You Can Deep-Fry Food in Salt. Billions of People Already Do. Hot salt frying uses zero oil, costs almost nothing, and has been a staple of Asian street food for centuries. TikTok just noticed. fantasticfacts.net/you-can-deep-f…

Chimpanzees Drink the Equivalent of Two Cocktails a Day Wild chimps consume about 14 grams of ethanol daily from fermented fruit, and the habit may explain humanity's complicated relationship with alcohol. fantasticfacts.net/chimpanzees-dr…

Your Brain Can Go Blind and Refuse to Admit It. You'd Walk Into Walls and Blame the Furniture. Anton syndrome makes people cortically blind, yet they insist they can see. They confabulate visions, blame dim lighting, and walk into walls. fantasticfacts.net/your-brain-ins…

He Faked His Own Death to See If Anyone Cared. His Wife Didn't Cry. Timothy Dexter staged his own mock funeral - then beat his wife for not crying at it. The story of America's most bizarrely lucky man. fantasticfacts.net/lord-timothy-d…

The Oracle Was Right. Croesus Just Bet on the Wrong Empire. The Oracle at Delphi told Croesus a great empire would fall if he attacked Persia. It did — his own. fantasticfacts.net/the-oracle-was…

NASA Once Considered Screening Astronauts by Their Farts In 1964, NASA seriously studied astronaut flatulence as a spacecraft fire risk, then quietly solved the problem by changing the menu. fantasticfacts.net/nasa-once-cons…

Some Kids Scammed Farrell's Ice Cream Club With Fake Names. Years Later, the U.S. Government Tried to Draft Them. Two boys invented a fake birthday-club kid for free ice cream. Years later, the U.S. government mailed him a draft notice. fantasticfacts.net/the-government…

In 1834, the Word “Scientist” Was First Used for a Woman Mary Somerville helped force a new word into print, scientist, after a reviewer needed a term for a woman like her. fantasticfacts.net/the-word-scien…

The French Drain Was Named After a Man, Not a Country A French drain is not named for France. It was popularized by Henry Flagg French, a 19th-century judge and farm writer. fantasticfacts.net/the-french-dra…

One Arizona Drive Can Flip Your Clock Seven Times In northeastern Arizona, a single drive through Navajo and Hopi land can make your clock jump back and forth over and over. fantasticfacts.net/one-arizona-dr…

The World’s First Byline Belongs to a Woman The earliest known author to sign her work was Enheduanna, a Mesopotamian priestess who used poetry to help hold an empire together. fantasticfacts.net/the-worlds-fir…

Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata Was Named for a Violinist Who Never Played It Beethoven first wrote the Kreutzer Sonata for George Bridgetower, then renamed it for a violinist who refused to play it. fantasticfacts.net/beethovens-mos…

Apollo 10 Cursed So Much NASA Cleaned Up Apollo 11 Apollo 10's profanity-filled lunar rehearsal was so public that NASA made sure Apollo 11 sounded very different. fantasticfacts.net/apollo-10-curs…

Harriet Quimby's Channel Flight Was Buried by the Titanic Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly solo across the English Channel, then lost the headlines to the Titanic. fantasticfacts.net/first-woman-to…

Victorian Women Swallowed Arsenic for Pale Skin Victorian beauty brands sold arsenic wafers and soaps for pale skin, turning a notorious poison into a status symbol. fantasticfacts.net/victorian-wome…

Rat Poison Became a Lifesaving Blood Thinner A failed suicide attempt helped turn warfarin from rat poison into one of medicine's most widely used blood thinners. fantasticfacts.net/rat-poison-bec…

An ISP Got ADSL Working Over a Wet String A British ISP once got ADSL broadband running over wet string, a ridiculous demo of how adaptive old copper-line internet really was. fantasticfacts.net/adsl-worked-ov…

Thailand Broke an HIV Drug Standoff With a Clever License Strategy When Kaletra stayed out of reach, Thailand used a legal patent escape hatch and forced a global fight over access to medicine. fantasticfacts.net/thailand-broke…

Spain Had a Detailed Plan to Conquer China With Jesuits, Samurai, and Bribery In the 1580s, Spain drew up a plan to invade Ming China with soldiers, samurai, and Jesuit spies. The Armada's destruction killed it. fantasticfacts.net/spain-had-a-de…

Sweden chased mystery submarine sounds in the Baltic until scientists discovered the intruders were noisy schools of herring. fantasticfacts.net/sweden-hunted-…