ZM's Bree & Clint - Common knowledge may be a thing of the past

Episode Date: August 15, 2026

It's not often we get "ind-blowing facts" that actually blow your mind but there's definitely something in here for everyone. Bree Tomasel & Clint Roberts on ZM - find us @breeandclint on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You tapped it, so we're playing it. It's ZM's Brian Clint, the podcast. Brooks here filling in. I saw this thread today, which was a list of common facts that aren't so common. Do you know what I mean? The common, like knowledge is becoming less and less common anyway, so I'm worried. I guess, common sense not being so common. And so I was reading it and I was like, oh, well, obviously I'll know all of these facts because I'm no dummy.

I felt so stupid. Oh, so stupid. Because they were all like, most of them were like revelations to me. So I've got this list here. I know, Claudia, even me. I'm shocked. I know. You're so smart.

I've pulled some of my faves out and I want to give it to you guys. I want you to tell me honestly if you already knew this fact. Oh, no. Will you also tell us honestly whether this was a fact you knew or not? Yes. I will. And the first one I did not know. But I feel like this is not common.

Okay. I feel like this is full-blown buzzy G. This one. common knowledge. Okay. We'll see how. And Claudia's in a pub quiz team. Yeah.

But I feel like I have a good gauge of common. I don't think this is common and I did not know this. So we'll start with a biggie. Did you guys know that a day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus? No, that's not common either. It's not common. I don't get that. I did know that.

Did you, Claudia? A day on Venus is long. Venus takes 243 Earth days to rotate. to rotate once, but only 225 days to orbit the sun. Can you, wait, can you say that common fact again? A day on Venus. A day on Venus. Is longer than a year on Venus.

I wouldn't call that a common fact. It rotates fast, slower than it goes around the sun. Yeah, because a year is one full rotation of the sun. Right. And a day is one full pivot of the earth. Yeah. Okay, nah, not common though. Claudia, you have to say that's not common.

No, I don't think that's common. Next one's far more simple. I feel like Claudia knew this one. But I didn't, and I'm keen to know if you guys did. Bananas are berries and strawberries aren't berries. I did actually know that. Did you? Yeah.

Claudia? I knew that. Ella? Yeah, nah. Just me and you. Surely people would at least know half of that, the seeds on the outside of a strawberry. I think I'd heard that, that a strawberry wasn't a berry.

and botanically speaking bananas qualify as berries. Yeah. Buzz EG. Okay, here's one you can tell me if you knew before you try. Okay? You can't hum while holding your nose. No. Did you know that?

Did you know that? Yeah, you can't. Did you know that? I think I knew that once, but now I'm thinking about it. Maybe I didn't know that. Give it a go. There's nowhere for the air to go. I can probably do it.

It's like how you can't sneeze with your eyes on. open and then some people really, really try and then they explode. Oh. You just fill up with air. There's nowhere for it to go. Myth. Not busted. The Eiffel Tower gets taller in summer. I didn't know that, but it does make sense to me.

Is it because the metal gets hot? Yeah. And it grows. That's just kind of like a thing if you thought about it, you could probably logistically go, yeah. No, you could. Yes, because I know that all my rings, I've got rings I know in the summer that they get, they swell up.

The heat causes the metal to expand. The Eiffel Tower grows by around 15 centimetres. Oh, that's pretty impressive. That's significant. It's a grower, not a shower. Wow. Yeah, we-wee. Sharks are older than trees.

What? Yeah. You knew that? You knew that? Yes. No, don't say you knew it now that Claudia knew it. Sharks have been around for roughly 450 million years. The earliest trees appeared on Earth 385 million years ago.

That's a cool fact. Are you telling me that some dinosaurs never got to see trees? Mm-hmm. What? Yeah, man. What was growing out of the earth? Shrubs? Well, weren't we a whole bunch of, just underwater, and there was a whole bunch of fish, and then fish came on to land?

I think that's still argued, isn't it? Is that a thing? The order of things? That's crazy because in the documentary, the land before time, there's definitely shrubs. Yeah, right. You're telling me that the land before time may not be historically... I'm starting to think there's a few... Or zoologically accurate.

Yeah. Couple more for you. These are apparently common facts that are not so common. Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire. I knew that but only because I saw it on a TikTok video recently. Ah, okay, right. Yeah. I didn't know that because I don't, and I still don't know what the Aztec University is.

Sorry, what? What? Aztec University. Is that some marveled crap? Wait, can you? Well, I want this to be common knowledge. What is the Aztec University? It's not a university.

The Aztec Empire. What's the Aztec Empire? You know the Aztecs? The ancient civilisation? Is that like an Elon Musk? It's Mordolin. There are more possible games of chess, like moves that you could make in chess, the way that a game of chess could unfold. There are more possible games of chess than atoms in the observable universe.

Oh, that's not even not common, but that blows my brain to smotherings. It's so buzzy that I'm not sure if I believe it. Yes, it's the same with there's more stars in the sky than grains of sand on earth. To me, I know that that's true, but to me that still blows my mind that there's more stars. It can't be true, eh? I know, bonkers. The number of possible chess games is estimated to be around 10 to the power of 120, while the number of atoms in the observable universe is estimated to be 10 to the power of 80.

So are you saying that you're more likely to come up with a new chess move than find a new atom? No, you can't come up with a new chess move. move? Like the number that exists. Yeah, yeah, the number exists. But there just feels like there's more possibilities. I guess you could do one that no one's done yet, yeah. Yeah.

And the last one to finish it on a fun one, did you guys know that a group of flamingos is called a flamboyant? Yeah, I did because that's funny. It's funny and it makes sense because they're kind of flamboyant like a feather bowler. Anyway, made me feel stupid. And now I feel smarter. Because you've been asking stupid of people the questions? Apart from that as tax.

University, but. As tacky, bruce. Play ZM's Brian Clint on Insa, Facebook, TikTok and live weekdays from three on ZM.