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If the Universe Is Expanding, Time Might Eventually Just Stop
While the ultimate fate of the universe is a hotly debated topic, if it's expanding outward infinitely, eventually, all of the objects in the universe will be too far from each other to see. By two trillion years from now, star formation would become impossible due to raw materials being unable to collapse, and current stars would eventually burn out. Black holes will dominate the dark universe, and even those will evaporate. Once protons disintegrate, only photons will be left, and those will be too far apart to collide. Eventually, the universe will cool to a point where motion will be impossible, and time itself will end.
If this happens, it won't be for 10x2500 years, give or take an eon.
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The Duck-Billed Platypus Does Not Have A Stomach
The duck-billed platypus is a strange creature. It has a duck-like beak, or bill, and a beaver-like tail. Plus, platypuses (not platypi) lay eggs, being oviparous mammals. Males also have a spur on the back of their hind feet, which is connected to a venomous gland. It's not life-threatening to humans, but can be very painful. 
They also don't have stomachs, meaning their gullet connects directly to the intestines. Scientists say it has something to do with diet, because a lot of fish also do not have stomachs. It could be connected to a calcium and mineral-rich diet, but for now, there are only theories. 
Another tidbit: Platypus babies are called puggles.
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The Roman Catholic Church Classified Beavers As Fish
When the Europeans came to North America and Canada, they brought along the Catholic Church with them. The Indigenous population slowly began converting to this religion, but the one thing that pained them was the no-meat rule during Lent.
Back then, beavers were a favored treat in some areas of North America, so the bishop of Quebec asked his superiors for permission to eat beaver meat on Lent Fridays. The Church had a simple solution: Since the beaver is a semi-aquatic mammal, the Church decreed it was fish.
Following the same logic, capybaras were also classified as fish. Both make for delicious Lent meals in many parts of the world today.
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The US Air Force Almost Nuked The Moon
No, not accidentally. There was a plan and purpose behind the plan to nuke the moon, and it was mostly retaliatory in nature. Since the Soviets had slung Sputnik into space, the USA had to do something bigger and more visible. The idea was to shoot the moon with a hydrogen bomb for a visual spectacle - giving America the chance to thumb its nose at the USSR. 
The team involved Dr. Leonard Reiffel, Gerard Kuiper, and astronomer Carl Sagan. Thankfully, the plan disintegrated, mostly because the visual spectacle imagined was not as grand in reality. So they landed on it, instead, as option B.
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Taser Is Actually An Acronym, And Named After A Book
Taser is not a type of weapon, but rather a brand of weapons. But much like Xerox is to photocopies and Kool-Aid is to fruity drink mixes, Taser has become a proprietary eponym. It's even a verb today, considering you can be Tasered. 
The name itself, Taser, is an acronym for Tom A. Swift Electric Rifle. It's an ode from the creator, Jack Cover, to an adventurer named Tom Swift - the protagonist of Cover's favorite sci-fi book series.
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The Swish Of The Door In 'Star Trek' Is Paper Being Taken Out Of An Envelope
Every time you hear the T-rex roar in Jurassic Park, you should think of Jack Foley. He pioneered the process of adding sounds to screen and radio once the silent era began to evolve into movies with sound. The very process of adding sounds to movies is now called "foley." And the props and sources used to create the sounds are often radically different from what you see and hear on-screen.
For instance, in Star Trek, the noise of the sliding doors of the Enterprise is just a piece of paper slid from an envelope. And the T-rex roar is a baby elephant trumpeting mixed with big cat roars and an alligator. 
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James Bond Was Chosen As A Name Because It Sounded Dull 
Ian Fleming was an ex-commander in the British Naval Intelligence Division during WWII. When he got down to writing his spy novels, he needed a name for the protagonist.
He found his name, not in a spy, but in an ornithologist. Said Fleming:
I wanted the simplest, dullest, plainest-sounding name I could find. "James Bond" was much better than something more interesting, like "Peregrine Carruthers."
That said, the ornithologist went by Jim, Jim Bond, and was a dapper fellow. The fleshing out of the character was inspired by many different real-life spies, as well as some top government officials, including a James Charles Bond.
The 007 has meaning in military code, as well. 0070 was the first German diplomatic code decoded by the British.
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Gargoyles And Gargling Are Related Terms
The word "gargoyle" has become a rather loosely used term for any statue that's uglier than anything you've ever seen before. But architecturally speaking, a gargoyle has a function. As strangely as it may be carved, it's a water spout. A gargoyle, human or animal, is usually found on the roof and directs rainwater away from the building. 
The term comes from the old French word "gargouille," meaning throat, as does the word "gargle." 
Any and all other statues, no matter how ugly, carved into buildings are called grotesques. And this term comes from the Italian word "grottegargoysco."
