Tag: Surprising fact

Wind Energy is Indeed Clean Energy

Superfact 87: Wind energy is a clean, renewable, and sustainable power source that produces no atmospheric emissions or water pollution during operation. Manufacturing and installation have a small carbon footprint that is much smaller than the carbon footprint of the fossil fuels they potentially replace.

Wind turbines with a background of mountains, clouds and a blue sky. | Wind Energy is Indeed Clean Energy
Photo from pexels.com

There is a lot of disinformation being spread about wind power. One recent example is the TV series Landman which presents demonstrably false claims as facts. In Texas where I live the problem with deceitful anti-renewable propaganda is especially severe. It is important to check with reputable sources before you believe what you come across. Wind energy is not 100% clean and not without issues but it is much safer and cleaner than the fossil fuels they potentially replace. Below is a two minute video that explains this.

The graph below from Our World in Data depicting lifetime greenhouse gas emissions (construction, operation, disposal) show that the lifetime greenhouse gas emissions of coal power are 88 times higher than those of wind power and kill 615 times as many people as wind power. The lifetime greenhouse gas emissions of natural gas are 40 times higher than those of wind power and kill 460 times as many people as wind power. The difference is staggering. When someone tells you that there’s nothing clean about wind power, they are not just lying to you, they are lying very big.

In the graph below, greenhouse gas emissions is measured of CO2 equivalents per Gigawatt-hour of electricity over the lifecycle of the power plant. 1 Gigawatt-hour is the annual electricity consumption of 150 people in the EU. Death rate from accidents and air pollution is measured as deaths per Terawatt hour of electricity production. 1 terawatt hour is the annual electricity consumption of 150,000 people in the EU.

The graph depicts death rates and greenhouse gas emissions per unit for different energy sources including coal, oil, natural gas, biomass, hydropower, wind, nuclear power, and solar.
Death rates from fossil fuels and biomass are based on state-of-the art plants with pollution control in Europe and are based on older models of the impacts of air pollution on health. This means these death rates are likely to be very conservative. For further discussion see our article: OurWorldinData.org/safest-sources-of-energy. Electricity shares are given for 2021. Data sources: Markandya & Wilkinson (2007); UNSCEAR (2008: 2018); Sovacol et al. (2016); IPCC AR5 (2014); UNECE (2022); Ember Energy (2001). OurWorldinData.org – Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems. Licensed under CC-BY by the authors Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser. Citation : Hannah Ritchie (2020) – “What are the safest and cleanest sources of energy?” Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://archive.ourworldindata.org/20260202-100556/safest-sources-of-energy.html’ [Online Resource] (archived on February 2, 2026).

As you can see wind power is safe and emits very little greenhouse gases over its lifetime. In addition, there is no water impact associated with the operation of wind turbines, but a relatively small amount is used in manufacturing. There are other issues with land use, sounds, rare earth mining, waste, and effects on wildlife particularly birds.

However, these issues are in general smaller than depicted must be compared to issues with the fossil fuels they replace. For example, 15 billion tons of fossil fuels (including 9 billion tons of coal) are mined every year and burned whilst the annual mining for all clean energy technologies is around 7 million tons (2,000 times less). More about birds in the next section. Overall wind energy is a clean, renewable, and a sustainable power source. You can read more about this here, here, here, or here.

I am referring to this fact as a super fact because, it is true, an important topic, and yet it’s a fact that is difficult for many people to believe. Too much misinformation has been spread about wind power. I expect some people to dismiss this fact out of hand. But that is the point of super facts, they are true but hard to believe for many, or surprising, and perhaps even shocking.

Wind power saves a lot more birds than it kills

It may come as a surprise to some, but wind power is not a major cause of bird death. Wind farms are estimated to be responsible for losing less than 0.4 birds per gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity generated, compared to over 5 birds per GWh for fossil fueled power stations. This means that replacing fossil fuels with wind power saves a lot more birds than wind power turbines take. In addition, cats, windows, cars, poison and powerlines are examples of things that kill a lot more birds than wind power does. Cats kill thousands of times more birds than wind power does, and this usually does not bother us. Note I love both dogs and cats.

