10 Sinister Facts About the World We Live In
What makes a fact or story the scariest is
when you know that it's true. For this reason, no amount of ghost
stories or tales of alien sightings can compare a simple list of
evidence-backed facts, at least in our opinion. If you agree, or even if
you don't, we think that you'll find these facts equally creepy and
fascinating. Just don't read them before bed, or you might end up
getting a nightmare about creepy genetic mutations or nuclear
catastrophes...
1. Ancient bacteria and viruses can
reemerge from melting permafrost.
Certain microscopic pathogens can survive after being frozen for
millions of years. If they reach humans and animals, they could lead to
new diseases.
2. Warning! This fact will ruin all jokes about doctors’ bad handwriting
to you.
Around 7,000 people die every year because of doctors’ bad handwriting -
according to data from 2006 by the National Academies of Science
Institute. Lucky for us, most medical notes are typed out on the
computer these days!
3. Your parents were right when they told you to never stifle a
sneeze...
A stifled sneeze can potentially rupture your eardrums, blood vessels in
the eyes, or even a brain aneurysm. Although the chances of this
killing you are rather low, they are not zero, and we can all agree that
a quiet sneeze is not worth the risk.
4. Here’s why crows and ravens are associated with death.
Ravens are known to follow armies, looming over soldiers as they are
marching into battle. These carrion birds are very smart, and they could
probably understand that an armed conflict is about to start, providing
them a big meal. Needless to say, this added to their reputation as
harbingers of tragic news.
5. What happens when you get the wrong type
of blood during a transfusion.
Mismatching the blood type during a blood transfusion can cause a pretty
severe and potentially life-threatening immune reaction. People
describe one of the early signs of getting the wrong type of blood as “a
sense of impending doom.” If that’s not creepy, we don’t know what is!
6. A rare genetic condition called Situs inversus causes the position of
one’s organs to be mirrored
The most common kind of this condition - Situs inversus totalis -
affects about 1 in 10,000 people, and it refers to the complete reversal
of all of the organs in the abdominal cavity. So, for example, instead
of having the heart on the left side of the chest, a person will have it
on the right side.
7. Your eyes have their own immune system.
This means that an eye condition that spreads beyond the eyes can make
the immune system of the entire body attack the eyes and cause vision
damage or even complete vision loss. What makes matters even worse is
that the body doesn’t distinguish between the right and the left eye. If
one of the eyes gets damaged, immune cells can accidentally attack the
healthy eye.
8. The smell of a freshly mowed lawn is kind of creepy.
When a plant becomes damaged, it releases chemicals into the air as a
warning signal to other plants. So what you’re smelling when you cut the
lawn is a plant’s cry for help...
9. The United States military has officially lost 6 nuclear warheads
throughout the years.
The military term Broken Arrow means that a nuclear weapon has been
fired, launched, lost, or stolen. There have been 32 Broken Arrows
recorded since 1950, and that’s only in the US. Just imagine how many
nuclear missiles other countries could have lost without ever disclosing
it!
10. Polydactyly is a strong genetic trait. 
Polydactyly refers to having more than 5 fingers or toes on each hand or
foot respectively, and it occurs in both animals and humans. When not
related to a bigger syndrome, polydactyly is a dominant trait. This
means that if a child inherits a polydactyly gene from only one of their
parents, he or she will be born a polydactyl. So eventually, most
people may have more fingers and toes.