In America, we call New York City the city that never sleeps, but in Europe it’s Barcelona. Barcelona is a cultural gem in the Mediterranean and people there party all day and night. It’s amazing how a city changes from day to night, in just a few hours you’ll see a city in a whole different light…literally!
In this picture, you can see Barcelona on the left just as we imagine it from reading all of those travel blogs on the internet. On the right, you get to see the city come alive at night bathed in amber light. You don’t always get to see a bird’s-eye-view of the city, but this photographer shows us la Sagrada Familia in a way we’ve never seen before.
To think that most of us alive today remember a time when computers didn’t exist almost seems unfathomable! The world’s first computer took up an entire wing of an office building, but now they’re even riding around in our cars with us. Better yet, they’re in our pockets. Almost everything has some sort of a computer in it.
What we didn’t realize is that technology has come such a far way that we can make a computer smaller than a grain of rice. In this picture that tiny spec of metal with a few wires sticking out of it is the world’s smallest computer and that giant white thing is a grain of everyday rice. This doesn’t help our fear that mosquitos are spying on us!
If you think your fruits and vegetables just don’t taste like they used to that’s because they don’t! For many Americans, tomatoes are a household staple and we’re probably used to them looking somewhat like the one on the left in this picture. However, this giant tomato on the right is one grown from 150-year-old heirloom seeds.
Since the ‘60s, a few companies in the agricultural sector have been modifying seeds to meet the needs of modern-day supply and demand. We’re looking at you Monsanto! The tomato on the left will have a longer shelf life, a more vibrant red, and be a lot smaller than the tomatoes of the past. All so they can sit on the shelf longer, be more appealing to the eye, and not go as far so you have to buy more. Is this ethical? Probably not.
When it comes to food, America and the U.K. are very different…and we’re not just talking about tea and crumpets. In America, food dye and colorings have been over-used for decades. Every piece of food has some sort of coloring agent in it to make American’s think that food is better.
The U.K. has outlawed specific coloring agents because of their links to cancer and many other harmful conditions. As you can see with the case of Froot Loops, instead of the cheery red, bright blue and green, you’ll get a rather drab yellowish cereal that tastes the same without the harmful coloring agents.
If you’ve been looking for a reason to adopt a chicken, look no further! We always just thought that farm-fresh eggs tasted better, but the truth is that they’re also so much better for you! Now we’re not scientists, but what we do know is that farm-fresh eggs are supposed to have less cholesterol and saturated fat than regular store-bought eggs.
In this picture, someone compared the two, for the science of course, and you can see that the store-bought egg is a pale yellow color while the farm-fresh egg is a saturated orange! Apparently, farm-fresh eggs also have more nutrients than store-bought. Someone let us know where to buy a chicken, ASAP!
It’s pretty crazy to think that we only can see a fraction of what the world actually looks like. Bugs, birds, and other animals see the world completely differently than we do and we feel a little left out! For example, those black crows we see every day actually look more like a parrot to other birds.
In this picture, someone compared what we see as humans and what birds see with their magic wizard eyes. We’re not going to lie…we’re a little jealous. Living as a bird seems so much more fun. You get to live in a Tim Burton and Avatar cross-over movie in real life! Meanwhile, we’re living in 50 Shades of Grey.
From Earth, the moon seems like an unfathomably large celestial object, but the truth is…it’s not that big. Well, it’s big. We’re not denying that, but it’s not as big as you’d think it is. The moon in all reality is not even as wide across as the United States! This fact absolutely blows our minds, and we’re going to have to investigate this a bit further.
In this picture, someone took a map of the U.S. and placed a picture of the moon to scale over it at scale. While the moon isn’t as wide as the U.S. it’s probably important to remember that the moon (as well as the earth…we’re looking at you flat-earthers.) is sphere-like. So, by volume, the moon is a lot bigger than the U.S. but still, this is pretty amazing.
Despite how smart we think we are; humans will never compare to the power of mother nature. She did it first, she did it better, and she did it millions of years before we even existed. When it comes to aerodynamics, something we’ve only come to understand rather recently, nature knows best.
Take the falcon for example. In this picture, a falcon is compared to one of the most technologically advanced aircraft known to man. The shape of the craft is almost identical to that of the falcon. Aerodynamics at its finest. It’s just crazy that these animals are living examples of science.
In another example of man-made vs. mother nature, here’s what the stinger of a bee looks like when compared to a needle used by doctors and nurses around the world! No one wants something sharp jabbing them, but when compared like this, that needle looks a little dull if you ask us!
Meanwhile, that bee stinger looks like something made of nightmares! It’s barbed and two-pronged like some sort of demon needle. No wonder people are afraid of bees, we would be too after seeing this! On the other hand, no wonder getting a shot hurts so bad, they’re jabbing you with a dull piece of metal!
If you’re a fan of basketball you probably know that those pro players are freakishly tall. From the stadium seats, they just look like your average tall guy, but up-close you realize that they’re way taller than you thought. Yao Ming is the tallest of them all at 7’6’’. Now wonder he plays basketball!