It is difficult to make exact estimates of bird deaths but below are some interesting graphs from reputable sources, confirmed by many other studies and analysis, such as this overview from MIT and this analysis by Hannah Richie. The numbers aren’t the same, but they make the same point. You can read more about this here.

The graph shows that Wind Turbines kill 328,000 birds per year in the US, Electrocutions kill 6,250,000 birds, Collisions with powerlines kill 32,500,000 birds, Poison kills 72,000,000 birds, Vehicle collisions kill 214,500,000 birds, Collisions with glass kill 676,500,000 birds, and cats kill 1,850,700,000 birds per year in the US.
From Wikipedia: Universiteit van Nederland, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Bar graph showing cats killing an estimated 2,400 million birds per year, buildings killing an estimated 599 million birds per year, automobiles killing an estimated 200 million birds per year, pesticides killing an estimated 67 million birds per year, powerlines killing an estimated 28 million birds per year, communication towers killing an estimated 6.6 million birds per year, and wind turbines killing an estimated 1.2 million birds per year. | Wind Energy is Indeed Clean Energy
An alternative graph taken from Hannah Richie / Our World in Data, using alternative sources essentially showing the same thing. Sources: Loss et al. (2015), (2013), US Fish and Wildlife Service; Subramnayan et al. (2012), American Bird Conservancy (2021).

That does not mean we shouldn’t do our best to reduce bird deaths from wind power stations. However, don’t fall for the misinformation that is trying to paint it is a big problem specifically for wind power.

Wind power turbines by the seashore. The sun is setting. | Wind Energy is Indeed Clean Energy
Photo from pexels.com

Wind Power is Inexpensive

Finally, a bit of a deviation from the main topic. In addition to being a relatively clean, renewable, and sustainable power source, wind power is now relatively cheap, which explains its recent success around the world. I am bringing this up because another widespread myth about wind power is that it is expensive and wouldn’t survive without subsidies.

Practically all energy sources are subsidized, and fossil fuels have a long history of government subsidies. Below is the average unsubsidized levelized cost of energy according to Lazard. Levelized means that construction costs, land rent, and other costs not directly caused by electricity generation are taken into consideration. Notice how cheap wind is (blue line). This graph is for the United States.

The image shows 8 graphs representing the price of Nuclear, Gas (peaker), Thermal Solar, Coal, Geothermal, Natural Gas, Solar Panels, and Wind. Today Wind is the cheapest.
Average unsubsidized levelized cost of energy. Notice that the light blue line indicates that wind power is pretty cheap. Mir-445511, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Windpower is not only relatively cheap. Wind power is one of the most efficient and sustainable energy sources available. The energy required to manufacture, install, and maintain wind turbines is small compared to the energy they produce over their lifespan. This is known as their energy return on investment (EROI), which is quite favorable for wind energy. The Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) states that the average wind farm will pay back the energy that was used in its manufacture within 3-5 months of operation. This article in the journal Renewable Energy found that the average windfarm produces 20-25 times more energy during its operational life than was used to construct and install its turbines. It included data from 119 turbines across 50 sites going back 30 years.

It is important to be aware that there are many false claims floating around about wind power. The sound from wind power stations does not cause cancer, it does not use any other energy sources while operating; it solely harnesses the kinetic energy from the wind to generate electricity, meaning it only relies on wind to function as its primary energy source. Windpower is not a major cause if bird deaths. To read more about false claims about wind power click here.

Conclusion

There are positive and negative aspects of wind power, like any other source of energy. One issue with wind power (and solar) is that it is an intermittent source of energy. When the wind is not blowing you need other sources of energy (until there is sufficient energy storage). This is less of a problem when you have a mix of energy sources and in practice it has not been a big problem so far. However, what we know is that Wind Energy is indeed clean energy, much cleaner than the fossil fuels they potentially replace, and also relatively cheap, even without subsidies.

