There is so much for one to be amazed by within our world. Sometimes, the most interesting information remains unnoted, hiding within our everyday activities that form part of nature’s phenomena and cultural rituals and everything surrounding us. So join me as we walk through some of these amazing facts and secret information that might leave you leaving in awe, adding some wonder to your ordinary life.

The Science Behind Sleep and Dreams

Have you ever stopped to wonder why we sleep and dream? Sleep is important for allowing the brain to fortify memories, learn new things, and gear up for the next day. However, the dreams add another layer of mystery to this activity. As Dream Researchers tell us, we dream in cycles. Each dream cycle lasts from as short a time as some seconds to as long as 20 minutes, although it may seem like it all happened in a split second. While most of our dreams disappear without being recorded, a long-standing belief has existed that dreams are the aid to solve problems as well as in emotion processing. In fact, researchers theorize one dream theory-the “threat simulation theory”-teaches us responses for dangers that may be incurred and prepares our minds to better manage stresses in life when awake.

For example, dolphins have unique whistles of sound that can be names to identify each other just like humans do with one another.

Elephants communicate across an entire range of sounds from low rumbles that travel for miles across the savannah so that they can keep in touch with distant members of their herd. Bees are industry workers that can communicate with each other by making a complex dance, the “waggle dance,” which can tell other bees how far or close a food source is and in which direction it is located.

The Microbiome and Its Role in Health

Did you know that there are trillions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses living in and on your body? Collectively called the microbiome, these tiny organisms are essential for our health. An estimated number of bacteria found in gut microbiome is more than the number of cells found within the human body.

These microbes assist with the digestion of food, enhance immunity, and positively impact mood and mental health due to the presence of a gut-brain axis. A balance in the microbiome is seen as being important for general wellness with an imbalance being linked to conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and depression. Diet plays a huge role in the health of the microbiome, and diverse, fiber-rich foods promote a healthy bacterial community.

Ancient Egyptian Makeup Mystery

Ancient Egyptians were innovators when it came to beauty and cosmetics. The components of their renowned eye makeup were mostly from natural ingredients. The eyeliner, known as “kohl,” was a paste made from galena, a type of ore from which lead is extracted, applied around the eyes to protect them from the scorching desert sun and dusty conditions. Ironically, there have been studies that show kohl actually contained antibacterial elements that helped prevent eye infections.

In Egypt, makeup also had a spiritual connotation: they thought it linked them to the gods and protected them from evil forces.

Lightning Strikes and the Physics of Thunderstorms

A thunderstorm reminds us profoundly of nature’s power. When lightning strikes in a thunderstorm, it can heat the surrounding air up to nearly 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun-from 30,000 Kelvin. The rapid expansion of that hot air is one cause of the shockwave we hear as thunder. Cool fact: you can use the time elapsed between seeing the lightning flash and hearing the thunder clap to approximate how far away a thunderstorm is.

Every five seconds translates to approximately a mile distance because sound travels much slower than the speed of light.

Secrets of Memory and Forgetfulness Memory in humans is a highly complex process where they store and access information in ways scientists are yet to fully understand. Memory can be categorized into short-term and long-term memory; the former lasts from seconds to minutes while the latter may last for a lifetime. Curiously, our brains do not store memories in a neat little bundle in one single place; instead, aspects of a memory-say a noise, a color, and a feeling-are stored in multiple regions of the brain and reconstructed at recall. We forget this stuff because of a process known as “pruning,” which helps the brain clear space for new learning and avoid overload.

The Freakiness of Ocean Waves and Tides

Ocean waves and tides are always present, but surprisingly complicated. Waves are caused by the wind blowing over the surface of the ocean. Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun on Earth. The Moon has much greater influence over tides because it is closer to Earth, and this pulls the water out from the side facing the moon, creating a bulge that constitutes a high tide. When that coincides with the sun’s gravitational pull, we get what’s called a “spring tide” that brings us the really high and low tides.

The Amazed Adaptability of Plants

Plants have adapted in really fascinating ways to survive different environments. Desert plants have quite thick, fleshy stems that store water. In rainforests, plants have even adapted with wide leaves to catch more sunlight in such a dense canopy. Some plants, like the Venus flytrap, actually absorb insects for additional nutrients because the soil they live in is not rich.

Conclusion

These small pieces of knowledge show that how complex layers lie beneath things we tend to ignore. The microscopic organism which maintains us healthy and the enormous forces that drive tides in the sea are some of many mysteries accompanying our world. When we extend our knowledge into such ordinary phenomena, we not only satisfy our curiosity but also make our love for this overwhelming world become even deep.