101 Things We Learned in 2024

It’s been another amazing year for fun facts about history, science, animals, Parmesan cheese, and everything in between. As 2024 draws to a close, let’s celebrate by covering 100 of our favorite facts we learned this year, from wild world records and new animal discoveries to the final resting places of shipwrecks and fascinating insights into this year’s Olympics. 

1. Earth got what was called a “mini-moon” in 2024.

Earth famously has one moon. But this fall, our planet gained a bonus so-called “mini moon,” thanks to the asteroid 2024 PT5. The asteroid traveled in a horseshoe-like orbit around Earth for about two months before continuing its journey through the solar system. It will visit our planet’s orbit again in 2055, when it probably won’t be close enough to Earth to be moon-y. 

2. We found out more about the material that made up the Chicxulub asteroid.

The Chicxulub asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago didn’t just wipe out the planet’s non-avian dinosaurs—it also left a telltale layer of extraterrestrial material all over the place. In 2024, geologists studying this material suggested the asteroid came from way out in our solar system. They found chemical signatures that matched those of carbonaceous-type asteroids, a type that falls to Earth relatively rarely. They were made of primordial materials in a composition that indicates they were formed past the orbit of Jupiter. 

3. Los Angeles was declared the U.S.’s best city for vegans and vegetarians … 

If you’re looking to embrace a plant-based lifestyle, consider moving to Los Angeles. That’s the best city for vegans and vegetarians in the United States, according to a 2024 study from WalletHub. In addition to boasting the second-highest number of highly-rated, affordable restaurants with veggie-friendly options, the California destination is home to plenty of farmers markets, community gardens, and organic farms.

4. … And Arizona has the most pet-friendly city. 

If you want to live in a super pet-friendly place, head to the Grand Canyon State. WalletHub also ranked the most pet-friendly city in the U.S., and Scottsdale, Arizona, came out on top. WalletHub’s research found that Scottsdale had some of the most pet-related businesses in the country and boasted an abundance of pet-friendly rentals. The city’s parks, hiking trails, and good weather helped it reach the no. 1 spot, too.

5. A Chinese zoo tried to disguise dogs as pandas in 2024 ...

It’s pretty hard to confuse a dog with a panda, but in 2024, two Chinese zoos tried to get their visitors to do just that. In May, Taizhou Zoo in Jiangsu Province painted two chow chows black and white and apparently called them “panda dogs.” As one zoo official explained, “There are no panda bears at the zoo and we wanted to do this as a result.” 

6. … And then it happened again.

In September, Shanwei zoo copped to doing the same thing—down to calling them panda dogs—after its dyed pooches were seen panting and heard barking. Visitors were apparently so angry that they demanded a refund.

7. A woman rescued a “baby hedgehog.”

In March 2024, a woman rescued a baby hedgehog from the side of the road and took it to a wildlife hospital in Cheshire, England. There, she discovered that it was not, in fact, a baby hedgehog. It was a spiky pom-pom that had apparently fallen off someone’s hat. Hey, we’ve all been there.

8. We learned that the ages of 44 and 60 are big for the human microbiome. 

Scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine found that human microbiomes go through distinct changes at two specific ages—44 and 60 on average—which may offer clues to a person’s overall health and disease prognosis. The changes correlated with cardiovascular health, kidney function, metabolism of alcohol, caffeine, and fat; and skin and muscle health, among other factors.

9. Paris got a cheese museum. 

The Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the steps from John Wick: Chapter 4. Paris has no shortage of tourist hotspots, and this year, another joined the ranks: the Musée du Fromage, France’s very first cheese museum. The museum features a working dairy where you can watch cheese get made, an exhibit all about cheese and cheesemaking, and a gift shop. Oh yeah, and a cheese taste-testing station. Not sure if it’s BYOB … bring your own baguette.

10. A number of iconic books celebrated their 50th birthdays this year ...

Happy 50th birthday to Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends, first published in 1974. It wasn’t the only classic book to celebrate the big 5-0 this year. So did Stephen King’s Carrie, Peter Benchley’s Jaws, and James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk. Fun for literature lovers—not so fun for people who still think the ’70s were only like 20 or 30 years ago.

11. … And new words got added to the dictionary.

Some incredible new words and phrases got added to dictionaries in 2024. Here are two of our favorites that were added to Dictionary.com this year: mid, meaning “mediocre,” and bed rotting, which refers to spending daylight hours in bed to escape stress. 

12. We found out which countries curse the most (in English, anyway) ... 

This year, the language blog WordTips analyzed 1.7 million geotagged posts in English to determine which country swears the most—and, no fucking surprise, it’s the United States, where 41.6 out of every 1000 tweets had at least one curse word. Next was the UK, with 28.6 tweets out of 1000 containing at least one swear, followed by Australia. Crikey! As for which countries cursed the least, that would be Kuwait, where just 3.6 tweets in every 1000 contained a swear word. The analysis was based on English, though, so who knows about swearing in other languages.

13. … And the most commonly searched text message abbreviations.

This year, the business admin website Vera compiled a list of the most commonly searched text message abbreviations. If you catch yourself typing SMH, or “shaking my head,” into the group chat every other message, you’re not alone. The abbreviation is the most popular one in the U.S., with an average monthly search volume exceeding 230,000 queries. POV (“point of view”), NSFW (“not safe for work”), and FOMO (“fear of missing out”), also ranked high on the list.

