Facts, read against their sources

Dates that rearrange the timeline and wars that lasted minutes: the history facts in the library, checked against the record.

Numbers that sound wrong until you read the paper: the science facts in the library, with the mechanism and the source.

Birds that are dinosaurs, octopuses with three hearts: the animal facts in the library, and what the sources say.

Honey that never spoils, fruit that is technically a berry: the food facts in the library, and where each one comes from.

The first computer bug, the size of the early internet: the tech facts in the library, checked against the primary sources.

Depths, pressure and creatures that glow: the ocean facts in the library, with the measurements and the sources.

Records, rules and the numbers behind them: the sports facts in the library, checked against the official accounts.

Bones, cells and the numbers inside you: the human body facts in the library, read against the medical sources.

A clam that lived 507 years, a jellyfish that runs its life backwards, a crab whose blood tests vaccines. Ten sea facts set beside their source pages, with the gaps marked.

In September 1752 Britain jumped from the 2nd to the 14th. Nobody lost any time. Parliament renamed eleven dates to catch up with the calendar most of Europe already used.

Partly true. Gloves protect the hand and cut down on cuts, but the evidence that they leave the brain worse off rests on one medical report and a small modern study.

A mole that rules on its food faster than a blink, a sloth that stays under for 40 minutes, a horse that cannot be sick. Each fact sat beside its source page, with the gaps marked.

In the summer of 1518 somewhere between 50 and 400 people in Strasbourg danced for days on end. The dancing is well recorded. The deaths, and the reason it happened, are still argued over.

Mount Tambora's 1815 eruption chilled Europe's summer of 1816, and the rain kept Mary Shelley indoors near Geneva. The volcano set the weather; a dare and a waking dream made the novel.

Nvidia was among the most-read pages on Wikipedia on 9 November 2026. Six checked facts about the chip company, from the diner booth where it was planned to the console maker that bet on it.

Ten biology facts from the library, from tardigrades in orbit to a fungus the size of a town, each read against its source page. Where the headline rounds or stretches, the source's own words are here.

Mostly true. The British bombardment of the Zanzibar palace on 27 August 1896 ran from 09:02 to about 09:40, but sources also give 40 and 45 minutes, and the rifle detail is unsourced.

Partly true. Machine guns failed to dent the emu population of Western Australia in 1932, but the war was a cull by a handful of men, and the name came from the newspapers.

Guy Fawkes Night was among the most-read pages on Wikipedia on 6 November 2026. Six checked facts about the Fifth of November, from who was burned in effigy to the law that kept the day for two and a half centuries.

Seven food history facts from the library, each read against the page it cites. Two hold up with small edits, four claim more than the page does, and one is contradicted by its own source.

Wojtek the bear travelled with Polish troops from Iran to Scotland. His rank and his shell carrying at Monte Cassino are disputed, and the two sides rest on different kinds of evidence.

Victor Lustig took money for the Eiffel Tower in 1925 by posing as a ministry official. The retellings give one clear payment and one stopped repeat, and no French record turned up.

A live frog has been floated in mid-air by a magnet, with no harm done. Water is very weakly repelled by magnetic fields, and a field of about 16 teslas is enough to lift a small animal.

Mostly true. A 2020 Stanford study found that body temperature in the United States has fallen by about 0.03 °C per decade since the 1860s. The 37 °C standard dates from an 1868 book. Whether the whole world has cooled is not yet shown.

Ten Olympic stories from the Fact Drop library, each read against the record that confirms it. A gymnast with a wooden leg, a marathon finished after 54 years, medals for pigeons and sculpture, and two details the sources put differently.

Cleopatra died in 30 BC. The Great Pyramid was already about 2,500 years old by then, and Apollo 11 was only about 2,000 years away. Three dates from three source pages make the fact true.

True. Mike the chicken lost most of his head on 10 September 1945 and lived until March 1947, because the axe missed his jugular vein and left most of his brain stem. Two independent accounts agree on the 18 months.

Ten facts about the physical ocean from the Fact Drop library, each checked against its source page. The quotes are the source's own words, and the one figure that did not quite hold up is flagged.