Other Posts by Me Related to Wind Power

To see the Other Super Facts click here

Early Homo Sapiens lived at the same time as many other human species

Super fact 86 : Early humans, early homo sapiens, lived at the same time as many other human species including Neanderthals, Denisovans, Homo floresiensis, Homo naledi, Homo luzonensis. Homo heidelbergensis, Homo erectus, and maybe other species as well.

Photo of a reconstruction of a Neanderthal man. | Early Homo Sapiens lived at the same time as many other human species
Reconstruction of a Neanderthal by Natural History Museum. Werner Ustorf, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Homo sapiens co-existed with several other Homo species. Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis are direct ancestors to Homo sapiens that survived long enough to exist at the same time as Homo sapiens.

Homo sapiens emerged around 300,000 years ago in Africa and Homo erectus died out around 100,000 years ago and Homo heidelbergensis died out around 200,000 years ago. Homo floresiensis died out 50,000 years ago, the most recent Homo luzonensis is 50,000 years old but they may have survived longer, Homo naledi existed approximately 335,000 to 236,000 years ago, Neanderthals interbred with homo sapiens and died out around 40,000 years ago, the Denisovans also interbred with homo sapiens and died out around 30,000 to 50,000 years ago. You can read more here and here.

You may wonder how different species can interbreed with each other. More on that later in this post.

I consider this a super fact because it is true, surprising to those who did not know this, and ancient human history is kind of important. Even if you knew that homo sapiens lived along other homo species the fact that the world used to be so crowded with different homo species may come as a surprise. Where did they all go?

Direct Ancestors of Homo Sapiens

Homo heidelbergensis is widely considered a pivotal common ancestor to Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans. Since Homo Erectus is a direct ancestor to Homo heidelbergensis it is also a direct ancestor to Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and Denisovans. Homo Erectus is also a direct ancestor to Homo floresiensis but Homo heidelbergensis is not considered an ancestor to Homo floresiensis. The picture below shows the direct ancestors to Homo Sapiens.

The skulls are from left to right Australopithecus africanus 3.3 - 2 million years ago, Homo habilis 2.4 to 1.5 million years ago, Homo erectus 1.6 to 600 thousand years ago, Homo heidelbergensis 700 thousand to 200 thousand years ago, early homo sapiens 300 thousand to 45 thousand years ago, anatomically modern human 130 thousand years ago until now.
Skulls of successive (or near-successive, depending on the source) human evolutionary ancestors, up until ‘modern’ Homo sapiens. Mya – million years ago, kya – thousand years ago. SimplisticReps, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons.

Geographic spread of Homo Sapiens and other Homo Species

Homo heidelbergensis is an ancestor to Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo sapiens (and Homo erectus is an ancestor to Homo heidelbergensis). However, whilst Neanderthals emerged in Europe and Asia, Denisovans evolved in Asia, and Homo sapiens emerged in Africa.

The map shows the movement of Homo heidelbergensis originating in Africa and moving into Europe and Asia with Neanderthals (in yellow) emerging in Europe and moving into Asia. The Denisovans emerged in Asia and spread further east. | Early Homo Sapiens lived at the same time as many other human species
The evolution and geographic spread of Denisovans as compared with Neanderthals, Homo heidelbergensis and Homo erectus. John D. Croft at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The map below indicates where skeleton remains of Neanderthals had been found as of 2017.

This map of Europe and West Asia shows the region where Neanderthals have been found.
Known Neanderthal range in Europe (blue), Southwest Asia (orange), Uzbekistan (green), and the Altai mountains (violet), as inferred by their skeletal remains (not stone tools). There were 165 such places by 2017. Nilenbert, N. Perrault, auteur du guide complet du canotageI, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons.

Interbreeding and Defining a Species

Homo Neanderthalensis and Homo Sapiens (or Homo Sapiens Sapiens) interbred, and so did Homo Denisova and Homo Sapiens, and Homo Neanderthalensis interbred with Homo Denisova. What a mess! Homo Neanderthalensis and Homo Sapiens were different species, so it may seem strange that they could interbreed. However, species is a complex concept.

