What's the most mind-boggling scientific "fact" that you know?

Question

There must be facts that make anyone even remotely interested in science/astonomy to go..."wow!"

Answer 1

I think what is mind boggling about a scientific fact is one's own lack of knowledge in a given area. That's to say, no matter how smart we are, what we find boggling is specifically what we never took the time to find out more about.

For instance, I have one that's been bugging me since I was a kid. We were taught that the definition of water boiling was water reaching the temperature it needed to turn into a gas, steam. I believe it was 100 Celsius degrees or 212 Fahrenheit degrees. We were also taught that the cyclical nature of weather patterns frequently had to do with ocean water becoming water vapor which, when gathered together, became precipitation and so on. Now, even as an adult, while I acknowledge that the words “water vapor” and “steam” MUST mean two different things, and while I also realize that it MUST NOT have anything to do with the fact that lesser pressure at higher altitudes allows lower boiling temperatures, I still cannot shake the feeling that I missed something here. The ocean is not boiling. Steam is a gas; water vapor seems to be a gas. How does the ocean water become gaseous enough to float without boiling? Ugh. I feel mentally raped.

However, if you are simply asking about scientific facts that have a wow factor, as opposed to my numbskull perceptions, the fact that we actually age infinitesimally slower at higher altitudes always blew my socks off. Good old Einstein.

There's also the fact that philosophically there could only be ten dimensions, as opposed to an unlimited, sci-fi-esque number of dimensions. You can check that out here...
http://www.tenthdimension.com/

As far as younger, more childish wow factors were concerned, I've a few. While we have plenty of single celled organisms we learn about in biology as well as many complex organisms, and while the thought of a bicellular organism then made sense as a transitional existence, I always kind of took pleasure in the bicellular organisms that were still around, almost seemingly for no reason. Some Hydra are in this group, just taking nutrients in one cell and ridding them of waste through another...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydra_%28genus%29

Neutrinos, while popularized by lingo used in Star Trek, are actually quite fascinating to me. They are tiny, uncharged particles, so small and so neutral in their electromagnetic state that they can pass through a whole planet, completely, without even scraping along any of the atoms that make the world up. We use neutrino sensitive baths to detect when such particles have traversed terra firma, indicating the birth of a new star.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrino

Chaos mathematics, formerly chaos theory, has plenty of adult wow factors that too many people just ignore. My personal favorite is the accomplishment of having found a predictable pattern to background static in telephone lines that later lead to better internet access and signal transfers.

Still, the best parts about science are still firmly in the realm of human perception. While I once only shared the following notion with those special enough to me to take from it love, I now ask you to consider the following. Go out into your back yard. The woods or a beach are better, anything wild, but a back yard will do. Find a place where the ground is soft or just not harsh enough to rip up your hands. Dig. Use your fingers, your nails, get dirty. Make a nice little hole about big enough to put your heart into. Now, brush yourself off, sit back, and contemplate. You have just changed the shape of the entire planet with your single set of bare hands. THE ENTIRE PLANET just changed because of you! You! Hey, if you can do that, you can do anything.

Answer 2

The mind boggles Hilts. Could not get the link. Awww

Answer 3

The area under the curve of 1/x from x = 1 to infinity is infinite, but if you revolve the curve around the x axis the volume is the finite volume of pi cubic units.

Answer 4

Over 99.9999% percent of all matter in the universe is in the plasma state, but <1% of the matter on the earth is a plasma.

This is basically saying that the world we are most familiar with is very different than most of the universe.

Answer 5

According to the laws of aerodynamics the bumblebee can`t fly.

Answer 6

Still there is no cure for common cold.

Answer 7

That particles know that their being observed.

Check it out for yourself.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4237751840526284618&q=quantum

Answer 8

it's possible to sequence genomes