14. Batman got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Plenty of fictional Disney and Warner Bros. characters like Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny have received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But no superhero managed the honor until September, when Batman became the first caped character to get a plaque. His star was placed near his co-creator, Bob Kane, and 1960s Dark Knight Adam West. There’s a $75,000 “sponsorship fee” for a star to cover the costs associated with making and installing the plaques and the accompanying dedication ceremony. Good thing Bruce Wayne can afford it.

15. Mickey and Minnie Mouse entered the public domain—with a caveat the size of Cinderella’s castle.

Technically, it’s the 1928 animated short Steamboat Willie that became public property in January 2024—so only the versions of Mickey and Minnie from that program are fair game. If you make a horror movie featuring a modern-day Mickey, expect at least a cease-and-desist letter; Disney does not mess around with IP violations. In 2006, for example, the company told a stonemason they weren’t allowed to engrave a child’s tombstone with Winnie the Pooh (they ended up relenting after bad press) and Mickey Mouse is still trademarked, so if people think your horror movie is an official Disney production you’re also in trouble. Be careful out there.

16. Dolly Parton launched a wine brand this year.

It was aptly named Dolly Wines and launched with three varieties: chardonnay, rosé, and prosecco. Parton was heavily involved in the process of creating the wines, weighing in on everything from their taste to the design of the bottles. 

17. Fruit Stripe was discontinued.

After being a candy shelf staple for 54 years, Ferrara announced it was officially discontinuing Fruit Stripe. The gum was known for its zebra mascot, colorful striped patterns, and fruit flavors that lasted about as long as it took to find a trash bin for your wrapper. 

18. A website figured out what Costco.com’s best snack was. 

Looking at 145,000 customer reviews, the website CouponBirds determined that Costco.com’s best snack is Utah Truffles Dark Chocolate Truffles with Sea Salt—91.99 percent of its reviews were five-star.  

19. Heinz started selling spaghetti carbonara in a can in the UK—and chefs were scandalized.

The shelf-stable product contains cooked noodles sitting in a creamy sauce. Heinz emphasized the convenience factor over authenticity, but this did little to quell controversy. Ciara Tassoni , the manager of an Italian restaurant in London, told The Sun, “It’s a disgrace, and it couldn't be any further from authentic carbonara … If somebody came in here and asked for a can of carbonara, they would immediately be thrown out.”

20. There were some incredible promo photos featuring an Olympian and cheese.

Italy loves its Parmesan cheese. And in 2024, fans provided the world with some amazing photos, thanks to one Olympic medalist’s awesome promotional pictures. Giorgia Villa, a gymnast, was sponsored by Parmigiano Reggiano—you know, the cheese. If you haven’t seen the photos, do yourself a favor and go check them out.

21. The viral chocolate muffins from the Paris 2024 Olympics made their way stateside.

Speaking of Olympic foods, the viral chocolate muffins from the Paris 2024 Olympic Village were the talk of TikTok when Norwegian Olympic swimmer Henrik Christiansen made a series of posts describing his love for the baked goods. This prompted a wave of chefs and food enthusiasts to wonder what exactly made these muffins so noteworthy. Kelin Carolyn Zhang, a New York City cafe owner, started a quest to find the muffins and bring them to her shop. Once found, she priced the muffins at $10 each, which covered transport costs, and sold out the same day.

22. We learned that breaking wouldn’t be in the next Olympics ...

The new Olympic event took place in Paris this summer, and while it burned up social media thanks to one particularly enthusiastic competitor, the event, unfortunately, will not be offered in 2028. 

23. … and we found out which sports will be added to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Each local Olympic Games committee decides which sports, in addition to the standard ones, they will include. Paris chose breaking along with skateboarding, surfing, and sport climbing. For Los Angeles 2028, baseball, softball, cricket, and lacrosse are set to return from previous games, and squash and flag football will be added.

24. A restaurant in St. Andrews, Scotland, began offering seagull insurance.

Visitors to the Cheesy Toast Shack in St. Andrews, Scotland, come for the grilled cheese—but not everyone knows they have to fight for it. The seaside eatery is monitored by brazen gulls who take advantage of distracted tourists and swoop in to nab their “toasties.” After making a joke about selling seagull insurance in the local paper, the owners actually began offering the insurance. For an additional British pound, the eatery will replace a toastie if it’s stolen by the birds.

25. Walt Disney World got a Michelin-starred restaurant.

Walt Disney World isn’t known for its fine cuisine, but maybe it should be. In 2024, the theme park giant became host to its first-ever Michelin-starred restaurant. Victoria & Albert’s received the honor from the Michelin Guide—yes, the tire company—for its eclectic menu. But don’t expect a Tinkerbell-sized bill: The flat rate for the meal starts at $295 per person.

26. Cheetos altered the environment of Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Cheetos have the power to alter your gut microbiome, so it should come as no surprise that the ultra-processed snack can have a big effect on organisms outside your body, too. In September, rangers at Carlsbad Caverns National Park came upon an accidental case study of this principle when they discovered a bag of Cheetos left behind by a visitor. In the brief time it had lain in the moist environs of the caverns’ Big Room, a thriving colony of mold had grown around the bag and on the surfaces of the cave, which attracted “cave crickets, mites, spiders, and flies,” the Associated Press reported. Seemingly innocuous littering has outsized consequences in the caves’ highly specialized and fragile ecosystem, a ranger wrote on Facebook. He advocated for leave-no-trace ethics. 