Speciation is considered relative. It is often said that two animals belong to the same species if they can interbreed in nature and produce viable, fertile offspring. However, it is not that simple. An animal A may be able to successfully interbreed with an animal B, and that animal B may be able to successfully interbreed with an animal C, but animal A and C cannot interbreed. Animal A could be said to be a different species relative to animal C but animal B could be said to be the same species as both animal A & C. A great geography related example of this is ring species. In a ring species, gene flow occurs between neighboring populations of a species, but at the ends of the ring the populations don’t interbreed.

The picture depicts different subspecies as little colored circles centered around a big lake. The color changes a little bit at the time. All the circles next to each other can interbreed.
Illustration of ring species, an example of how speciation can be relative. All the circles next to each other can interbreed but at the end it no longer works. Andrew Z. Colvin, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons.

For the case of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens (and Denisovans); at certain points in history, you could consider Homo Neanderthalensis and Homo Sapiens to be different subspecies rather than different species. That is why you sometimes hear the terms Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis and Homo Sapiens Sapiens. I can add that Homo sapiens certainly got around, as you can see on the map below.

A world map showing portions of Africa being yellow and red, and portions of Asia being yellow and dark yellow with red arrows representing migrating Homo Sapiens. The map features several time markers representing the arrival of Homo Sapiens. | Early Homo Sapiens lived at the same time as many other human species
The spread of Homo Erectus (yellow), Homo Sapiens (red) and Homo Neanderthalensis (dark yellow). NordNordWest, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Is Thomas Wikman a Neanderthal ?

I can add that genetic testing can reveal how much Neanderthal DNA you have. I took a test with 23AndMe to find out about my ancestry (it was 98% Scandinavian and Finnish) and to find out about my risk for genetic illnesses. 23AndMe also told me that I was in the 99 percentiles with respect to carrying Neanderthal genes, meaning that I had unusually many Neanderthal genes. I joined the 23AndMe Neanderthal club (you had to be in the 98 percentile).

However, I quit after people in the club started saying that we should demand reparations from those with less Neanderthal genes because they exterminated us. It might have been a bizarre joke, but I decided not to stay around to find out. Later, after 23AndMe went bankrupt, I deleted mine and my wife’s data and quit. I was afraid 23AndMe might sell the DNA data to health insurance companies.

Man geneticist. Doctor sits at table in genetic laboratory. Chains of DNA or RNA. Sequencing human genome. Doctor studies DNA. Geneticist conducts scientific experiments Geneticist looks at test tubes
Geneticist sequencing human genome Asset id: 2479929725 by FOTOGRIN
This is some other evolution and natural history related posts
To see the other Super Facts click here

Birds are Avian Dinosaurs

Super fact 84 : Modern birds are classified as part of the clade Dinosauria. They are direct descendants of small, feathered maniraptoran dinosaurs that survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago. Maniraptoran dinosaurs in turn are a major subgroup of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs. In other words, birds are avian dinosaurs.

3D illustration showing two carnivorous dinosaurs and two large herbivores looking up at a burning asteroid. | Birds are Avian Dinosaurs
Some dinosaurs survived the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago. Shutterstock Asset id: 2196200279 by funstarts33

Birds are descendants of specialized maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs that survived the extinction event that killed most dinosaurs 66 million years ago. Maniraptoran dinosaurs in turn are a major subgroup of Tyrannoraptora, which include the well-known Tyrannosaurus Rex. Tyrannoraptora  in turn is a major subgroup of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs. Both the well-known dinosaur called velociraptor, and birds belong to the group Maniraptora. Even though the velociraptor was not a bird they shared many bird-like features, including feathers, wishbones, hollow bones, and similar wrist joints.

