Category: Education

Studying is one of those things that nobody likes but is an absolute necessity due to needing to know the test you’re about to take. Whether you’re in grade school or getting ready to pass the bar exam, studying is one of those necessary evils of the academic world. Not only will it help you pass a test, but, it will fill you with the knowledge that you can use for the rest of your life.

That doesn’t mean that studying is easy, though, even if it is rewarding. The next time that you need to hunker down and study, there are some things that you should be doing in the meantime. Here are five tips showing you what you need to do when studying.

Tip 1: Take care of yourself 

First and foremost, taking care of your mental and physical health and well-being is the most important thing to take into account when studying. More often than not, if you’re not keeping your health a priority, your ability to study will diminish drastically. 

Keeping yourself hydrated, and well-fed, having a healthy sleep schedule, and making sure your social and emotional needs are met as well, will ensure an easier time studying without distraction. 

Tip 2: Create healthy study blocks

It’s easy to make the mistake of waiting until the very last minute to cram in all the studying you possibly can. In reality, it will leave you with little time to process all the information needed to pass exams. Not to mention the immense pressure and stress you’ll feel knowing you have to pile on a ton of topics all at once right before the exams you’re studying for. 

Creating healthy study blocks will help eliminate that stress. Find blocks of time throughout your days and week that will allow you to properly study ahead of time, without pushing you past your limits. 

Tip 3: Free yourself from distractions 

Studying in complete silence isn’t required unless that’s what works for you. Although freeing your study environment from all distracting noises, people, and tempting technology and activities will keep you focused on working toward your study goals. 

If you’re studying in a public area, be aware of the surrounding distractions to help you decide if it’s the right environment to focus on your studies. If you’re at home, be sure to make your housemates aware of your study blocks, reducing any in home distractions. If your phone, music, or television becomes a distraction, turn them off and put away any devices that are tempting to use. 

Tip 4: Find forms of studying that benefit you 

Everyone absorbs information in differing ways. There are many styles of learning you can use during the study blocks that will help you process what you’re studying with more ease. Spending your time confused about the subject matter won’t help you succeed, so find your learning style(s) and use them to your advantage. 

If you’re a visual learner, try drawing out diagrams and notes. If you’re more of a vocal learner, try finding someone to help read notes out loud to you, or read things out to yourself. Some people benefit from the use of fidget devices when studying, so you can try that too 

Tip 5: Give yourself background noise 

Like most students, focusing solely on studying with no background noise whatsoever can quickly become mind-numbing and detrimental to your study process. There’s a fine line between comforting background noises and distractions. Figure out what works for you and apply it to your study blocks. 

You can always switch it up if needed or if things get too distracting. Find the right music to listen to that won’t keep you from your studies. Lofi beats are usually the easiest listening for studying and can be found all over YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music. 

It’s estimated that there are more than two dozen sexual orientations among humans, including graysexual, autosexual, sapiosexual, and many more. Obviously, some are much more common than others. An overwhelming majority of the world falls under a handful of categories, with these five sexual orientations being the most common:

Homosexual

Homosexuality is the emotional/romantic and/or sexual attraction to a person of the same sex or gender. Typically homosexual men are labeled as Gay and homosexual women are labeled as Lesbian. 

Scientists believe a complex combination of hormonal, genetic, and environmental factors play a part in the development of this sexual orientation and believe homosexuality is not a choice, but rather a normal part of the nature of human sexuality. Instances of homosexuality have even been displayed by some animals. 

Heterosexual

Heterosexuality is the emotional/romantic and/or sexual attraction to members of the opposite sex or gender. Often referred to as being “straight”, it’s the most common sexual orientation throughout different communities and cultures. Biologically, humans and nearly all creatures on Earth have been engineered to mate and produce offspring to ensure the survival of the species. 

As is true for all sexual orientations, heterosexuality is valid and a completely natural occurrence. Although there is no heterosexuality awareness because it’s thought to be the norm, being proud of your sexuality is a good thing no matter what your orientation may be. 

Bisexual

Bisexuality is the emotional/romantic and/or sexual attraction to both female and male counterparts. It’s one of the main classifications of sexual orientation, along with heterosexuality and homosexuality. One common misconception of bisexuality is that a person must have an equal attraction to both sexes to be seen as bi.

In reality, a bi person can have any varying degree of attraction to the female and male genders and still be 100% bisexual. It’s a stigma that has plagued members of the bi community for some time now, but awareness and celebration of this orientation, such as Bisexual+ Awareness Week in September, are steps in the right direction. 