27. We learned that horses might be smarter than previously thought.

Anyone who spends time around horses will tell you they’re incredibly smart creatures. According to new research, horses can even plan and strategize. Researchers at Nottingham Trent University tested how 20 horses responded to a reward-based game and found that the animals strategically changed their approach to make sure they got the most treats while putting forth the least amount of effort. An inspiration to all of us.

28. We learned that human stress can affect dogs ...

Feeling stressed? So might your dog. We’ve known for a while that dogs can smell stress, but in July 2024, we learned that a human’s stress can affect dogs. After putting human volunteers through stressful situations and calm situations, and then collecting their sweat, they found that dogs exposed to the sweat of the stressed-out people didn’t approach bowls that may or may not have had food in them. The researchers took this as meaning that the dogs themselves were down and pessimistic. Other researchers, however, cautioned there were other interpretations, like the dogs had learned from prior experience that when their humans were feeling down the treats weren’t forthcoming. 

29. … And that one species of octopus uses fish to help them hunt.

This year, scientists discovered that Octopus cyanea, or the big blue octopus, teams up with different fish species to hunt for food. The cephalopods also oversee the fish, as the latter try to find hidden smaller species and mollusks. The hunter fish will then hover over the prey’s location so that the octopus can flush it out. 

30. Researchers crocheted hats for cats in the name of science.

If there’s one thing we know about cats, it’s that they’re not inclined to do what you want them to do—ever. Even if you’re scientists trying to study chronic pain in cats. When researchers at the University of Montreal put electrodes on the heads of felines in an attempt to detect pain in cats with osteoarthritis, the cats kept shaking them off and sometimes damaging them. If the scientists wanted to get anywhere, they’d have to sedate the cats, which wasn’t ideal. So they came up with a novel and undeniably adorable solution: Crocheting hats that the cats would wear over the electrodes. They detailed the method in a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods.   

31. The largest-known prime number was found. 

This year, we learned that if you have $2 million lying around, you can put it to good use by finding the world’s largest known prime number. That’s what Luke Durant did when he used what was called a “cloud supercomputer” to find that 2 raised to the 136,279,841 power minus 1 is a prime. Durant hopes that such discoveries can open people’s minds to new uses of GPUs. 

32. We may have pinpointed where humans and Neanderthals interbred.

A small percentage of our human genome is made of Neanderthal DNA, which means that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals interbred tens of thousands of years ago. A 2024 study in the journal Scientific Reports suggested where that may have occurred. Researchers created a model that incorporated environmental factors, climate patterns, and topography during the time when Neanderthals and humans coexisted, then overlaid a map of the two species’ known archaeological sites. The models indicated the Zagros Mountains, a range stretching from southeastern Turkey to northern Iraq and Iran, may have been ground zero for genetic intermingling. 

33. A millennium-old ring was discovered in Scotland.

A volunteer at a Scottish archeological site got the surprise of his life in 2024 when he discovered a 1000-year-old ring. According to dig leader Gordon Noble, the team was working on a floor of what was once a house in Burghead, Scotland; it had been deemed so insignificant they’d saved it until their final day on the site. That’s when former engineer and volunteer John Ralph found the bauble, which has garnet or red glass at the center. It’s believed to have belonged to the Picts. 

34. The wreck site of Le Lyonnais was found ....

For nearly two centuries, the final resting place of Le Lyonnais, a French steamship, was unknown. The ship was a hybrid equipped with sails and a steam engine and traveled between New York and France. This year, shipwreck researchers pinpointed its location—roughly 200 miles off the coast of New Bedford, Massachusetts—and may one day be able to retrieve artifacts from the site.

35. … And so was the Quest.

Underwater archaeologists completed a quest to find the Quest—the last ship that famed polar explorer Ernest Shackleton commanded. He died of a heart attack during his final voyage to Antarctica on the vessel. After the expedition was called off, the Quest changed owners several times. It eventually ended up in the Norwegian seal-hunting fleet and sank in 1962 about 40 nautical miles off the coast of Labrador, according to the Royal Canadian Geographic Society, which led the expedition to locate it. 

36. The remains of another member of the Franklin Expedition were identified through DNA.

We here at Mental Floss are just slightly obsessed with the Franklin Expedition, which left England in 1845 in search of the Northwest Passage and never returned. While we know that the HMS Terror and Erebus ended up stuck in sea ice and that the crew eventually abandoned the ships looking for rescue, some mysteries still linger—like how expedition leader Sir John Franklin died and where he’s buried. In 2024, the remains of a different member of the expedition were identified as belonging to James Fitzjames, a senior officer who was among the 105 men who abandoned the ships and whose remains were discovered on King William Island. Fitzjames was identified with the help of historian Fabiënne Tetteroo, whose interest in the expedition was sparked by the AMC show The Terror, based on a novel about the disaster. The authors of the study thanked Tetteroo “for generously sharing the results of her investigations of Fitzjames’ family history and for her efforts to identify possible candidates for our Franklin expedition DNA research. It was through her efforts that we were connected with the descendant donor” who provided the DNA that allowed for identification.