A colorful velociraptor covered in feather. It does not look like it could fly.
Velociraptor with feathers (well a little bit). Shutterstock Asset id: 2636534673 by Shutterstock AI Generator

Birds evolved during the Jurassic period from two-legged, carnivorous, and often feathered dinosaurs, and are the only surviving dinosaurs. They have been classified as avian dinosaurs since the 1980’s. In other words, they are dinosaurs. Initially feathers evolved among dinosaurs for insulation, sexual display, and camouflage rather than flight. One of the early birds was Eoconfuciusornis. It lived 131 million years ago, long before the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago. Eoconfuciusornis could fly and it had colorful feathers.

A black bird with a long retrix / tail sitting on a tree. | Eoconfuciusornis 130 million years ago. | Birds are Avian Dinosaurs
Eoconfuciusornis 130 million years ago. Nobu Tamura, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I brought up this fact in a recent post and I hinted that it was a super fact. It is true, surprising and kind of important. After all birds are all around us. In this post I am exploring the fact that birds are dinosaurs a little bit more than I did in my previous post. Below are a couple of modern birds.

A shoebill stork is a large gray-blue bird with a huge beak.
A shoebill stork standing at Ueno Zoo, Tokyo, five feet tall. Bob Owen, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A taxidermy mount of a turkey standing on our dining room table. | Birds are Avian Dinosaurs
A wild turkey in our dining room.

Feathered Dinosaurs

A lot of dinosaurs had feathers, and some could fly. That included many types of dinosaurs other than birds. Dinosaurs with feathers include, for example, Velociraptor, Deinonychus, Archaeopteryx (could fly), Microraptor (could fly), Rahonavis (could fly), Gallimimus, Ornithomimus, Yutyrannus huali, Psittacosaurus, Psittacosaurus, Sinosauropteryx, Sinornithosaurus, Eoconfuciusornis, Wulong, Psittacosaurus, Sciurumimus, Kulindadromeus, Caudipteryx, Utahraptor, Deinonychus, and even young T-Rex and many others. We know that at least some dinosaurs had feathers as well as colors based on fossil finds. Below are some illustrations.

A Gallimimus dinosaur covered in hair and feathers.
Life restoration showing an adult with feathers, based on those known from the related Ornithomimus. Picture is from here. PaleoNeolitic, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A bird like dinosaur with feathers. It has huge claws.
Life restoration of Pyroraptor olympius. Picture is from here. Mette Aumala, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Birds are Avian Dinosaurs | Reconstruction of the 2014 microraptorine dromaeosaur dinosaur, Changyuraptor yangi. This is a dinosaur with four wings.
Reconstruction of the 2014 microraptorine dromaeosaur dinosaur, Changyuraptor yangi. This is a dinosaur with four wings. The picture is taken from here. Emily Willoughby (e.deinonychus@gmail.com, http://emilywilloughby.com), CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons
Greyish bird like creature with a reptile like head.
Artistic restoration of D. albertensis Artistic restoration of D. albertensis. Picture from here. Fred Wierum, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons
Six dromaeosaurs are shown, all covered with feathers. Microraptor gui (flying), Velociraptor mongoliensis, Austroraptor cabazai, Dromaeosaurus albertensis, Utahraptor ostrommaysorum, Deinonychus antirrhopus. A human is shown on the left. Most of the dinosaurs are bigger than the human.
Size of Utahraptor (5) compared with other dromaeosaurs and a human. It is the biggest one in the picture. The picture is from here. Fred Wierum, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons.

Terror Birds and Other Giant Birds

After the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago birds continued evolving. Some of them became large standing 1 – 3 meters (3-10 feet) and weighing hundreds or even thousands of pounds. From about 53 million years ago until 100,000 years ago there were large birds that we refer to as Terror Birds. They lived at the same time as humans. However, there were other large and scary birds. Dromornis stirtoni was a flightless bird that lived 7-8 million years ago, it was over three meters in height (10 feet) and weighed 500-600 kilograms (1,100 to 1,300 pounds). Below are some illustrations.

