. That's because around 15 percent of people simply don't have a palmaris longus. To see if you have one, pinch your thumb and your pinky finger together. If a tendon sticks out in your wrist, you have a palmaris longus.
There are plenty of unusual creatures crawling along the ocean floor, but the red-lipped batfish still manages to stand out thanks to its bright red mouth. Along with being oddly shaped and about the length of a burrito, this deepwater fish, which can be found near the Galapagos Islands, looks like it's wearing a rather striking shade of lipstick.
A bad mattress can ruin any chance of getting a good night's rest. That's why companies hire professional mattress jumpers to perfect their products. The jumping is the last step in the process of making a hand-made mattress and helps to compress the cotton batting.
And while it might sound like a fun way to make a living, professional mattress jumper Reuben Reynoso told SFGate, "It's work. It's not for everybody. There is a right way and a wrong way to do it." Reynoso jumps on three mattresses a day and takes his job very seriously. "This is not a game," he says. "Not to me."
If you're the kind of person who tends to get lost, then GPS shoes might be the perfect thing to help you find your way home. Created by artist and designer Dominic Wilcox, the techy shoes include a sensor in the heel and LED lights on the top that light up and point you in the right direction.
It would take hours to enjoy a typical 12-course meal. And so if you haven't got the time, you could try and get your hands on the "All in One" 12-course meal in a can. The meal "includes" a cheese with sourdough bread; pickled Kobe beef with charred strawberry; ricotta ravioli with a soft egg yolk; shiitake mushroom topped with filled peppers; halibut poached in truffle butter in a coconut crepe; risotto foraged ramps, prosciutto, and fresh parmesan; French onion soup with fresh thyme and gruyere cheese; roast pork belly and celeriac root puree; pear ginger juice as a palate cleanser; ribeye steak with grilled mustard greens; crack pie with milk ice cream on a vanilla tuile; and French canele with a malt barley and hazelnut latte.
Each course was puréed in a blender with gelatin, then poured into the can. The layered concoction was created by Christopher Godfrey "to show how a sales gimmick can go so far that it ruins a product's core experience," according to Fast Company.
There are plenty of beautiful white-sand beaches. But in China, there's a beach that's deep crimson. Panjin Red Beach is named due to the fact that it's covered by red Sueda seaweed instead of sand. The seaweed begins to grow during April and May and is green throughout the summer; when autumn comes it turns a radiant shade of red.
It's incredibly annoying to have to juggle your coffee and your umbrella on rainy days. That's why the Coffee Loving Umbrella design by Jung-Woo Lee is so handy. The umbrella looks pretty normal at first, but the handle includes a built-in cup holder.
There are very few people left in Centralia, Pennsylvania, and that's for a very good reason: The town has been on fire for more than 50 years. The strange situation started back in 1962 when a fire was purposefully set to burn out a landfill. Unfortunately, because the landfill had also been an old strip-mine pit which was connected to a series of coal-mile tunnels, the initial fire sparked a raging underground inferno.
The town was almost completely abandoned and was condemned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1992. And since there's apparently enough coal in the tunnels to fuel the fire for another 250 years, it's unlikely that anyone will be moving back to Centralia any time soon.
Back in ancient Rome, mourning someone after they died included an interesting ritual. During the funeral, a procession would take place where the deceased person's body would be paraded through the streets followed by mourners and musicians, as well as someone called an Archimime. The Archimime was a type of jester that was tasked with imitating the living version of the dead person, mimicking their gestures and other recognizable mannerisms.
The largest crab on the planet, the Japanese spider crab, is a monstrous-looking sea creature that tends to weigh around 40 pounds and has legs that stretch up to 13 feet. They can also live up to 100 years, which might be the longest lifespan of any known crab, according to the Smithsonian Institute.
While they sound like something straight out of Game of Thrones or Harry Potter, Dragon's Blood Trees can be found on the island of Socotra in Yemen. The trees look normal at first, but they get their name from their dark red sap that looks like blood.
Vegetable sheep have nothing to do with veggies or animals. Instead, it's a plant. Also called Raoulia, these strange-looking shrubs produce an abundance of small, white leaves that cover their surface and make them look like fluffy wool-covered sheep from a distance.
Want to up the ante on your next game of golf? Then you might want to pick up a few camouflage golf balls. Here's to hoping you've got some good eyesight.
There are plenty of mental and physical health benefits associated with hugs, which is why it makes sense that people are willing to pay for a professional-level cuddle. According to CNBC, at Cuddle Up To Me, a business in Portland, Oregon, sessions costed as much as $80 an hour and generally lasted 90 minutes to three hours. Full-time snugglers are experts at offering physical contact that provides comfort while not crossing certain boundaries.