37. We found out that True Detective: Night Country used real historical mysteries as inspiration ...

The Terror isn’t the only show to have used history as source material: We learned that True Detective: Night Country, which hit HBO earlier this year, worked in not one but two historical mysteries. One was the ghost ship Mary Celeste, which left New York bound for Italy with eight crewmembers and the family of the captain on board. It was found less than a month later near the Azores—and totally empty. No one knows what happened to the people aboard to this day. The other event was 1959’s Dylatov Pass Incident, in which a group of people who had gone hiking in the Urals were found dead, some partially clothed and many with serious trauma. Today, scientists think that their injuries were caused by a sudden slab avalanche.

38. … And a discovery shed light on another century-old historical mystery.

This year, a National Geographic team climbing Mount Everest made a discovery that could shed light on a 100-year-old mystery. In June 1924, George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine vanished while attempting to be the first to summit the mountain. No one knew if they made it. Mallory’s body was found in 1999, without the camera that likely would have revealed once and for all if they’d made it. Irvine was still missing, though, until this September, when climber and filmmaker Jimmy Chin and a team found Irvine’s boot—his foot still inside—though they’re not revealing the exact location so that they can investigate further. How did they know the shoe belonged to Irvine? The sock on the foot had “A.C. Irvine” on a label.   

39. The Poltergeist house went up for sale this year.

Horror fans looking to be homeowners got good news this year when the house from the 1982 film Poltergeist hit the market. Located in Simi Valley, California, the 2373-square-foot home features four bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms, and an in-ground pool. Thankfully, it’s not the same pool that was filled with skeletons for the movie. That scene was filmed on a sound stage, and it used real skeletons, which, according to legend, may have contributed to the franchise’s supposed curse.

40. We learned where UFOs are most often spotted ...

The American West is known for many things—bison, big skies, and, apparently, sightings of strange flying objects. According to a study published in December 2023 and reported in the media in early 2024, which examined around 98,000 reports over 20 years, most sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP, happen in the western United States. The region’s generally nice weather and low light pollution, as well as the numerous airport and military facilities, could be partly to blame. But the researchers also suggest the west’s long history with UAPs—think Area 51 and Roswell—is at play, too.

41. … And the cause of a nine-day-long seismic signal from 2023.

In September 2023, geophysical observatories around the world detected a seismic signal that lasted for nine days. It didn't seem connected to an earthquake or volcanic eruption, yet it was powerful enough to make Earth vibrate for more than a week. A year later, scientists announced the cause: a massive rockslide on Greenland’s underpopulated east coast. They found that the rockslide had caused a 650-foot tsunami in a long, narrow fjord, but instead of the water rolling out of the fjord in one huge wave, water sloshed back and forth in a pattern called a “seiche.” For nine days, a 23-foot wave oscillated between the fjord’s sides, causing the mysterious and unusually long signal.

42. Napoleon’s pistols went up for auction. 

In someone else’s hands, a pair of 19th-century pistols might carry only the worth of their materials. But if they once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte, they’re treasures. The firearms that were once at the side of the French emperor sold for $1.8 million at a July auction. In a nod to his ego, they’re engraved with his own likeness.

43. A Frank Lloyd Wright house hit the market.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Winslow House, built in the 1890s and located in River Forest, Illinois, went up for sale in 2024. Winslow House is the first example of what would become Wright’s Prairie Style and features horizontal lines, a low-to-the-ground profile, natural materials, and custom art glass. Its sale price? Just over the cost of some of Napoleon’s pistols: $2.2 million.

44. Someone paid a lot of money for Colin Firth’s shirt from the Pride and Prejudice miniseries. 

Four words: Colin Firth wet shirt. Fans of the BBC’s 1995 Pride and Prejudice miniseries know exactly what we’re talking about. And probably so does everyone else: The image of Firth’s Mr. Darcy in a white linen undershirt after his quick dip in the lake has entered the broader pop culture consciousness. And this year, the garment that made it all possible sold at auction for a whopping £20,000, or around $25,000. Fun fact: There almost was no shirt. Firth was originally supposed to be naked for his run-in with Jennifer Ehle’s Elizabeth Bennet. But this was the BBC, so they had to button him up a bit.

45. Three sisters inherited a seriously valuable dime.

Three sisters inherited a dime in 2024 that was kept in a bank vault for more than 40 years. If this sounds like a pretty cheap inheritance, you should know that this is no ordinary dime. It was made by the U.S. Mint in San Francisco in 1975, but it is curiously missing the “S” mint mark. Only one other dime with this distinction has ever been sold, and it went for a bit more than $500,000, including the buyer’s premium.

46. A survey determined which seat people most prefer on a plane.

According to a survey conducted in 2024, the preferred seat on an airplane is 1A, a front window seat respondents picked when shown a map of a Boeing 737-800. The seat was preferred for being among the first to de-plane, along with proximity to the bathroom and the fact that it faces the bulkhead, not the back of another seat. 