In this picture, you can see how he stacks up against other celebrities we’ve all seen before. On the right is Shaq, who is 7’1’’, and even he seems a little short compared to Yao! In the middle, Christina Aguilera literally looks like a child between these two guys. She doesn’t even come to Yao’s belly button!
We all had our favorite stuffed animal or blanky that we hung on to every day as kids. Some even kept them until they were adults! Over time you don’t realize how much those little stuffed toys start to take some wear and tear until you see an old picture of them when they were new!
In this picture, someone was lucky enough to have a body double for their cherished little friend in storage. They showed us what all those years of wear and tear do to those little toys right in front of our eyes! Listen, we’re not going to shame them for their security blankets, but there’s no way that stuffed bear isn’t growing a science experiment in there somewhere.
California seems like the center of the world, but honestly…it’s not even that big. On the map, it seems like Cali and Chile aren’t even that different in regard to size, but when you actually compare the two, Chile is absolutely massive! If you started Chile at the bottom of Southern California it would go well into Canada.
It kind of makes sense though, Chile spans the entire length of South America, but because of the way round maps translate to flat maps, the size of Chile is compressed drastically. If you turn it sideways, Chile would be wider than the entire United States. Sorry Chile, we’ll never think you’re small again.
Another bizarre geography fact is that Brazil is literally bigger than the United States and Mexico combined. We knew Brazil was big, but we didn’t know it was this big. For many Americans, it will be a shock to know that the United States isn’t the largest country in the world. Expand your worldview folks!
Brazil makes up a sizeable portion of South America, the other half is Chile which is also a massive country we were surprised about. We’re definitely shocked to know that our perspectives are all off when it comes to the scale of other countries. How many people are living their lives without knowing that Brazil is gigantic!?
Sorry Texans, we know your schtick is to be the biggest thing in the world, but Texas is actually pretty small. Yes, it’s the largest state in the United States, but When you compare it to Africa, it doesn’t even make up the entirety of Algeria. Take your slice of humble pie with grace, Texas. It’s not that BIG of a deal!
This really shows the power of perspective not just physically, but also mentally. We’ve all grown up thinking that Texas is huge, and it is in some instances, but there are bigger things out there. Like Sudan and Libya for example. However, it is almost the size of India, one of the most populated countries in the world.
Europeans also think they’re the center of the universe, but here’s a way to burst their bubble. All those fancy European countries are tiny specs of land when compared to Texas. When you put Texas over Europe, it literally covers most of the high points of the area. Imagine that, the birthplace of civilization is really just Texas.
Imagine if Texas was as important as Europe in the world…Instead of Michelangelo and Davinci, it’s just the Dallas Cowboys and some guy named Luke in a jacked-up for F-250 with Mossy Oak sticker on the back. That’s what you call culture folks. Just kidding, thank God Texas isn’t that important.
Usually when we say “in the whole wide world,” we’re talking about something humongous! While the sun just seems like a constant white dot in the sky that you can’t really look directly at, it’s actually unfathomably large. Bigger than any planet in the solar system not by a little bit, but by a whole lot.
This person made a diorama showing just how ridiculously large the sun is compared to earth. Each of those tiny blue balls represents one earth. So basically, the sun is just a giant yellow beanbag! Not really, but it’s gigantic. Don’t believe us? Ask Elon Musk real nicely and maybe he’ll take you to see it someday.
From the ground, wind turbines look huge! They’re taller than any nearby tree, and if you ever catch their components being shipped by trucks, you’ll get a closeup of just how large these things actually are. But, even a giant wind turbine fails when compared to mother nature. She’s just got us beat.
In this picture, you can see a gigantic tornado whirling right for a wind turbine farm. Yes, those tiny dandelion things on the bottom right are in fact those same massive wind turbines. Tornadoes come in all shapes and sizes, but when you see them firsthand, you can understand why they’re so dangerous.
If you’re anything like us, you may have been wondering why that large drink from Micky D’s never seems to last long. Well, if you look over the ice, there’s also some Houdini magic Ronald McDonald pulls when pouring your drink. You see, even though those cups look bigger…it seems that they’re not containing any more liquid.
This generous person shared their historic findings with the world proving that we are in fact not crazy. McDonald’s is completely ripping us off…and it’s not just because they have the audacity to call those nuggets “chicken.” We all know that stuff isn’t chicken either! What’s next, is it even orange juice!?
Hurricanes are a force of nature. Imagine an F-5 tornado meets a tsunami and that’s a hurricane. These storms are so massive, they can even be seen from space! If you’ve never looked it up, do it! It’s wild. Unfortunately, any coastal area is well accustomed to the impact hurricanes have on their communities.
Here in this picture, you can see just how insane these hurricanes are once they make landfall. Before Hurricane Florence, this street was a perfectly beachy stroll with beach grass lining the street in front of luxury beach homes. However, after the hurricane, the street has been completely washed away along with the beachgrass.
Humans and gorillas…not so different. When you look at gorillas when they’re alive, you can even see that they’re our long-distant cousins in the animal kingdom. Their hands, feet, and basically every part of their bodies could have been us! They even have some of the same facial expressions as us!