pencil drawing, digital coloring of Paraphysornis brasiliensis, a Terror Bird. | Birds are Avian Dinosaurs
Paraphysornis brasiliensis, a Terror Bird, 8 feet tall weighing 400–530 pounds, this is a terror bird from the Early Miocene of Brazil,: Snowmanradio (talk)Paraphysornis_BW.jpg:  Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com), CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Kelenken, Devincenzia, Phorusrhacos, and Titanis birds are all larger than the human standing on the left hand side. Kelenken guillermoi is the largest.
Size comparison of some phorusrhacids (Terror Birds), including Kelenken, Devincenzia, Phorusrhacos, and Titanis. Picture taken from here. PaleoNeolitic, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0&gt;, via Wikimedia Commons.
A flightless bird with huge yellow beak. | Birds are Avian Dinosaurs
A pencil-drawn reconstruction of Dromornis stirtoni. Picture is taken from here. Nobu Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.de), CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons

Shared False Memories Are Common – Mandela Effect

Super fact 83 : Everyone experiences false memories. They are a normal part of how human memory works and are very common. There are also false memories that are shared among large groups of people and that are often socially reinforced. This is called the Mandela effect.

Pop art style comic book panel doubtful wondering woman can't tell reality from fantasy, daydreaming, dreams, delusion, vector illustration. She says “W-Was … it … just a dream?!?” | Shared False Memories Are Common – Mandela Effect
Shutterstock Asset id: 717504940 by durantelallera

As I mentioned, false memories are very common. However, what may come as a surprise is that some false memories are widespread and socially reinforced. It is important to know this, and we know it is true, so it is a super fact. The effect is named after the former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, who died in 2013. However, a lot of people distinctly remember him dying in prison in the 1980s.

It was paranormal researcher Fiona Broome who named the effect after having a personal experience with the phenomenon. She wrongly recalled Nelson Mandela dying in the 1980s and she could even remember the news coverage of his funeral, and yet it never happened. After talking to other people, she realized that she was far from alone with her false memory.

Another example is that a lot of people remember Darth Vader in Star Wars telling Luke “Luke, I am your father”. What Darth Vader said was “No, I am your father”. Yet another movie example is that Forrest Gump did not say “Life is like a Box of Chocolates”. He said, “Life was like a box of chocolates”. Also, the Monopoly man never had a monocle, Curious George doesn’t have a tail, many remember the “Berenstein Bears” but it’s the “Berenstain Bears”. C-3PO is not all gold, he has a silver leg. You can easily find hundreds of examples of the Mandela effect online.

The photo shows a scene from Star Wars. C-3PO and R2-D2. C-3PO has a silver leg.
Shutterstock Asset id: 558350728 by Willrow Hood

People have asked me, “do you remember in the 1970’s and 1980’s when scientists were  convinced that global cooling was happening”, to which I answer, “no I don’t remember that and neither do you”. In the 1970’s much less was known about the climate, but the possibility of anthropogenic warming dominated the peer-reviewed literature even then. There were a few contrarian climate scientists who claimed there was global cooling and there were some articles in popular media about global cooling, but the statement that scientists were  convinced there was global cooling is simply false. You can read more about this in this book. Yet some people “remember” this. I believe this is another example of a socially reinforced Mandela Effect.

False Beliefs and False Memories

The existence of false beliefs is another phenomenon that is very common. There are hundreds of common beliefs that we know are false based on carefully vetted data, large amounts of studies, and scientific experiments. I think we all have some false beliefs. We have all been bamboozled at some point. The way to know is to check and compare the evidence and the data and papers from reputable sources. Find out what the experts in the field say. Some examples of false beliefs are:

We adopt false beliefs because of misinformation, propaganda (politics), social reinforcement, a wish to believe certain things, our own lack of critical thinking, etc. False memories, including collective false memories are due to the fact that memories aren’t perfect recordings, memory reconstruction, social reinforcement (also true for false beliefs), and confusion with similar events.