Pansexual

Pansexuality is the emotional/romantic and/or sexual attraction to a person of either sex or any gender. Some who are bisexual also identify as pansexual, if their attraction goes beyond standard male and female gender identities. 

Although, they are typically seen as separate orientations and should not automatically be paired by default. People within the LGBTQIA+ community, particularly those who identify as bisexual, have reservations about being categorized into a group they don’t specifically identify with. There are many ways to spread awareness, one being Pansexual Awareness Day, which falls on May 24th. 

Asexual

One sexual orientation that consists of a lack of sexual attraction, is Asexuality. Asexuality, although a valid sexual orientation, has researchers divided on whether it’s a legitimate orientation. Asexual individuals can take part in emotional/romantic relationships and may even engage in sexual activity for pleasure, reproduction, or other personal reasons. 

However, sexual attraction and the desire for sexual relations are nonexistent. Just like any label, they can be as firm, or loose as the individual chooses and is purely a way to express one’s self and personal preferences. Asexual Awareness Day falls on April 6th and is a great way to break the stigma surrounding it. 

There are plenty of other sexualities, with more specific ones being created as preferences are discovered. These five are the most common, though, and more specific sexual orientations tend to fall under these umbrellas.

Sudoku is one of the most popular games in the world, and for a good reason. There’s no shortage of puzzles you can solve, with a total of more than 1 billion different ones out there. Because of that, it’s estimated that more than 100 million people in the United States alone play Sudoku regularly, with more than half of the country trying it at least once. Needless to say, Sudoku isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, the original idea of Sudoku has been around since the late 19th century, though it didn’t really start to take off until the late 1990s.

To play Sudoku, you need to use logical reasoning to make sure that the entire grid is filled out with numbers 1 through 9 in each row, column, and box. It’s a real brain teaser of a game, which begs the question: Can your daily Soduko habit help make you smarter? After all, numbers and logic come into play, and that alone calls for high intelligence to decipher. Let’s take a look at what science has shown about Sudoku and its link to an increase in intelligence.

Benefitting the Elderly

A study published by the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry set out to find if there was an increase in cognitive function for Sudoku players aged 50 to 93. Over 19,000 people volunteered for the study, with those playing the puzzles every day found to have a cognitive function that was nearly a decade younger than their actual age.

Dr. Anne Corbett was the head author of the study, and she said that “The improvements are particularly clear in the speed and accuracy of their performance. In some areas, the improvement was quite dramatic…We can’t say that playing these puzzles necessarily reduces the risk of dementia in later life, but this research supports previous findings that indicate regular use of word and number puzzles helps keep our brains working better for longer.”

Refuting Evidence?

While that particular study did show that cognitive function was improved for the elderly who play Sudoku on a daily basis, there are some that have said that playing these games doesn’t improve intelligence. Western University in London, Ontario, Canada had a much smaller study to refute the evidence, using just over 70 people.

Over the course of 20 days, one group spent a total of 13 hours playing puzzle games including Sudoku while the other group didn’t play any puzzle games. At the beginning and end, both groups took an IQ test, and the scores didn’t improve noticeably. “We (thought) that if you get really good at one test and train for a really long time, maybe then you’ll get improvement on tests that are similar,” author Bobby Stojanoski said. “Unfortunately, there’s just no evidence to support that claim…Sleep better, exercise regularly, eat better. Education is great. That’s the sort of thing we should be working on.”

An Overall Benefit

So while Sudoku won’t make you smarter in the general sense of being able to achieve higher scores on an IQ test, it does help your brain in a lot of different ways. We already touched on how it can improve your cognitive function when you’re older, but you don’t have to wait until you’re 50 to get the benefits of playing Sudoku.

Those that play on a daily basis are found to have better concentration and memory function, while also tending to be happier. Sudoku helps to stimulate the brain, releasing beneficial hormones that improve brain health. You’re always learning something, and when you finish a puzzle, there’s a huge sense of accomplishment. Even though it’s just a puzzle on a piece of paper or computer/phone screen, that’s still enough to make your day a little better.

Though it doesn’t rank at the very top, English is one of the hardest languages in the world to learn from scratch. One of the key reasons why English is so difficult is because of the particular grammar that we have to use in every sentence. There’s a certain structure that goes into everything you say or write, so just one thing out of place can be confusing for listeners and readers.

With that in mind, there are some tips you can take to heart to improve your English grammar. Follow these quick rules, and you’ll be reading, writing, and speaking perfect English in no time.

