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More French soldiers died during World War I than American soldiers during all of U.S. history. France lost about 1,360,000 soldiers. In contrast, the United States has recorded about 1,350,000 military deaths total, over every war since 1775.

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In the search for more efficient fuels, Prince Charles is taking a strange-but-entertaining approach: The heir to the British throne had his vintage Aston Martin reworked to use wine as it's primary fuel.

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The Earth's speed as it orbits the sun is not a fixed rate. No matter how constant it may seem to us mortals, it's actually slowing over time. The length of a day will become 25 hours...in about 175 million years.

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Don't get excited yet Flat Earthers—the planet we all call home isn't flat but it's not round either. Technically the Earth is known as an 'oblate spheroid' due to the bulge at the equator and the flattened poles.

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One of the most painful stings known to mankind is from the platypus

The platypus is the sole living representative of its family (Ornithorhynchidae) and genus (Ornithorhynchus), though a number of related species appear in the fossil record.

Together with the four species of echidna, it is one of the five extant species of monotremes, the only mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. Like other monotremes it senses prey through electrolocation. It is one of the few species of venomous mammals, as the male platypus has a spur on the hind foot that delivers a venom capable of causing severe pain to humans.

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London may be one of the largest metropolises in the world but when it comes to actual people, only 9,000 reside in the City of London. The city is a small area surrounded by the Greater London region—which has 8.1 million people.

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The Las Vegas Strip is probably the most famous thing about Nevada and the top reason tourists come to Las Vegas. But the strip is misnamed—it's actually in the unincorporated city of Paradise. Las Vegas' founders ordered all casinos be built outside city limits to avoid sullying their reputation. In an ironic twist, now that's all anyone knows the city for.

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Country clubs and hotel ballrooms are so passe—if you really want to throw a party everyone will remember, try renting out an entire country for the night. For just $70,000 you can rent Lichtenstein for an evening.

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There's a good scientific reason for shaking your ketchup before you pour it on your fries: The more you shake it, the thinner the consistency gets. Why? Spherical tomato particles form into thinner ellipses when shaken, making your ketchup 1,000 times runnier.

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Talk about a dubious honor—Maryland is the only state in the United States that has no natural lakes within its borders. The bodies of water Maryland now has have all been the result of damming rivers, so they are reservoirs.

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The people of the Middle Ages prized sesame seeds so highly that they cost more than their weight in gold. They're highly nutritious and tasty but many civilizations thought they also held magical or spiritual properties, bestowing luck and fortune. Now you'll never pick them off your hamburger bun again, right?

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Think the famed Sahara desert is big? At 3.5 million square miles, it's definitely a monster, but it doesn't even compare to the Antarctic Polar Desert. It covers the continent of Antarctica and has a size of about 5.5 million square miles. Surprised? The definition of a desert is simply a place that receives less than ten inches of precipitation per year—it doesn't have to be hot!

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The fastest object ever made by man was a manhole cover

When it comes to sheer speed, race cars, fighter jets, and space rockets have nothing on a round, flat hunk of metal normally found covering a sewer. It wasn't made to be a speedster but when an underground nuclear bomb test launched the four-inch thick steel disk at an estimated 125,000 miles per hour or 5 times the Earth's escape velocity, it became the winner. In contrast, the New Horizons spacecraft maxed out at 36,373 mph.

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Hang around a know-it-all long enough and eventually, you will hear someone corrected when they try to talk about more than one octopus. Many people think the right plural form is 'octopi' but based on the Greek roots, it technically should be 'octopodes.' No one says that, however, so grammarians have settled on 'octopuses' as the correct pluralization of octopus. Yep, it's exactly what you always thought it was! As for 'octopi?' It's not even a word.

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High heels have become such an icon of stereotypical femininity that many women feel an outfit is incomplete without them. But this ultra-girly symbol was first invented for men. Persian men started the high heel trend in the 10th century and the shoes were mostly considered masculine fashion until the 18th century when women claimed them.

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When you think of Saudi Arabia, two of the first images that likely pop into your head are vast deserts of sand and lines of camels. It may sound like a case of selling ice to Eskimos but ever since 2002 the middle eastern country has been importing both sand and camels from Australia as their own supplies have run short. Australia has the largest population of wild camels in the world and its 'garnet sand' is highly prized in manufacturing.

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Six feet is how long the average giraffe's neck is while a human being's neck averages just four inches. Yet both of us have the same number of bones in our necks: Seven.

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If you dread looking at your inbox, you've got a good reason. In 2018, researchers found that spam emails account for 60 to 70 percent of all email traffic and up to half of all indexed data on the Internet.

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The original design of this Parisian landmark used the four large pylons at the base to provide all the structural support. However, the people providing the funding felt that it looked too rickety and worried the public would be too afraid to go in it. So they added the iconic arches around the base but while they look beautiful they are only decorative.

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According to some scientists, it actually rains diamonds on Jupiter. How? The high pressure and heat in the dense atmospheres of planets like Jupiter and Saturn, can squeeze carbon in the clouds, making it rain diamonds.

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Sharks have a bad reputation for being merciless killers but when it comes to sheer numbers they could learn something from the humble coconut. Falling coconuts kill 150 people worldwide each year while sharks only kill about ten.

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Garlic lovers rejoice! There's now another way you can enjoy the pungent food. If you rub a clove of garlic on the bottom of your bare foot, you'll be able to taste garlic in your mouth. It's all thanks to allicin, the chemical responsible for garlic's unique smell. It can be absorbed through your skin, pass through your bloodstream, and end up in your mouth and nose, making you 'taste' the garlic even though it never went in your mouth.

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What's a pirate without an eye patch? Yet the reason they were so prevalent among the outlaws may surprise you. It wasn't to cover a missing or injured eye; rather pirates wore the patch to train the covered eye to see better in the dark, giving them a tactical advantage when they ran below-decks to fight.

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Perhaps the greatest testament to our modern lifestyle is The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating 'island' of plastic and trash. According to a 2018 study it measured at 600,000 square miles—twice the size of Texas—but is undoubtedly bigger now.

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Tom and Jerry were originally named Jasper and Jinx

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Infinity pools are a staple of beachside resorts and high-end hotels - but you probably haven't seen one quite like this. Compass Pools is planning to build a borderless pool at the top of a 55-story London skyscraper providing a 360-degree view of the city skyline.

But there's just one problem. People are confused about how you're supposed to enter and exit the pool.

Compass Pools' website says that swimmers will use a spiral staircase "based on the door of a submarine" that rises from the pool's floor. Alex Kemsley, swimming pool designer and technical director for Compass Pools, told Business Insider sister site INSIDER that the staircase works like "a tube in a tube."

"The first tube is to cut a path through the water and create an airlock," he said. "The second to deliver the staircase up to water level."

And if it breaks ...

Or the building sways?

The design of the building prevents that:

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Lightning strikes.

You have to go to the bathroom? Hang it over the side?

ROTF - LMAO!

What a bunch of pessimistic guys!

I can't imagine floating on a tube in that pool and having it bumping into the edge. Or worse yet dumping you over!!

You had to go there? LOL!

Dan

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A rare overhead shot of the Alamo