47. We also found out which airline bumps the most passengers this year. 

According to an analysis by the travel website Upgraded Points, Frontier Airlines came in first, involuntarily bumping 3.21 people per 10,000 passengers from the beginning of 2023 to mid-2024. Next came American Airlines, with 0.6 out of every 10,000 travelers, followed by Spirit Airlines with a bump rate of 0.43 per 10,000. Travel wisely!   

48. Many people of note passed away in 2024 ... 

They included sex therapist Dr. Ruth, baseball great Willie Mays, Titanic producer Jon Landau, filmmaker Roger Corman, and actors like James Earl Jones, Shelley Duval, Shannen Doherty, and Dame Maggie Smith. 

49.  … Including Richard Simmons, who was working on a Broadway show about his life.

Just two days before he died, Simmons gave an interview in which he revealed that he had written 14 songs with Patrick Leonard for a Broadway show about his life. He also reflected on fame, saying, “I never thought of myself as a celebrity. People don’t know this, I’m really a shy person and a little bit of an introvert. But when that curtain goes up that’s a different story. I’m there to make people happy.” 

50. Some tweens found a juvenile T. rex fossil ... 

While on a hike through North Dakota’s Hell Creek Formation in 2022, a trio of tweens discovered a huge fossil partially exposed in a rock. Their father called a friend who happened to work for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and after a team from the museum carefully extracted the partial skeleton from the stone, paleontologists identified it as a juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex, which they announced this year. The skeleton is one of the few ever found of a teenaged T. rex, which scientists say was about 25 feet long and weighed roughly 3500 pounds in life.

51. … And that’s not the only discovery by a kid in 2022 that was announced this year. 

A 12-year-old in an English village was walking his dog with his mom when he came across a gold bracelet. After review, museum curators determined this year that it was most likely worn by a Roman soldier from the 1st century CE.

52.–56. Some impressive records were set in 2024 ... 

A woman in California set the new record for the most pullups done in 30 seconds by a female (II2). The Special Olympics champion, Chelsea Werner, did 11 pullups.

In 2012, when Macie Davis-Southerland was a junior in high school, her best friend’s brother pointed out that one of her arm hairs was extra long. That’s usually the stuff of nightmares for a teenage girl, but it gave Davis-Southerland an idea. Over the next decade or so, she focused on growing the hair as long as possible, though it did occasionally fall out or get pulled out. This year, she finally achieved her goal: the record for longest arm hair on a woman, at a staggering 7.24 inches long. Davis-Southerland told GWR that she thinks it would be “fun” at some point to attempt a record “that involves some sort of skill or strategy.” But give yourself some credit, Macie: Resisting the urge to pluck a really long arm hair is a skill.

Giants, take note: This year, Ruth Amos and Shawn Brown, the UK-based duo behind the YouTube channel Kids Invent Stuff, took the suggestion of an 11-year-old fan and decided to build the world’s largest electric toothbrush, which is 10 times bigger than your conventional toothbrush. According to the BBC, the 6.7-foot-long device can also “be used for scrubbing the patio, trimming the grass and even for cutting trees.”

How big are the world’s largest hands and feet on a living teenager? They’re 9.13 inches and 13.5 inches respectively, as we learned this year. Sixteen-year-old Michigan native Eric Kilburn Jr., earned the record for his massive appendages from the Guinness World Records committee. Though no one his age can rival his shoe size, Eric’s mother founded the Big Shoe Network to help other people who have trouble finding shoes and clothes in their size—a problem Eric has dealt with since the fifth grade.

Here’s a very specific and impressive record for you. In March of 2024, six sisters in Missouri and Ohio set the record for Highest Combined Age of Six Living Siblings at 570 years and 40 days, with the oldest having been born in 1923. But as impressive as that sounds, it might be surpassed, because in September there were reports about six sisters in Florida who were reportedly a combined 575 years old.

57. ... And a very important record was beaten. 

A bar in Indonesia set the new record for most margaritas sold in eight hours. That number? 2728. That’s even better than Margaritaville.

59. One record was also taken away. 

Bobi, a Rafeiro do Alentejo dog, died in October 2023 at the ripe old age of 31 years and 165 days old. He was, according to Guinness World Records, the “oldest dog ever.” But this year, the organization launched an investigation into Bobi’s title—and unfortunately for the dearly departed pup, their findings did not work out in his legacy’s favor. After Guinness was unable to gather enough evidence to support that Bobi really was the age his owners stated he was, they wound up stripping the dog of his world record.

58. A Boba Fett figurine went for big bucks.

At the height of Star Wars mania in 1979, toymaker Kenner produced a figure of cult antihero Boba Fett, who made his big-screen debut in The Empire Strikes Back. But this Fett was a little too deadly: His tiny missile posed a choking hazard to children. Thankfully, none of them went out to buyers. The figure was redesigned so the weapon was non-firing; few of the rocket-firing Fetts were ever discovered. In May, one sold for $525,000, making it the most valuable vintage toy ever. The record will likely stand until someone decides to sell it.

60. New species were found this year. 

Scientists investigating ridges off the coast of Chile this year found maybe 50 new species, while also taking new photographs of the “flying spaghetti monster” and the Casper octopus. 

61. Scientists figured out how Greenland sharks live so long.

Greenland sharks are the longest-living vertebrates, as far as we know. Scientists have been trying to figure out why they live for so long, with no luck—until recently. In July 2024, researchers determined that it’s highly likely the animal's metabolism is the reason behind its long lifespan. They studied 23 greenland sharks from ages 60 to 200 years and found no differences in enzyme functions, implying that their metabolisms don’t age in the same way or slow down over time like those in most species.

