Facts make the world go round. They keep us engaged, informed, entertained and can even help us feel a little more interesting or smarter when we’re forced to make small talk with strangers.
While some facts quench our thirst for knowledge like a glass of ice water on a hot day, others are like accidentally stepping on a piece of Lego and wishing we’d had the foresight to go the other way. They’re the ones you randomly come across by chance and immediately want to unlearn.
Someone recently asked, “Tell me the scariest fact you wish you didn’t know,” and people didn’t hold back. From realizations like the brain named itself and is studying itself, to the freaky thought that one day (if we haven’t already), we will unknowingly pose for the photograph that will be used at our funeral… These are just a few of the unsolicited facts people would rather not think about.
Bored Panda has put together a list of the best answers for anyone brave enough to explore the cold, hard facts of life that make some others want to run and hide. We’ve also included some info on how your brain filters out unwanted information. You’ll find that between the images.
#1
“We are either alone in the universe or we’re not, both are equally terrifying.”
© Photo: allisefountain
Did you hear or read something that you no longer want to know? Just remove it from your brain. Yes, apparently it’s as simple as that.
Researchers have recently revealed that people can consciously remove specific information from their memories by “dampening the brain circuits that initially stored it.”
Jiangang Shan and Bradley Postle, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, are the experts behind the study, which looked at how the brain actively removes memory content it doesn’t need.
#2
Honestly the fact that the brain named itself and studies itself scares me.
van_shika_708:
Brain is the most important organ of our body according to the brain…
© Photo: beyblade_rippz
#3
The human mind is so easily influenced, that you (or someone else) can create memories in your mind that never even existed.
© Photo: adeliazollo05
Their paper, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, explains how they got 30 participants to perform a memory task while recording their brain activity. The group was first given two items to remember.
“Experimental conditions either did or did not encourage participants to actively remove the memory of one of these items. Following these conditions, they were given a third item to remember,” reports Neuroscience News. “Finally, participants were tested on their memory of the relevant first and final items.”
The researchers found that the brain uses a “mechanism” to consciously remove information from a memory. “Brain scans showed that removing memory content involves reduced excitability in the neural circuits tied to the unwanted information,” explains the site.
#4
The fact that worms live inside the body.
© Photo: stella_the_lune
#5
It takes light to travel from the sun to the earth in 8 minutes. That means if the sun exploded we wouldn’t know until 8 minutes later.
© Photo: kaylaross564
#6
I just read a neuroscience article that said the brain holds on to negative comments for 20 years but compliments start to fade after 6 weeks.
© Photo: ouiser13
#7
Depression levels correlate with intelligence. So basically if you know too much you’re going to permanently struggle with depression because you can’t forget things.
© Photo: goodbye_and_godspeed
#8
Around 85% of the universe’s mass is dark matter, and we have no clue what that is or what it’s made out of.
© Photo: mickeynegus
#9
The fact that manifestation and placebo effect is real, they’re proven with psychology and neuroscience. You actually have the power to shift realities just by thinking about it.
© Photo: _user14657
#10
In the 1980s, it was widely believed by medical professionals that babies could not feel pain, with medical procedures such as surgeries being regularly performed without anesthesia.
© Photo: ericaelly
#11
Our bodies constantly create cells with potential to become cancerous, and the immune system usually detects and eliminates them before they can form tumors. The first time I heard this, I was scared because what you mean every day is a potential day to have cancer.
© Photo: goldiloxenigma
#12
If we look back around 25 to 30 generations in our family tree, we start to all share common ancestors, meaning everyone one of us are very distantly related to each other.
© Photo: steven.louive
#13
About 3% of kids aren’t raised by their biological father, that’s terrifying to me.
© Photo: bill.7593
#14
Pseudocyesis, also known as a false or phantom pregnancy, where the body shows real pregnancy symptoms (like a growing belly, missed periods, morning sickness) but there’s no fetus. The brain is INSANE.
