Name: 26 Short Facts That Explain Lots of Confusing Things
Uploaded: 2020-03-07T08:00:18.000Z
Duration: 8 min 56 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

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Just when you think you have this world figured out, all these questions pop up in your mind:

why do car rides and rain make you sleepy?

Why do airplanes have a hole in the tail?

And which water extinguishes fire better, cold or hot?

Those answers and plenty more coming your way!

Storm clouds may seem to turn dark, but it's just an illusion.

Thin clouds on a sunny day let the light through and scatter all the colors of the light spectrum.

This makes us perceive the clouds as white.

But the thicker clouds are and the more water they contain, the less light they transmit.

Leaves don’t really change colors – they just lose their green pigment.

The green usually masks the others (red, orange, yellow), so without it, those warmer hues

And leaves lose this green pigment (chlorophyll) in the fall because there’s less sunlight

Your own body makes bug bites swell and itch!

When a mosquito breaks your skin, your immune system perceives the insect's saliva as a

foreign substance and starts making histamine.

That stuff sends more blood to the bite, which causes the area to swell.

Histamine also sends a signal to the nearby nerves, making you itch!

Zebras probably have their stripes as protection from bug bites.

The stripes seem to dazzle the insects, and they can't make a controlled landing.

They either come in too fast and try to avoid the collision at the last moment, or they

Most salt in oceans and seas comes from land.

Rainwater, which is a bit acidic, flows over rocks and erodes them.

The water collects the dissolved salt and other minerals, but it’s still drinkable

Once it gets to the ocean, some minerals get removed from the water, but not the salt.

Additional saltiness comes from underwater volcanic activity and hydrothermal vents.

Rain makes you drowsy because the sky is overcast, and without sunlight, your body produces melatonin

– the very hormone that makes you sleepy at night.

The rhythmic rain sound is comforting and creates so-called "pink noise," which decreases

your brain activity and improves your sleep quality.

The ocean isn't blue, per se – it just seems like it.

Its trademark blueish hue appears because the water absorbs all colors from the warmer

part of the light spectrum – yellow, orange, and red.

This works like a filter that leaves behind the blue-green color we can see.

Your dog licks you because it makes them feel good!

It releases endorphins in the animal's body, making your pooch feel safe, comfortable,

It also relieves most of the stress your pet feels.

Plus, licking is one of the ways your doggie can show you affection.

Cats regularly lick themselves to prevent skin oils from gathering on their fur.

But it also makes their coats less waterproof than, say, a dog’s.

That's why when cats get wet, their fur becomes very heavy, and they don’t like it one bit!

Your stomach “growls” when you're hungry because your digestive muscles are contracting

to sort of warm up in preparation for a coming meal.

They continue to contract even after you eat.

You just can’t hear it anymore because the food in your stomach is muffling the sound.

No one knows for sure why we call it Black Friday.

Probably because stores now open in the middle of the night, but originally, it was likely

used to describe all the heavy traffic happening on this day.

Cats love boxes so much because they make great hiding places.

No predator can sneak up on them from behind, yet your cat can still observe its surroundings

Same goes for high places on top of tall furniture!

(And, no, your cat’s instincts don’t care if there aren’t any real predators in your

Dogs kick their legs when you rub their belly thanks to the so-called scratch reflex.

That perfect spot your canine loves so much is full of nerves that go straight to the

When you stimulate them, it sends the leg muscles an order to get rid of the irritation.

By the way, it’s a reflex, so your dog is probably as puzzled as you are when its leg

Driving already makes you drowsier after 15 minutes into your trip.

The reason is your seat vibrating at low frequencies, lulling your body and brain.

And in half an hour, you can start having problems with alertness – even if you’re

Unless you don’t get drowsy in the car.

In that case, care to share your secrets down in the comments?

Flamingos turn pink because they live on a certain kind of blue-green algae and brine

This diet contains a natural pink dye that affects the birds' coloring.

But originally, all flamingos are born with gray feathers!

As people get older, their hair follicles start to lose pigment cells.

That's why their hair gets more and more silver, white, or gray.

But this process doesn’t just happen because of age – people can start losing their hair

You ever noticed the hole in the rear end of an airplane?

It's connected with the aircraft’s smallest engine that sits in the back of the tail.

It provides the power necessary to start the main engine.

It also powers up the cabin electronics until the main engines take over.

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26 Short Facts That Explain Lots of Confusing Things

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