62. And that wasn’t the only shark news this year.

In case you doubted that great whites are the apex predators of the sea, a discovery made in 2024 proved it. A team of U.S.-based scientists were studying porbeagle sharks when one of their tracking devices floated to the surface without its host. They concluded that the 7-foot-long pregnant shark they were monitoring had been eaten by an even larger great white. It marked the first-ever documented case of a porbeagle being devoured by another shark.

63. A study revealed a potential reason for the tarantula’s coat …

The hairs on tarantulas are good for more than creeping out arachnophobes. A study published this year suggests that the spiders evolved their bristly coats as a defense against army ants. When the arachnid is under attack from the insects, the hairs covering their body protects them from any real damage. 

64. … And researchers also found that tarantulas and army ants have a symbiotic relationship. 

The ants may not be able to make a meal out of hairy tarantulas, but they are able to snack on the debris they find in their dens. Meanwhile, these scavenging sprees leave the spiders with a clean home.

65. Scientists caught a pretty incredible escape on film for the first time in 2024.

Animals are capable of getting themselves out of some pretty sticky situations—even when it seems like they should be well on their way to being a meal. One species of water scavenger beetle, for example, will use a frog’s butthole as an escape hatch after it’s been eaten. And in 2024, scientists caught another incredible escape act on camera for the first time. Scientists knew that Japanese eels could escape from the gills of fish that ate them, but not how they did it. To figure it out, the scientists injected lab-raised juvenile Japanese eels with a contrast agent so they’d show up on X-rays, then put them in tanks with a freshwater fish called a dark sleeper, which ate them whole. As the cameras rolled, they could see that the baby eels were slithering backward out of the fish’s digestive tracts and then out of the dark sleeper’s gills, like Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption. Thirteen eels of the 32 eels that were consumed made a partial escape, with nine ultimately making it all the way to freedom.

66. Researchers got Australian freshwater crocodiles sick to stop them from eating cane toads.

Australian freshwater crocodiles have the unfortunate tendency to eat cane toads, an invasive species that’s fatally toxic to the reptiles. To save the crocodiles, researchers fed them poisoned bait that made the animals feel sick and lethargic. They did this by removing the toxins from dead cane toads and injecting them with a chemical that makes crocs feel nauseated. Their goal was to use this “conditioned taste aversion” to train the crocodiles to not eat cane toads, as the reptiles came to associate feeling unwell with eating the amphibians.

67. We learned how scientists are fighting to save bats with white nose syndrome.

White nose syndrome is a fungal disease that affects bats during hibernation and causes them to be more active than usual. That makes them waste stored fat, which eventually leads to their malnourishment and starvation. But this year, we learned more about how scientists are fighting back to give these bats a better chance at survival. This included funneling cool air into hibernation areas and putting out more food for bats so they can have enough fat to survive the infection. 

68. A study this year posited that Bigfoot sightings are actually bears.

If you thought you saw Bigfoot while out in the woods, we have bad news for you: You probably just saw a bear. A January 2024 study found that most Bigfoot sightings were probably actually misidentified American black bears. The study’s author investigated if there was a correlation between a place’s reported Bigfoot activity and its black bear population and found that for every 1000 additional black bears in a given area, the number of Bigfoot sightings rose by 4 percent. All the more reason to add some bear spray to your official Bigfoot hunting kit.

69. We got one step closer to Spider-Man.

It’s every kid’s dream to swing around the city like Spider-Man. And this year, we got one step closer. Scientists at Tuft University’s Silklab made the first web-slinging technology. The silk fibroin solution shoots out of a needle, immediately solidifies, and can stick to surfaces. Watch out Tobey Maguire, we’re coming for your job. And Andrew Garfield. And Tom Holland. Man, they just keep making those movies.

70. We learned we might have been wrong about dodos.

Dodos may be the punchline for many extinct-animal-analogies, but scientists in 2024 discovered that their ridicule may not be deserved. Commonly thought of as plump, slow, and dumb, new research shows the birds may have been a force to reckon with. After studying sources dating back over 400 years and reexamining fossil bone structures, scientists now believe dodos were fast, agile, and physical creatures. “The dodo’s tendon which closed its toes was exceptionally powerful, analogous to climbing and running birds alive today,” reported Dr. Neil Gostling.

71. We learned that we’re getting more from the Twilight universe ...

Remember Midnight Sun, Stephenie Meyer’s retelling of Twilight from Edward’s perspective? In September, Netflix announced that it was turning the novel into an animated series. Will Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart voice the main characters? Probably not.

72. … And discovered a lost Seinfeld script.

For decades, devoted Seinfeld fans speculated about a script deemed too disturbing to film. For a show that once depicted George’s fianceé being poisoned by licking postage stamps, that’s certainly a statement. Finally, in 2024, some enterprising soul unearthed “The Bet,” a nihilistic tale written by Larry Charles in 1990 in which Elaine considers buying a gun for personal protection and ultimately threatens to shoot Jerry in the head. Charles confirmed the script was authentic—and too bleak to ever actually be produced.