While we're not sure how honest or dishonest Pinocchio frogs are, we do know that these creatures that live in the forests of New Guinea and have surprisingly long noses, just like the fictional character they're named after.
The Kawachi Fuji Gardens in Kitakyushu, Japan, features a fairytale flower tunnel that's covered in cascading wisteria flowers. Although it's technically a member of the pea family, wisteria is an ornamental vine that produces gorgeous pastel-colored flowers.
There's no direct English translation for "hiraeth," but the heartwarming and heart-wrenching Welsh word refers to a feeling of nostalgia and longing that's felt for somewhere that you've either never visited, is no longer around, or never really existed (such as a fictional realm that only exists in your favorite movie).
There are things in space that force us to accept facts that seem downright contradictory. For example, Gliese 436b is a planet that's both frozen and burning. The distant Neptune-sized exoplanet is made of ice and yet has a temperature of around 822 degrees Fahrenheit.
Think you know everything there is to know about your body? Think again. Doctors and scientists continue to make astonishing discoveries when it comes to our biology, and that includes a 2016 announcement involving a "new" organ. Although we were already aware of the mesentery—the thing that attaches your intestine to your abdomen—it was only recently deemed an organ.
Galleries and museums around the world hold incredible art collections that are made up of priceless pieces, but even they can't compare to the Geneva Free Port. This highly secure and secretive warehouse in Switzerland is home to some of the greatest works of all time, including around 1,000 pieces by Picasso, according to the BBC.
Modern fridges are certainly a step up from the now-retro (and mostly forgotten) iceboxes of the past. However, when it comes to the future of cooling food, you might want to consider the Zero-energy Bio Refrigerator. A finalist at the Electrolux Design Lab competition, the concept was created by designer Yuriy Dmitriev and features a wall-mounted panel that's filled with biopolymer gel which suspends and cools any food you place inside of the non-sticky goo.
With large leaves that form trumpet-shaped flowers, the pelican plant resembles the beak of the bird it's named after. However, when they bloom, pelican flowers smell like nasty rotting meat.
Some people are picky when it comes to how they like their toast. And to help those folks out, one genius invented the see-through toaster, like this one from Magimix. You'll never have to stand by popping and un-popping the toaster again.
The psychotria elata is a plant that grows in the rainforests of Central and South America. And if you ever saw one, you'd probably be confused, since these tropical trees feature flowers that look like bright red pouty lips. That's why they're more commonly referred to as Hot Lips Plants.
You might be willing to do a lot for your pet, but would you be willing to eat their food to make sure that it's up to standard? If so, you might be able to make a living as a pet food tester. "Generally someone with a doctoral degree, a pet food taster's main job is testing, not tasting—evaluating a given pet food's nutritional value, writing reports, and determining ways to enhance new pet foods currently being developed," explains How Stuff Works. However, they also note that "at some point, they have to get down to business: sampling it."
The island of Providenciales in Turks & Caicos is basically a dream come true for dog-lovers. Not only is it a tropical paradise, but it's also home to dozens of adorable rescue puppies that you can pet, play with, and even adopt, according to Travel + Leisure. The adoption is free and Charity Potcake Place, the organization that looks after the pups, will help make the travel arrangements to get your new dog home.
Despite the fact that it's easy to mistake a raccoon dog for the masked animals that share part of their name, these creatures aren't raccoons at all. Instead, the wild canines, which are native to eastern Asia (but can now also be found in Europe, as well as in U.S. zoos), are related to foxes.
Before a person becomes a fully formed human, they start out as an embryo. And around the six-week point of gestation, that little embryo grows a tiny tail that's long enough to have several vertebrae. Eventually, those vertebrae fuse together to form the tailbone.
You can always dress Barbie up in one of her many outfits. Or you could 3D-print mini medieval-inspired armor and turn your toy into a fierce warrior. Jim Rodda created the "Faire Play" set, which includes 3D-printed battle outfits for the iconic figurine that include armor, shields, and swords.
When you think about a black hole, you might envision a colossal vortex that dominates the space around it. However, if scientists new "braneworld" theory of gravity is correct, then there are thousands of black holes in our solar system, each around the size of an atomic nucleus. "Unlike their larger brethren, these mini-black holes are primordial leftovers from the Big Bang and affect space-time differently because of their close association with a fifth dimension," according to Space.com. And for even more things everyone should know, check out the 100 Astonishing Facts Guaranteed to Give You a Childlike Sense of Wonder.
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