World's Best Unbelievable Facts

    (Are You Ready to believe?)

1

Once Upon A Time, Antarctica Was as Warm as California

Sure, it was around 40 to 50 million years ago, but still. Researchers found that during that time, Antarctica's climate resembled the modern-day California Coast. Even more interesting, nearby polar islands were more like Florida. Researchers calculated that the continent reached a high of 63º Fahrenheit, with an average temperature of 57º Fahrenheit. Today, those same averages fall way below freezing.

2

Dinosaurs Were Different Than You Likely Imagine

Since we have to piece everything we know about dinosaurs together from scattered fossils, our picture of how they appeared and behaved changes as we find more. For one, many (non-flying) dinosaurs, including the velociraptor, had feathers, but it's unlikely that any of them had the vocal chords to roar. Also, those fierce velociraptors were no bigger than a modern turkey.

Don't let all this get you down, though! It turns out that sauropods (long-necked, long-tailed herbivores like the Apatosaurus) could probably break the sound barrier with their tails, using them just like whips.

3

Diamonds Are Only Valuable Because De Beers Says They Are

Diamonds used to be very rare in the Western world, until the late 1800s, when a diamond mining rush in South Africa made them far more accessible to those outside of the halls of royalty. A company called De Beers quickly bought up the mines and created an artificial scarcity, as well as a monopoly. When other diamond sellers have cropped up, De Beers has either bought them out or flooded the local market, driving prices down and putting the sellers out of business. The company's all-fronts stranglehold on the industry has only recently started to break up.

4

Your Brain Is An Insane Hard Drive

Your brain consists of about one billion nerve cells, or neurons. Each neuron connects to about a thousand other neurons for a total of over a trillion connections. Memories are stored through these connections, so the upshot is that your brain can store around 2.5 petabytes of memory. That's the equivalent of leaving your DVR running 24 hours a day for over 300 years! Unfortunately, scientists have yet to determine why, with all that memory capacity, you still can't remember where you put your car keys.

5

There Was A Four-Times-Over Dog Mayor

The beloved mayor of Cormorant, a small township in Minnesota, retired this past summer after four consecutive terms in office. As much as he loved civil service, he was getting too old for the job—91, if you put it in dog years, in fact. Duke, the big, shaggy Great Pyrenees dog, was first elected in 2014 and continued to win yearly elections until announcing his retirement in 2018. Duke plans to write a book about his legacy of being a very good boy.