Fun Facts That Are

In 1997, a 23-year-old French con artist convinced a Texas family he was their missing teenage son — despite having brown eyes instead of blue, a heavy French accent, and being a completely different person. He lived with them for months before a private investigator uncovered the truth.

Green vine snakes aren't dangerous. They just stare at you like you've disappointed them.

Your cornea has no blood supply at all — it gets its oxygen directly from the air, dissolved through your tears. It's one of the only tissues in the human body that is completely avascular. This is also why wearing contact lenses for too long can cause problems: they block oxygen from reaching the cornea.

The human liver can regenerate to its full size from as little as 25% of its original tissue. It's the only internal organ that can do this — which is why living-donor liver transplants work. Surgeons remove up to 60% of the donor's liver, transplant it, and both the donor and recipient end up with full-sized livers within months.

In 1971, a man named Dan Cooper hijacked a plane, extorted $200,000, parachuted into a stormy night, and vanished without a trace. The only clue ever found was $5,800 of the ransom, rotting on a riverbank years later.

In 2013, a man named Frane Selak survived a train derailment, a plane door explosion, a bus crash, and four car wrecks. He then won the lottery, gave most of it away, and said he was finally happy.

The entire cast of 'The Lord of the Rings' got matching tattoos after filming. The nine actors who played the Fellowship got the Elvish word for 'nine' inked on them, a pact made by Viggo Mortensen.

The town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, has been on fire since 1962. An underground coal seam ignited, creating sinkholes that vent toxic gas, forcing nearly everyone to leave. The fire still burns today and could continue for 250 more years.

During the Gobi Desert ultramarathon, a stray dog ran over 77 miles alongside British runner Dion Leonard. After the race, she went missing, but with 20 volunteers and a two-week search, Dion found her and now happily lives with him in Edinburgh.

The inventor of the lithium-ion battery gave away his patent for free, refusing to profit from a technology that could help the planet.

The first digital camera was invented at Kodak in 1975. They buried the project to protect their film business, bankrupting the company decades later.

Your brain can't distinguish between vividly imagined practice and real action. Mental rehearsal physically strengthens neural pathways.