5. Parts of Speech

One of the hardest parts of the English language to learn is memorizing the parts of speech. All the way through college courses, the parts of speech are relearned by students taking classes. If you’re still wondering about the parts of speech, here’s a quick reminder of all nine and what they mean:

• Adjectives (descriptive word or phrase attached to a noun, i.e. smart)
• Adverbs (modification or qualification of a verb, i.e. gently, then)
• Articles (a word that comes before a noun, i.e. the, an)
• Conjunctions (connection of clauses or sentences, i.e. but, if)
• Interjections (exclamation that is independent of surrounding words)
• Nouns (person, place, or thing)
• Prepositions (a word before a noun relating to another word, i.e. after, on)
• Pronouns (a word that can replace a noun, i.e. they, he)
• Verbs (a word that shows action, i.e., eat, dance)

4. Speaking Leads to Writing

If you’re by yourself or with people that don’t mind when you read things out loud, always try to recite everything that you’re reading when learning a new language. When you’re speaking with perfect grammar, it will become a habit. This is why things like flashcards are so useful for people that are learning something for the first time.

Whether it be a book, an article that you’re reading online, an email, or anything that’s written in English, try to sound it out to he best of your abilities. You may find that this improves your grammar quicker than you thought imaginable.

3. Learn From Grammar Checkers

Thankfully, the internet is available to people worldwide and has allowed us to type in other languages without too much difficulty due to grammar checkers. These downloadable apps and browser extensions can instantly check your writing for grammatical errors. Always take notes of the corrections that were made, that way you know for the future what to look out for.

Just use a bit of caution when using a grammar checker, however. Sometimes a suggestion will be made that doesn’t make sense in the context of a sentence. If you feel like the suggestion doesn’t work, you can send the suggestion as a report to better enhance the AI’s algorithm and learning.

2. Read Until You Drop

The easiest way to learn any language is to read continuously, and English is no exception. Sometimes, memorization is the best way of learning things. When you memorize where certain words go into sentences, that will stick with you and improve your grammar. This also lets you know when and where to use particular types of punctuation.

You won’t need to read an entire novel every day to get a good grasp of the English language. Reading news articles is a great way to perfect your grammar, especially through outlets that use AP (Associated Press) style writing as there are very stringent rules.

1. Perfect Homophones

When two or more words have the exact same pronunciation but have different meanings, those are referred to as homophones. There are some very common ones that get misconstrued even by those that speak and write in English on a daily basis. Here is a list of some of the trickier homophones and their meanings:

• There (in, at, or to that place or position)
• Their (possessive
• They’re (contraction of they are)

• Pail (bucket)
• Pale (very lightly colored)

• Tale (story)
• Tail (animal appendage)

• Aloud (creating noise)
• Allowed (receiving permission)

• Brake (used to stop cars or bikes)
• Break (relaxing or snapping something)

Some tests are easier than others, especially for those that are either learning a new language or trying to grasp the specifics of their native language. Math is simple. It’s a universal language and you either understand it or you don’t. There are so many nuances to language, especially English, that you may understand more than 99 percent of it but find that last one percent tricky to master.

Thankfully, there are some ways in which you can develop your language skills and put these skills to use toward your English test. Some of these are quite detailed while others are doing simple daily activities that will help you in the long run. Let’s take a look at how to develop your language skills.

Keep a Journal

Whether you’re writing a few sentences or several pages, one of the best things you can do for your language skills is to write on a daily basis. If you can, try to keep your journal in a Word document. When you do this, Word can automatically detect any spelling or grammatical errors. Extensions like Grammarly can also help. Take notes of the suggestions that are being made, and use this new knowledge on your English test.

Practice Tests

Though you likely won’t be able to find the exact test that you’re going to be taking online, you can at least take free English tests online with similar questions. This will give you an understanding of what to expect. Not only that, but you’ll be able to see the more common mistakes (in the form of wrong answers) that you may be accidentally doing in your writing or speaking. If you’re scoring high marks on the practice test, continue to study even if you think that you’ve mastered things because you never know what a test can throw at you.

Read the News

Perhaps the most common form of perfect English writing is the Associated Press (AP) style. Reading articles directly from the AP will allow you to become familiar with the type of English that you’ll be tested on. Most reputable news sources will use the AP style, as well, but try to stay away from opinion or editorial articles that tend to have more slang terms and use a looser form of AP style.

Practice Pronunciation

One of the best things you can do to enhance your English skills is to understand how words are pronounced. Make some flashcards that have some tougher common English words and try to sound them out to the best of your abilities. Words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings should also be studied. These are called heteronyms and include words like live, wind, tear, close, and dove.