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The Phrase 'Elvis Has Left The Building' Came To Be Because Elvis Never Performed Encores
Elvis Presley was more than just a singer - he was a performer, "thank you very much." His persona and his mystique were part of his allure, as were the carefully curated clothes, the pompadour hair, and the fact that once his performance was over, Elvis left the building. As in, he never did encores. 
The fad started with Horace Lee Logan, his promoter, who announced, "Please, young people. Elvis has left the building. He has gotten in his car and driven away. Please take your seats."
Later, it became the sign-off for Elvis's announcer, Al Dvorin, to signal to the hungry crowd that the evening was over. As Elvis exited the stage, he would say, "Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building. Thank you and goodnight."
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The World's Longest War Lasted 355 Years
During the time of the English Civil War, between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists, the Dutch switched sides from the latter to the former. Furious Royalists raided the Dutch ships, but Oliver Cromwell’s successful military advance pushed them back. The Royalist navy retired to the Isles of Scilly. The Dutch decided it was time for payback, and sent warships to the Isles of Scilly.
They demanded the loot from the raid be returned, but when nothing was forthcoming, Admiral Maarten Tromp declared war on the isles on March 30, 1651. But before any shots could be fired, the Parliamentarians turned up and took the isles under their control.
So the Dutch headed home, except there had been no peace treaty signed. Finally, 335 years later, the Dutch finally decided the peaceful war had lasted long enough. In April 1986, Dutch ambassador Jonkheer Huydecoper flew to the Isles of Scilly. He then officially ended the strange, bloodless war.
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Saint-Louis-Du-Ha! Ha! Is The Only Town With Two Exclamation Points In Its Name
If you cross into the Canadian border from Maine, you’ll find the only town in the world with two exclamation points in its name. And it’s a Guinness World Record Holder for that reason. Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha! was founded in the mid-19th century as a Roman Catholic mission, and today has a population of more than 1,300.
The name might come from the old French word "ha-ha," which means a cul-de-sac or a dead end. The end may refer to Lake Témiscouata just beyond the town, while Louis is thought to be the name of one of the town's founders.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger Brought Us The Hummer
Arnold Schwarzenegger is not just a Hummer fan - he's one of the key people who convinced the makers of the Humvee to make a civilian Hummer. He contacted AM General, who made the military-grade Humvee, and requested that they make him a civilian version of the same. By 1992, the Hummer was launched to the public, officially. 
Schwarzenegger went on to own a fleet of Hummers and even teamed up with Kriesel Electric for the first electric Hummer. He proudly shared it on Instagram, as well.
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The Closest People To Earth's Point Nemo Are In The International Space Station
Point Nemo, officially known as “the oceanic pole of inaccessibility,” is the point in the ocean that is farthest away from any land.
The Pacific Ocean spot, named after the captain from Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, is surrounded by more than 1,000 miles of ocean in every direction, and the closest landmasses to it are the Pitcairn Islands to the north, the Easter Islands to the northeast, and an island off the coast of Antarctica to the south.
With the land closest to Point Nemo more than 1,000 miles away in every direction, the astronauts aboard the International Space Station are the closest humans to the point, as the station is only 258 miles from Earth.
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Humans Could Survive In Space With No Spacesuit For A Few Minutes, But Would Lose Consciousness Within 15 Seconds
When astronauts put on their spacesuits, a pressurized, oxygenated atmosphere is created. The suits also protect them from extreme temperatures and ultraviolet rays, and allow them to breathe correctly. If humans tried to go into space without a spacesuit on, they might last around 15 seconds. 
Without a spacesuit to protect it, the human body would begin to lose consciousness and eventually suffer from ebullism due to lack of oxygen, which would cause the formation of bubbles in the moisture of the eyes, mouth, and skin tissue.
In 1965, a NASA astronaut Jim LeBlanc survived when he was exposed similar conditions in a training exercise gone wrong. "As I stumbled backwards, I could feel the saliva on my tongue starting to bubble just before I went unconscious and that’s the last thing I remember."
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Rain Once Fell On Earth For About 1 Million To 2 Million Years Nonstop
Around 232 million years ago, rain fell almost everywhere during a span known as the Carnian age. After millions of years of dry climates, Earth entered this wet period, and stayed in it for nearly 2 million years.
Scientists think the Carnian episode contributed to the evolution of dinosaurs like the Stegosauraus and Tyrannosauraus because of massive geological changes that took place. 
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Some Neutron Stars Emit Lethal Beams That Basically Could Make A Person Dissolve
When giant stars die in explosions called supernovas and their cores collapse, protons and electrons meet and form neutrons, creating dense neutron stars.