73. This year, we learned that kids still can’t get enough of Pixar.

Inside Out 2, the sequel to the 2015 Pixar hit, became the highest-grossing animated film of all time this year, earning over $1.6 billion worldwide. 

74. A new record for highest-grossing R-rated movie was set in 2024. 

As for adults, they prefer a little more violence and swearing. A new record for highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time was set this year by Deadpool & Wolverine. The movie raked in over $1.3 billion.

75. We learned about a boy with a Star Wars-related middle name who had his passport denied.

We’ve covered banned baby names before, so you know that some monikers simply don’t pass muster. This year, a 7-year-old boy in the UK whose middle name is Skywalker had his passport denied—the UK Home Office said they either needed to nix the name or get permission from Disney to use it. The family was forced to cancel their vacation. But there’s a happy ending to this take: The young padawan did get word that a passport would be issued for him after a media outlet approached the Home Office about the story.

76. New research this year showed that people who suffer from dyslexia and dyscalculia might have some unexpected strengths. 

A study out of the UK suggested that people with the conditions showed a trend of being less biased. Some of the characteristics considered were race, gender, and disability. 

77. JELL-O made inflatable furniture.

If you’ve ever dreamed of curling up on a giant gelatin mold, your very specific wish was granted this year. JELL-O entered the home goods market with a line of inflatable furniture designed to look like its jiggly snack products. The seats came in four colors: strawberry red, lime green, lemon yellow, and orange, well, orange. Sadly, they were only available for a limited time.

78. The German Navy finally started phasing out floppy disks from its operations in 2024. 

The old-school technology had been used to manage its Brandenburg-class F123 warships since the 1990s. Though that may seem shocking, it’s not uncommon for governments to hold off on transitioning to new tech. Up until 2019, the U.S. military was using 8-inch floppy disks in its nuclear program. 

79. Researchers tested a new potential use for coffee grounds.

Coffee might fuel the world, but it’s also fueling a ton of waste: Grounds usually wind up in landfills. Last year, RMIT University engineers in Australia found a way to repurpose the grounds as an ingredient in concrete, which they said made it 30 percent stronger. This year they put their lab results to the test with experimental footpaths around Australia. Here’s hoping it’s a success!

80. Virginia is making an effort to bring color to many people’s worlds through new lens technology. 

The state has installed colorblind-friendly viewfinders to all 43 of their state parks, allowing people with red-green color deficiency to distinguish more colors. The lenses have worked wonders. 

81. An official Nintendo museum opened in Japan this past year ... 

The museum, located in Osaka, has everything from a workshop where you can make your own playing cards (Nintendo’s first product) to interactive Mario exhibits.

82. … And a very special Nintendo cartridge sold for a lot of money.

In other Nintendo news, a golden Nintendo cartridge sold this year for over $200,000. This rare item is one of 26 that were ever made and one of 13 believed to still exist. It was a promotional prize given during a Nintendo event in 1990, and while this copy was only graded a 4.0 out of 10 on the CGC scale, it still sold for a hefty price in August.

83. A Massachusetts library launched a “Felines for Fee Forgiveness” program.

For the month of March, the Worcester Public Library system literally accepted pictures of cats in lieu of cash for lost or damaged items. The “Felines for Fee Forgiveness” program was the library’s way of making sure fees weren’t keeping patrons from using its services. Drawings of cats were also permitted, as were photos and drawings of “honorary cats,” which included dogs, raccoons, orcas, capybaras, and “any other animal.”

84. Road signs got less fun in 2024.

What do Baby Yoda and Taylor Swift have in common? They’re both getting booted from road alert signs. According to the U.S. Federal Highway Administration’s latest manual, state departments of transportation are discouraged from displaying “Messages with obscure or secondary meanings, such as those with pop culture references, unconventional sign legend syntax, or that are intended to be humorous.” So long to Boston’s “USE YAH BLINKAH” and every other funny and punny reference on the road.

85. We learned that having hot parents can help when it comes to earning money.

If you have hot parents, congratulations. You’ve won the lottery—both in terms of genetics and literal money. A working paper shared this year found that the offspring of conventionally attractive couples grow up to be higher earners on average. One standard deviation of difference in the parents’ attractiveness levels was associated with a 0.05 deviation in their child’s salary, which could amount to over $100,000 in additional income over their career.

86. We found the oldest known narrative art ...

Take a seat, Chauvet. A drawing of three human-like figures and a pig in an Indonesian cave was found to be the world’s oldest known narrative art, predating the famous prehistoric cave paintings in France by more than 10,000 years. It’s believed the Indonesian art is at least 51,200 years old. It may be the oldest known example of visual storytelling, but the pig-and-people scene isn’t actually the oldest cave art. That crown is worn by a set of 64,000-year-old handprints on the wall of Spain’s Maltravieso Cave.

87. … And the second-largest gem-quality diamond on record.

Workers at Karowe Mine in central Botswana unearthed the world’s second-largest gem-quality diamond on record, which the country’s president announced in August. The rock weighs a little more than a pound—that’s 2492 carats—and barely fits in a person’s palm. The Canadian company that owns the mine where it was discovered said that the diamond will probably be sold and cut into multiple smaller stones. That’s exactly what happened to the biggest gem diamond ever found, the Cullinan Diamond. That stone was located in modern South Africa in 1905 and chopped into more than 100 smaller gems, some of which found their way into the British Crown Jewels.

