10 Curiosities You Probably Didn’t Learn in Biology Class

The world is a big, wonderful place full of facts we never thought possible. For instance, if a pregnant mouse has a sudden medical issue, the fetus will send stem cells to heal the mother, increasing its chances of survival as well. Fetal stem cells have been found in human mothers as well, dubbed by science as microchimerism.

Bright Side dug up some more marvelous facts about nature and its creations, upholding our yearly resolutions to spread knowledge and joy.

1. The heart slows when your face touches water.

As mammals, we can’t breathe underwater, so as part of the mammalian dive reflex, our heart rate goes down in the water — more so if we go underwater. Even splashing the face with water makes the heart slow down, making it a great way to calm down.

2. Fungus can break down plastic in weeks.

It is said that in the future, there may be more plastic in the ocean than fish. This is why the plastic-eating fungus is great news, and there are around 50 new species of such fungi discovered already. One of the fungi discovered can digest plastic within 2 months, so there’s hope for us yet.

3. Newborn babies can support their own weight.

Newborn babies are strong — strong enough to be able to grasp things in their tiny fists and even support their weight as shown by an experiment done in the nineteenth centuryLouis Robinson witnessed babies able to hang from a walking stick, from 10 seconds to 2 minutes and 35 seconds.

4. Koala fingerprints have been mistaken for human ones.

We’ve been told that our fingerprints are unique, and they are. But the fact remains that even though we share a common ancestor with the koala that was alive 100 million years ago, koala fingerprints look very similar to human fingerprints, as do chimpanzee fingerprints for that matter.

5. Snails can sleep for 3 years.

If you thought bears had it good with hibernation, meet the snail. Snails can sleep rather than hibernate for 3 years at a time without needing food. Of course, this is with some snail species, not all of them. Meanwhile, bears usually hibernate for just 4-8 months.

6. Sloths need 2 weeks to digest food.

Sloths don’t only move in slow motion — even their insides move slowly, ostensibly to preserve energy, which is why a sloth’s digestive system takes 2 weeks to process the food it ate. Plus, most of what it eats is indigestible, giving it very little energy from each slowly chewed mouthful.

On the other end of the spectrum lies the shrew, whose digestion takes mere minutes and is done so fast, not much of it is fully digested. This is the reason why shrews eat their own feces. They can die of starvation in a matter of hours if they don’t eat.

7. Your brain ignores seeing your nose.

We can see our nose all the time, it’s just that the brain tends to ignore it because it’s a constant visual stimulus. It’s the same with people who wear glasses. After a while, they simply stop noticing them.

8. Your forearm is the same length as your foot.

If you don’t have the time to try on a shoe, measure it from your elbow crease to your wrist. If it fits or is just a little smaller, it would fit your foot because the length of your forearm is the same as your foot. And this is just one of many human body ratios that are a marvel in themselves, including the fact that your femur bone is one-quarter your height.

9. You can “see” your white blood cells.

If you look up at a cloudless, bright blue sky and see some wiggly things at the periphery of your vision, you’ve just experienced the blue field entoptic phenomenon. The wiggly things are white blood cells moving in the fine blood vessels moving in front of the retina, at the back of the eye.

10. Human beings have striped skin, but only cats can see it.

Human beings have stripes and patterns on the skin too, and they are called Lines of Blaschko, name eponymously by the scientist who discovered them, Dr. Alfred Blaschko. These are closer to tiger stripes, forming more of a V-pattern fanning out from the center to the extremities. These lines are visible under UV light, a spectrum that cats can see too, which is why cats can see you as a striped being as well.

Which of these facts turned out to be a revelation for you? Share your extreme nature facts with us and blow us away.

Preview photo credit Shutterstock.comShutterstock.com

Jennifer Grey felt ”invisible” after facial transformation – her ”nose job from hell” made her ‘anonymous’

The actress who played “Baby” in the beloved movie Dirty Dancing, Jennifer Grey, was expected to see a significant boost in her career possibilities.