© Photo: malenapeters
#15
For me it’s the dark history of brutal experimentation behind the medical knowledge and procedures we learn.
© Photo: melisha.r
#16
Prion diseases, like mad cow/rabies/brucellosis/chronic wasting disease, etc, can live dormant in your body for over 10 years depending on the disease. So you could be currently infected and you wouldn’t even know it. Not until you start showing symptoms… and there is no cure for any of them. It’s crazy cause we don’t have “absolutes” in medicine, but one of the only exceptions is that Prion diseases are 100% fatal..
© Photo: max_beach626
#17
There is no guarantee that everyone sees the same color.
© Photo: himansthetic
#18
History is nothing but someone’s pov we are manipulated into believing.
© Photo: mushroomspizza
#19
The fact that there is no purpose in existing itself.
© Photo: seeker931207
#20
The Titanic sinking was in pitch black because there was no moon that night. It wasn’t like it was in the movie.
© Photo: kaitlyn.slaymaker
#21
One day you will unknowingly pose for the picture that will be used for your funeral.
#22
The older you get, the more familiar you become with the passage of time, so it seems to move faster. Think how long a year or a summer seemed when you were a kid.
#23
The fact that when we’re looking at the stars, we are most likely looking at their past when in reality, theyre probably not there anymore because their light takes so long to reach us. This is kinda scary to think of.
#24
Some people don’t have an internal monologue & that’s so bizarre to me.
#25
Black holes aren’t stationary. They can move in any direction.
#26
The fact we know more about our Galaxy above us than about our Oceans.
#27
The blind people can’t see a dream.
#28
We can psychologically condition people to be scared of something or love something.
#29
Ovarian cysts can grow hair and teeth, saw images on Google and I’m forever traumatized.
#30
A cockroach can live without its head for weeks.
#31
Human perception. Everyone perceives things differently, interprets it differently, even what you think you see/perceive may not be real, it’s always distorted.
#32
I once got CPR while fully conscious. I can’t even describe it. Did you ever hit that funny nerve in your elbow? Imagine that in your whole body and head+the pain and you feel like your neck is gonna burst open.
#33
That everyone is doing struggle for the life that can be ended at any point and he doesn’t even know the time when it will happen.
#34
While giving birth, women think to themselves they are never doing that again. However, their brain slowly forgets about that pain only bringing the desire to go through the process all over again.
#35
An item or feeling can be the peak of happiness one moment and absolutely nothing in an hour.
#36
The more you know, the less you actually know.
#37
Crows can memorize your face.
#38
Humans can see light from ~380nm to 700nm. This is less than 1% of the existing light spectrum. We’re basically blind.
#39
You never see the present.
Your brain shows you the world about 80–100 milliseconds late so it can edit reality.
You are always living in the past, just enough to survive.
#40
We are not scared of being alone in the dark. We are scared of not being alone there.
#41
If you have PTSD (like me) you can pick up on bad people or bad vibes quicker then most and also can kind of like sense danger before it happens.
#42
You cannot imagine a color you’ve never seen before.
#43
The fact that if we try and put the whole story of the planet earth in one book, us humans would only appear at the very last page, and just a tiny little piece of bottom right corner.
#44
Some serial offenders don’t feel fear or guilt at all, and their brains never light up where empathy should be.
#45
Early onset schizophrenia is a thing and can begin in childhood. It’s characterised by fatigue, forgetfulness and lack of motivation, so is often diagnosed as depression.
#46
Trillions of neutrinos are passing through our body every second right now from the Sun, distant supernovae, cosmic rays, and we can’t feel them, stop them or detect them in any way.
#47
Your skin is constantly shedding cells, turning pieces of you into dust without you ever noticing. It’s a slow, invisible process almost like Sandman dissolving into grains.
Every day, parts of you disappear… and are quietly replaced
#48
Isn’t it scary that we see memories in a third pov while it actually happens us to in first pov.
Source:Boredpanda