When you strip it all away and look at this picture, you can really tell that we come from the same place. Next time you’re at the zoo, pay the gorillas a bit more respect because that could have been you! Thankfully our ancestors rolled a different pair of genetic dice otherwise we would be swinging from ropes for kids on field trips to watch too!
Most of us grab a doorknob and think nothing of it, but if you’re lucky enough to have a beachfront property you know the constant fight against the elements wearing away at your home. Someone uploaded this picture, showing their doorknob both inside and outside. The difference is astounding.
On the inside, you have a shiny black knob that looks perfectly fine. However, the outside facing knob is a totally different story! It looks like that knob belongs to the Smithsonian! As you can tell, the sea air takes its toll on things around it! The buildup of salt and minerals is insane!
We see them every day and think absolutely nothing of it, but traffic lights are actually quite large! Larger than you’d think. Traffic lights are just one of those mundane things we look at and don’t think twice about. When they’re on a street, suspended in the air like they’re supposed to be, it’s almost like urban camouflage!
However, when they’re not in their natural element they just seem bizarre! In this picture, you can see what looks to be facility workers installing a new street light, but for a size comparison, they had someone stand next to it! We’re sure people driving by were just as surprised as we were to find out that they’re so big.
Elephants are absolutely massive, but triceratops were even bigger than they were! One triceratops bone is basically the same size as a human being! What’s even more interesting is that we have our own massive mammal as well!
The same bone from an animal is nearly as big as the triceratops! Maybe elephants are a long-distance cousin to the dinos…probably not, but it’s a fun thought. Either way, Jurassic Park got it right. Triceratops were humongous. Just imagine if an elephant had a long dino tail and a few more horns, and there you go.
It’s amazing what a little love and attention can do! If you’ve never visited a dog shelter, you totally should. Those poor babies need us humans to take care of them, especially when they’re lost, abandoned, or hurt! Dogs are man’s best friend, so we say every puppy should have its own human!
Someone posted a picture of what their furry best friend looked like the day they found each other vs. what they look like today! It’s amazing that these little animals feel. A loving home makes such a big difference, and you can see it on this doggy’s sweet face! We just want to kiss it!
Of all the animals in the world, it’s shocking that we humans were the ones to conquer the world. Honestly, it should have been dolphins! We’ve known for a while now that dolphins have immense intelligence and problem-solving skills. They can even recognize themselves in mirrors!
In this picture, you can compare the size of a dolphin's brain alongside a shark’s brain. As you can see, dolphins have a big noodle to store all those dolphin secrets whereas sharks are obviously thinking about where their next meal is coming from. This totally throws off the vengeance plot of JAWS.
Oh, Canada, the land of moose and maple syrup, only gained its independence in 1982. The long and the short of it is that Canada is so cool that Britain just said have your own fun. There’s a lot more to the story, but we’re not really here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about the actual size of Canada.
On the map, if you move Canada over Europe it covers the entire western half of the continent! No wonder western Europeans wanted to colonize and expand, they’re cramped on a bunch of tiny islands! The best way to improve their cramped conditions was to hop across the pond.
No wonder China and the U.S. have such a competition with each other. They’re literally the same size. If you added Alaska to the actual continental mass of the U.S. it’s nearly the same size and shape as China.
When China is combined with the rest of the Eurasia landmass it looks so much bigger than what it actually is. China has nearly all types of landscapes, but the western half is mostly desert. China cuts off at the Himalayan Mountains where it meets with Nepal, but South and North Korea live off of the coast.
When you look at Australia on a flat map…it doesn’t look that big. It’s kind of out there in the ocean on its own away from everyone else. And if you ask an Australian, they probably like it that way! Australia sits below the equator in the southern hemisphere of the globe right below Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
However, when you move the land down under, over the U.S. you quickly see that Australia could quite literally engulf the U.S. and a sizable chunk of Canada. Imagine wallabies, kangaroos, and whatever creepy-crawly thing that lives in Australia invading the U.S.
Ahh…Antarctica, the land of mystery and ice. On the map, Antarctica looks like a massive mystery supercontinent hanging out at the bottom of the map. It spans the entire southern portion of the globe when you see a map laid flat. However, at scale Antarctica is actually smaller than Africa!
Now, Antarctica isn’t anything to sneeze at. It’s still a big place, but it’s honestly only slightly larger than Australia. We know this probably breaks your worldview a little, but you know what they say…the more you know the more you grow, right? So, if you have any intentions of visiting this frozen tundra, just know it’s a little less impressive than what you see on any map.
Okay, we’re back with Australia. We just can’t grasp the fact that it is actually as big as it is. Ask around and people definitely think that Australia is probably about as big as Texas. But it’s not! It’s huge! Australia isn’t just an island with kangaroos, it’s a straight-up continent! So, for a better comparison here it is with Canada.
For most North Americans, Canada might as well be the North Pole. It’s our friendly maple-loving, moose riding, neighbors who just so happen to be a bit more free-thinking. Most people would say that Canada is probably larger than most other countries. But, Australia nearly has it beat.