That was not to be, though. Instead, a terrible accident changed everything and forced her to give up the movie industry forever.

The terrible period in her life that left Jennifer Grey severely traumatized was finally discussed by the sixty-two-year-old Jennifer Grey after many years.

It’s a low-budget movie without a big name director or celebrity cast.

But when Dirty Dancing opened in theaters in August 1987, the actors and producers realized they had accomplished something truly great.

The primary actor, Patrick Swayze, achieved quick success. He became well-known as a sex icon and teenage hero before going on to appear in big-budget films like Donnie Darko and Ghost.

But when the movie first came out, his co-star Jennifer Grey wasn’t feeling well, so she swiftly disappeared from sight. Jennifer Grey disappeared amidst the chaos and celebrations just as quickly as she had appeared.

In addition, the actress spent a considerable amount of time away from the spotlight.

Nonetheless, in a recent interview with People Magazine, she revealed every detail of the accident that changed her life.

First, let’s take a look at Jennifer Grey’s life leading up to the tragic event that happened in the summer of 1987.

Jennifer Gray began taking dancing classes at a young age. Her father most likely urged her to seek a career in entertainment when she was born in New York in 1960. Her father, Joel Gray, was an actor, director, photographer, dancer, and vocalist.

Jennifer attended the Dalton School to study dancing and acting. After graduation in 1978, she began seeking acting roles, and she went on to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater. But it wasn’t a rose-colored dance in her life. Jennifer had to work as a waitress to pay the bills.

She did, however, manage to get a couple of TV commercials, including one for Dr. Pepper. Her first motion picture role was in 1984’s “Reckless.” A few years later, she had an incredible breakout role in “Dirty Dancing,” where she played Frances “Baby” Houseman.

The cherished film’s narrative is based on scriptwriter Eleanor Bergstein’s early years. Jennifer became well-known overnight and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress.

Sad event

Unfortunately, she was never able to enjoy the enormous success.

Just before the movie’s August 1987 premiere, Grey and her then-boyfriend Matthew Broderick were residing in Ireland.

But Broderick was driving on the wrong side of the road when he struck another car, and the pair was involved in a horrifying auto accident. A woman and her daughter were killed instantly when they were in the other car.

Eventually, Broderick’s charges of careless driving were withdrawn. In contrast, Jennifer Grey only suffered minor bumps and bruises, but her psychological scars remained.

A few days later, Dirty Dancing had its premiere. Nevertheless, Grey was unable to enjoy the success of the film.

In the middle of such severe sadness and survivor’s guilt, it just didn’t feel right to be heralded as the next big thing. “It didn’t feel good to be the toast of the town,” Grey reportedly said, according to the Daily Mirror.

The actress’s anguish from the accident will never fully go away.

“My ambition and my head were never the same,” she told People.

The most awful nose job ever

Her struggle with survivor’s guilt caused her to disappear for a while in the early 1990s, but she reappeared in a single Friends episode in 1995.

By then, she had undergone plastic surgery, and her face was radically altered.

“I entered the operating room as a celebrity and left anonymous,” she said in 2012.

It was like being undercover or covered by witness protection. The worst nose job I’ve ever seen. I’ll always be this once-famous actress that nobody knows about because of a nose job.

Jennifer’s Hollywood career was sporadic after that.

By 2010, Jennifer had made a successful comeback to the mainstream media. She was a hit with the public once more after winning “Dancing with the Stars.” She said that was something that was important to her.

I feel like I’ve starved myself out of concern for what people may think of me. “This is like having a delicious steak after 23 years on a diet,” the actor said to People.

In 2018, Grey took another step toward the limelight she had previously left behind. She is expected to star in the upcoming motion picture Untogether and comedy Red Oaks.

Jennifer, we’re so happy to see you back to your passionate, happy self!

Who else has a strong need to go back in time to 1987 at this point? Watch the classic scene from Dirty Dancing down below. What beautiful memories!

Please share this news with your friends on Facebook. Like me, they probably watched Dirty Dancing and wondered what happened to the gorgeous Jennifer Grey!

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