Strange Facts Quiz: 15 Weird Fun Trivia Questions from 2021

A hydra is a freshwater-dwelling cnidarian no more than a half-inch long that eats mostly insect larvae and crustaceans. It is equipped with the ability to regenerate its body — even its head – deeming it essentially immortal (unless starved.) Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, pinpointed the genetic machinery behind some of these tiny creatures’ powers of regeneration, which practically make them immortal. Their research was published in Genome Biology and Evolution on Dec. 8, 2021.

Singer and fashion icon Rihanna had been declared a member of the Barbadian Order of National Heroes by the Barbadian government. President-elect Sandra Mason bestowed her with a title, “the right excellent,” on Nov. 30, 2021, as the island celebrated becoming a republic for the first time in history. That means Queen Elizabeth II is now no longer Barbados’s head of state.

Texas senator Ted Cruz tweeted “Government propaganda … for your five-year-old!” in response to Sesame Street’s Big Bird’s Nov. 6, 2021, tweet, “I got the Covid-19 vaccine today!”. The Big Bird tweet came after the final US approval for five to 11-year-olds to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine.

Did Big Bird’s vaccination go well?

The perpetually six-and-a-half-year-old Big Bird wrote that her “wing is feeling a little sore, but it’ll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy.”

Republican Representative to the US Congress, Matt Gaetz, was raised in the house used in the film The Truman Show in Seaside, Florida. His parents still live there.

News Fact:

On Thursday, April 8, 2021, CBS News reported that Federal investigators are looking into whether Gaetz paid women to travel to the Bahamas with him, which could violate federal sex trafficking law. Gaetz, who has not been charged with any crime, has repeatedly denied the allegations.

What’s the other sex-trafficking suspicion against Gaetz?

In March 2021, The New York Times reported that the Justice Department was investigating whether Gaetz had had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and had paid for her to travel with him, citing three people briefed about the matter.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michelle Williams approved the artist formerly known as Kanye West’s request to make his Twitter handle, Ye, his full official name – with no middle name or last name, on Monday, Oct. 18, 2021.

Guinness World Records has certified Japanese Umeno Sumiyama and Koume Kodama as the oldest identical twins at 107 on Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. The announcement was made to coincide with “Respect for the Aged Day,” a national holiday in Japan. Sumiyama and Kodama were 107 years and 300 days old as of Sept 1, breaking the previous record set by Japanese sisters Kin Narita and Gin Kanie at 107 years and 175 days.

What is the world’s fastest aging nation?

According to Japan’s health and welfare ministry, about 29% of the population in Japan is 65 years or older. About 86,510 of them are over 100-years-old — half of whom turned 100 in 2021 — making Japan the world’s fastest aging nation.

According to new research published on Monday, Aug. 9, 2021, the perennial western false asphodel, which observers can find in wetlands not far from major cities in the Pacific Northwest, is a fact carnivorous plant.

Western False Asphodel Carnivorous Facts

During the summer flowering season, Western false asphodels produce leafless flowering stems up to 31 inches tall, covered in sticky hairs – serving as traps for mosquitoes and tiny flies stuck to those hairs. The insects are then digested by the enzyme from the hairs, allowing the plant to absorb their nutrients. No other known species use only flower stalks to capture prey.

Facebook has rolled out a new prayer request feature. In Facebook Groups employing it, members can urge prayers for upcoming job interviews, illnesses, and such. After creating a post, other users can tap an “I prayed” button, respond with a “like” or other reaction, leave a comment or send a direct message. According to an August 8, 2021, Associated Press report, Facebook began testing it in the U.S. in December 2020.

You’re looking at the first and only steel 3D-printed pedestrian bridge over a canal in the heart of Amsterdam’s red-light district. The 12-meter (40-foot) bridge was created using a 3D printing technique that combines robotics with welding. Dutch Queen Maxima teamed up with a small robot Thursday, July 17, 2021, to unveil the 3D-printed bridge.

Amsterdam’s 3D-Printed Bridge Facts

The 6-ton structure is loaded with sensors that researchers at Imperial College London use to monitor the bridge in real-time and measure how it reacts to pedestrians’ use. It will remain in place for two years while the bridge that previously crossed the canal is renovated.

The 2021 film “Aline,” based on Celine Dion’s life, premiered at Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, July 13. The film’s 57-year-old actress-director Valérie Lemercier portrays Celine Dion at every age of her life, including a 5-year-old child. And yes, it’s weird. Watch the trailer.

Aline Bonus Fact:

“Aline” begins with a disclaimer: “The life of Celine Dion inspires this film. It is, however, a work of fiction.” That’s why, even though the story follows nearly every element of Dion’s life, the main character is instead named Aline Dieu, and most of Dion’s best-known songs aren’t included due to rights issues.

Virgin Galactic’s first licensed space tourism flight took off from Spaceport America, near the city of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, where spectators were invited to watch the historic liftoff on Sunday, July 11, 2021.

Truth or Consequences Fun Fact:

The city is named after a US radio game show that aired on and off from 1950 to 1988.

Naftali Bennett is the first Israeli Prime Minister who wears a yarmulke – which in Israel means he’s practicing Orthodox Judaism: Keeps kosher, visits a synagogue at least once a week, and avoids work Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath (except for vital assignments). It’s the first time a religious Prime Minister governs Israel, as most of the country’s population considers itself either secular (only practices significant holidays) or conservative/masortim (keeping kosher, but generally not very strict about the Sabbath).

Does Naftali Bennett support the two-state solution?

As part of the religious Zionism stream of ideology, Bennett is a strong opposer of the two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinean conflict. All his predecessors, since 1992, at one point or another, supported a demilitarized Palestinean State.

Speaking during an appearance on “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” former President Barack Obama said:  “When I came into office, I asked, is there a lab somewhere where we’re keeping the alien specimens and spaceship?. They did a little bit of research, and the answer is no.”

Are there aliens, according to Obama?

“What is true, and I’m actually being serious here,” said the former US President in the interview, “is there’s footage and records of objects in the skies that we don’t know exactly what they are. We can’t explain how they moved, their trajectory. They did not have an easily explainable pattern.” Obama added that the US investigates these sightings, but there is “nothing to report” at the moment. Watch the interview.

Medina Spirit is the American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2021 Kentucky Derby on May 1, 2021.

Medina Spirit 2021 Weird and Unsettling Facts

A preliminary drug sample showing an excess trace of an anti-inflammatory drug has put Medina Spirit’s Kentucky Derby victory in danger of being lost to disqualification. At a news conference on Sunday, May 9, 2021, the horse’s trainer Bob Baffert said that the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission gave his assistant a notice that a drug test found Medina Spirit to have 21 picograms of betamethasone in his system. That is 11 picograms over the limit established by the KHRC. A picogram is a trillionth of a gram. “We did not give it,” he said. “Medina Spirit has never been treated with betamethasone.” The 3-year-old colt Kentucky Derby winner finally collapsed and died after a workout on Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, at Santa Anita, California.

Prince Harry is Chief Impact Officer at the San Francisco-based mental health start-up BetterUp.

What is CHIMPO in Japanese?

The job title, which in the US is often shortened to ‘CHIMPO,’ in Japanese is slang for ‘penis.’