Neutron stars called magnetars emit high-intensity radiation. According to astrophysicist Paul Sutter:
Get too close to one (... about 600 miles), and the magnetic fields are strong enough to upset not just your bioelectricity - rendering your nerve impulses hilariously useless - but your very molecular structure. In a magnetar's field, you just kind of... dissolve.
In January 2022, scientists observed a mysterious object in the universe that some believe might be a magnetar. The object "releases a giant burst of energy three times an hour," according to a press release from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR).
It is "unlike anything astronomers have seen before," and astrophysicist Natasha Hurley-Walker described the object's behavior as "spooky for an astronomer" to watch. Spookier still is the fact that the object is quite close to earth, in "our galactic backyard," Hurley-Walker said.
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Scientists Captured Video Evidence Of Sharks Living In A Volcano
After dropping a camera into the main crater of the Kavachi volcano located in the Solomon Islands, scientists found footage of sharks living in the underwater crater. The team left the camera underwater for an hour, and when they brought it back up to watch what was recorded, the footage showed images of silk sharks, hammerhead sharks, jellyfish, snappers, and a stingray.
The scientists aren't sure what happens to the sharks when the volcano is actively erupting, but believe that they are able to sense imminent eruptions and temporarily leave the crater.
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Nuclear Reactors Existed On Earth Before Humans Did
Two billion years ago, long before humans or nuclear power plants existed, 17 natural nuclear fission reactors operated in what is now Gabon, Africa. These reactors would have had enough power to activate around 1,000 lightbulbs, or around 100 kilowatts. (Nuclear power plants made by humans produce about 1,000 megawatts, or enough to power about 10 million lightbulbs.)
The natural reactors, which began operating spontaneously, could operate for up to 1 million years, showing that long-term geologic storage of nuclear waste may be possible.
According to Scientific American, for natural reactors to develop and remain stable, several conditions must be present that don't exist today (mainly, the concentration of uranium-235 anywhere is now too small).
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In The Century We’ve Known About The ‘Bigfin’ Squid, There Have Been Fewer Than 20 Sightings
The first sighting of a bigfin squid was in 1907, when fishermen caught one near Portugal. The creature was not seen again until 1988, when it was found swimming 15,535 feet underwater off the coast of Brazil. Bigfins have been sighted only 17 times.
With its long blue tentacles and tiny head, the squid is almost impossible to spot in dark ocean waters. After one was spotted near Australia, Deborah Osterhage, a marine researcher with the Commonwealth and Industrial Research Organization, described seeing it for the first time:
I was stunned and excited when I first saw the bigfin squid in a photo collected by our camera. I recognized it immediately, with its distinctive large fins and extremely long and slender arms and tentacles.
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The Surface Of Mercury Can Reach Lows Of -290 F Despite Being So Close To The Sun
Even though Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system and is closest to the sun, its surface temperatures can become extremely cold. Because the planet doesn't have an atmosphere to retain heat, temperatures can drop below -290 F.
Though temperatures on the planet can become unbelievably cold, at other times temperatures can reach highs of 800 F.
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If The Sun Were Replaced By A Black Hole, We Would Not Fall In - We Would Freeze To Death First
According to NASA, a black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can't get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space.
If the sun were to turn into a black hole, humanity would not fall in; instead, we would all freeze to death. The black hole that was the sun would not emit any light or heat, so we would be in a pitch-black world with freezing cold temperatures. 
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From The Highest Mountain Peak To The Deepest Ocean Trench, The Surface Of The Earth Spans A Total Of 12.3 Miles
The surface of the Earth spans a total of 12.3 miles of vertical distance from the highest mountain peak to the deepest ocean trench. Mount Everest, the highest point on Earth, measures 29,020 feet above sea level, while the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean measures 35,814 feet below sea level.
Climbers ascending Mount Everest must bring oxygen with them, as above 26,000 feet there is insufficient oxygen. 
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The Earth, If You Shrank It, Would Be Smoother Than A Billiard Ball
Even with mountains jutting out, the Earth, if it were shrunk down to the size of a billiard ball, would actually be smoother than the ball. According to the World Pool-Billiard Association, a pool ball must be 2.25 inches in diameter, and have a tolerance of +/-.005 inches, which means the ball must have no bumps or pits that are greater than .005 inches in height/depth. So the allowable bump size of a pool ball would be a very smooth .00222, or .005/2.25.
The Earth's diameter is around 12,735 km, so in order for it to be as smooth as a pool ball, its mountains and trenches cannot exceed more than 12,735 km x .00222, or about 28 km. Since the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest, is 8.85 kilometers above sea level, and the deepest point, the Mariana Trench, is 11 kilometers below the surface, the Earth, if shrunk down to the size of a billiard ball, would be even smoother than the ball.
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