Woman near inscriptions false and true reflects trying to choose from two options and make difficult decision. Woman put fingers on temples and closed eyes considering pros and cons fateful decision.
Shutterstock Asset id: 2593117091 by Drawlab19

Both false beliefs, false memories and the Mandela effect distort our understanding of the world. That is BTW one important inspiration for this fact finding blog – superfactful. It is difficult to accept that what you believe to be true may simply be false. We want to believe that we know better than others, not that we have been bamboozled or that we misremember things. But we need to be open to look at and compare evidence, be curious and willing to understand how things work, and be willing to change our beliefs and accept that some of our memories may be false. That is one way to grow as a human.

To see the other Super Facts click here

All Life Have a Common Ancestor

Super fact 82 : All known cellular life descends from a single Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). All animals, all plants, fungi, algae, green and red algae, kelp, phytoplankton, cyanobacteria, amoebas, amoebozoa, diatoms, stramenopiles, rhizaria, hacrobia, all eukaryote, all archaea, all bacteria, all the millions of species on Earth come from one single ancestor known as the Last Universal Common Ancestor – LUCA. Viruses are an exception, but viruses are not considered life.

This AI generated image shows a cell in an ocean and in the background, there are hundreds of other cells or possible life structures. | All Life Have a Common Ancestor
Last Universal Common Ancestor creation Shutterstock Asset id: 2666598705 by Shutterstock AI

LUCA, the Last Universal Common Ancestor, was not the first life form. It was preceded by earlier, simpler life forms that did not survive. LUCA was a single-celled, bacteria-like microorganism that existed roughly 4.2 billion years ago, or about 400 million years after planet Earth first formed. It was the final common ancestor for all currently living organisms. It thrived near hydrothermal vents as part of a larger microbial community before the three domains of life bacteria, archaea, and Eukarya diverged. This is a super fact because it is true, or at least highly probable, it is surprising and amazing and kind of important.

How Do We Know All Life Has a Common Ancestor ?

The answer is genome mining. By surveying nearly 2000 genomes of modern microbes we not only know that all life has a common ancestor (LUCA), that lived roughly 4.2 billion years ago, but we also know that it thrived near hydrothermal vents as part of a larger microbial community. This is analogous to another of my posts “Humans and Chimpanzees Have a Common Ancestor”. By sequencing human DNA and chimpanzee and bonobo DNA we know that humans and chimpanzees have a common ancestor. No fossils, or other information from the past is needed. DNA is a great tool for determining relationships between species and for finding information about past life, without the need of fossils.

To be more specific, the detailed biochemical similarity of all current life makes the existence of LUCA widely accepted by biochemists. There is a Universal Genetic Code, which means that nearly all living things use the same DNA/RNA-based genetic code to translate genetic information into proteins. There is a shared molecular machinery, for example, all life relies on ribosomes for protein synthesis, similar energy carriers like ATP, and the same 20 amino acids. All life uses the same mirror-image form of molecules, a signature of a single, common ancestry. In addition, there is a “core” set of 355 gene families present in both modern bacteria and archaea, which were likely inherited from LUCA. Finally, we have phylogenetic mapping, protein-sequence-based phylogenetic trees converge on a single root, indicating a common ancestry for all life. See the phylogenetic tree of life below.

The picture shows how the three domains of life bacteria, archaea, eukaryote, and the relationships between the different phylum in each domain leads back to LUCA.
User: Crion, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Below is another view of the diversification of life that focuses on the inventions made by life.

This tree of life picture shows a root representing a common ancestor and from it sprouts various inventions of life DNA, mitochondria, nuclei, chloroplasts, organs, hair, and much more.
The evolutionary tree of life showing diversification, branching and key characteristics of each branch. Shutterstock Asset id: 228953155 by Zern Liew

It should be noted that in addition to viruses there were likely other forms of life that existed alongside LUCA or before it. There was likely non-cellular life as well as cellular life that died out, RNA-based life, self-replicating nucleic acids, etc. It should also be noted that if some of the large viruses were to be reclassified as life, or a life form not based on LUCA were to be discovered then our “current LUCA” would no longer be LUCA, but just the ancestor of “almost all life”. That would still be amazing, just slightly less so.

The existence of LUCA brings up an interesting question. What would happen if we found DNA based life on another planet and its DNA showed that it also originated from LUCA ?

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