Category Archives: Featured Facts

Why Do We Get Allergies?

YouTube subscriber Chase P. asks: Do a video on why humans have allergies. It’s that time of year when tissue companies nationwide rejoice at the excessive mucus caused by allergies. If you’re one of the unlucky, you might ask yourself why we get them anyway? Why would our immune systems react to seemingly harmless things like pollens, dust mites, and […]

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Does McDonald’s or Burger King Really Hand Out Cards Granting You Free Food For Life?

Jack A. asks: Is it true that McDonalds gives out special cards that give you free food for the rest of your life? If so, how do I get one? Like the American Express Centurion Card – a hyper-exclusive charge card only gifted to the wealthiest of individuals – there exists equivalently exclusive cards issued by both McDonald’s and Burger […]

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How Long Would It Take to Count to a Billion and What’s the Highest Anyone Has Counted?

Joseph B. asks: How long would it take to count to a million?  What about a billion? What’s the highest anyone has ever counted? Counting is one of life’s most basic skills and something most humans are quite adept at. Despite most of us being experts on the subject, theoretically capable of counting infinitely high with the ceiling bounded only […]

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Renting Pandas

Jonathon M. asks: Is it true that the Chinese government owns every panda in the world? Whether in D.C., London, Adelaide or Madrid, nearly all giant pandas in today’s zoos are technically there on a 5 or 10-year loan from China, and at a substantial price. It hasn’t always been this way, though. Beginning in the late 1950s and through […]

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Forgotten History: The First Movie and the Scientific Question It Sought to Answer

The first films were little more than what we would consider short clips, a boxer throwing a single punch or train arriving at a station– the type of scenes that today you might only see in the form of animated gifs.  While popular perception is that movies got their start around the early twentieth century, the real seed that grew […]

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Does the U.S. President’s Dog Get Its Own Secret Service Agents?

Ryan asks: If the president has a pet dog, do their bodyguards also watch over his dog like they do his family? Even before the U.S. president is elected such, if they’re considered a “major candidate” for the job, they get offered Secret Service protection. Whether they accept that protection or not, once elected until the day they die (unless […]

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Picasso’s Doodles

With the possible exception of the mysterious, enigmatic figure known only as Bob Ross (see: The Surprisingly Mysterious Life of Famed Artist Bob Ross), Pablo Picasso is perhaps the most well-known artist from modern times. (Although, I think most are probably unaware that his actual name was Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano […]

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