88. We found a lost Mozart composition.

Mozart wrote “Serenade in C” at some point in the 1760s, when he was still a young teenager or even pre-teen. The 12-minute composition remained lost for more than 250 years—until library researchers at Germany’s Leipzig Municipal Libraries came across a copy of it while building an archive of Mozart’s work. The piece, handwritten in brown ink, was tucked inside a bound manuscript. It’s believed Mozart’s sister is responsible for jotting down this copy of the composition.

89. We got some news about historical cocaine use this year.

Scholars initially thought cocaine had spread throughout Europe sometime in the 1800s. But new research has revealed people on the continent were ingesting the raw material at least two centuries earlier. Scientists analyzed brain tissue from nine people buried in a mass grave beneath Milan’s Ca’ Granda hospital—the final resting place for the hospital’s poor patients—and found that two of them contained traces of the alkaloid of cocaine. Those two peasants weren’t bumpin’ that as part of some sort of 17th-century brat summer. Back then, people ingested cocaine by chewing and sucking on coca leaves.

90. A really old postcard was delivered.

In August 2024, a postcard arrived at an office building in Swansea, Wales. It was also dated August—but the year was 1903. Someone named Ewart had sent it to Lydia Davies (who was later identified as probably his sister) to tell her that “it was impossible to get a pair” of some unnamed item, and he hoped she was “enjoying self at home.” “I have got now about 10 as pocket money not counting the train fare so I’m doing alright,” he wrote. So, did Lydia ever get the message? It’s a mystery—but the Royal Mail thinks she probably did, and someone dropped it back in the mail this year.

91. We learned more about why it’s better to leave your leaves.

We’ve known for a while that unraked lawns were better for wildlife, but this year we learned from the University of Maryland that raking lawns meant slower decomposition rates and less carbon storage in the lawn. They determined that the decomposition of leaves benefits the yard, as nutrients go back into the soil. Small animals and insects also depend on such leaves for food and protection. 

92. Scientists made super lettuce.

Scientists in Spain have genetically engineered lettuce to make it, well, super lettuce. The result is a crop that has around 30 times more accessible beta-carotene than its normal counterparts.

93. We found what might be the oldest cheese ever discovered ...

Some people are buried with precious mementos or cherished items. Three bodies in a burial site in Xinjiang that were uncovered this year, however, were buried with cheese. At around 3500 years old, it’s thought to be the oldest cheese ever discovered.

94. … And a painting that might be a Rembrandt.

A painting found unceremoniously stacked in a family’s Maine attic sold this year for $1.4 million (with the buyer’s premium). How does a random painting sell for so much? Well, it might be a Rembrandt, one of around 300 paintings the artist is known to have made. If this sounds expensive, just know that if the painting is proven to be a Rembrandt, it could fetch closer to $15 million.

95. A dinosaur fossil sold at auction raked in big bucks.

But $1.4 million is nothing compared to a dinosaur fossil that sold at auction this year. The nearly complete stegosaurus sold for over $44 million. This crushes the previous record held by a T. Rex fossil that sold in 2020 for nearly $32 million.

96. A sample of the specimen of mold that led to the accidental discovery of penicillin was put up for sale this year. 

Penicillin’s discoverer, Alexander Fleming, routinely preserved specimens of the mold in glass and gave them as gifts to everyone from Queen Elizabeth II to FDR. This particular moldy art piece belonged to Fleming’s niece. Bonham’s, which auctioned off the specimen, made $76,700 including the buyer’s premium. 

97. Alarming research shows that Thwaites Glacier will likely be gone in 200 years. 

This block of ice is also known as the “Doomsday Glacier” because of its power to grow sea levels by 25 inches, and contributes to 4 percent of all global sea-level rise. 

98. This year was big for black holes. 

In a study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers were able to create the most realistic and accurate representation of a supermassive black hole ripping apart a star. They were able to use this to come up with potential answers to serious questions, like why these events emit visible light when it seemed like it should be x-rays. 

99. Some scientists this year hypothesized that Earth may have once sported its own ring. 

This theory comes as a response to try to explain the Ordovician impact spike, which is the name of a particular inexplicable rise in the number of meteorite strikes on Earth around 466 million years ago. The leading theory is that Earth’s short term ring, made up of rocks and dust, started to fall apart and crash to the surface. Watch out Saturn, we’re coming for you.

100. We got some new information about “The Big One” that’s one day supposed to hit LA.

While a whole cosmic ring of meteorites plummeting to the Earth might sound like a sci-fi apocalypse movie, a gigantic, disastrous earthquake taking out millions of people is a real threat for certain parts of the world. Los Angeles, in particular, has been in threat of a huge quake for years now. Researchers this year, however, determined that The Big One, as it’s called, may not be as catastrophic as previously thought. While still incredibly dangerous and destructive, new imaging models show that the catastrophic readings from earlier models did not account for the complex geography of the area. 

101. New York was dethroned as the rudest city in the U.S. in 2024.

The trophy now goes to Miami, Florida. It scored a “rudeness score” of 9.88 out of 10, according to a study by Preply that considered disrespectful behaviors like being inconsiderate toward others and being loud in public spaces. 

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