Prep Guides

A lot of major tests will have a prep guide available that goes into thorough detail about how to specifically train for that test. Along the way, you’ll learn the ins and outs of the English language to the point where you’re using it in everyday life rather than simply for the test. Even if there isn’t a specific prep guide for the test that you’re taking, picking one up for a similar English test will also be beneficial. Tutors can also be available depending on the test that will work with you one-on-one.

Set Aside Study Time

There are a lot of people that study for exams in the random free time that they get throughout the day but may find themselves unfocused because it can be a very short period of time. If you want to get the most out of your studying session, set aside a particular block of time for each day so that you can be laser-focused on studying. The amount of suggested study time depends on the exam itself. For instance, experts suggest that an exam for a class that’s taken once per week should be studied two to three hours per day.

Becoming a physician can be one of the most rewarding careers, but it comes at a significant cost. Medical school is demanding, and that stress can overwhelm you. Consider five survival tips for today’s medical student. 

1. Find a Study Partner and/or Group

Having a study partner gives you someone to bounce ideas from and helps you be more productive as you study. A partner keeps you accountable for your work ethic and you do the same. 

You could also consider a study group. Study groups allow you to discuss difficult subjects with others to get a better understanding of them

2. Find a Mentor or Two

Mentors offer advice and support to help you advance in your career. They will also know all the tricks to get you through some of the most grueling four years of your life. Find one or two, and let them guide your path. 

That might mean looking beyond the boundaries of the school. Successful medical students are proactive in their search for extra experience and information outside of what is included in the medical school curriculum. Some examples are participating in a research project or volunteering in the community. The right mentors will assist you in making professional contacts that will lead to residencies, fellowships, and other possibilities.

3. Set Boundaries

In case you hadn’t heard, medical school can be both challenging and chaotic – and it’s going to be tempting to improvise, skip sleep, and maybe even skip meals. The solution is to set boundaries ahead of time, before you encounter the stressful scenario, helping you stay on point with your study while also avoiding depleting your mental resources over time. One of the most critical boundaries to establish a sleep schedule. Going to bed and getting up at the same time each day will improve your performance. 

Create a few routines that involve others, such as calling your parents at set times, and make sure friends understand you are not available to go out and do things every single night. That will help prevent distractions. At the same time, part of healthy boundary setting is to know when to break them – sometimes staying up a little later during your final week of the semester is ok. Staying up til 2am right in the first week on the other hand, may indicate that you could improve your judgement a little! 

4. Set Goals For Yourself

It is critical to set daily goals that are both practical and attainable. Remember to take it slowly. You’re in it for the long haul, so focus on daily tasks rather than trying to do everything at the last minute.

Make one of your goals to explore all your options. Consider doing one or more away rotations (typically in your fourth year) to broaden your experience. Finally, join specialty interest groups and career-advising opportunities given by your medical school when your schedule allows.

5. Get Your Study System Locked Down Fast

There will be a lot of information, and it’s all essential. This makes having an excellent study regimen crucial if you want to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the quantity of content you need to learn.

Determine whatever approaches and frameworks are most effective for you, and integrate them into your daily schedule. Do you learn better in groups, for example? If so, look for study partners early. Create a standardized approach that can be implemented consistently regardless of what you are studying based on what works for you. This is especially important during clinical rotations, when blocks of study material, specialist journal reviews, and board review questions will be visited regularly.

Medical school is a challenge but one worth taking, so go into it knowing that you can survive with careful planning. 

Woodworking is something that will never go away, as wood is one of the most versatile materials that you can find on this planet. While its popularity waned at one point, there has been a resurgence in woodworking interest (thanks in part, oddly enough, to NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation”). If you’re one of these people that wants to get into woodworking for the first time, you don’t want to start on something big like a house or even a complicated table. Instead, you’ll want to focus on smaller projects to help get you started. Here are five woodworking project ideas that beginners will enjoy.

5. Shoe Organizer

The beauty of making a shoe organizer is that there aren’t a lot of intricate parts that you need to be a professional to get right. Instead, you just need a few pieces of wood, some screws and you can sand and varnish from there. This is perhaps the most popular beginner project in woodworking as you don’t have to cut anything. SImply get a couple of 2×4’s and a couple of 2×10’s and you’re in business. You can use it for more than just shoes, too, and paint to your heart’s content.

4. Simple Bench

You don’t have to learn how to get a wood bench situated into a metal frame to have a place to sit. You also don’t have to spend hundreds to make a bench. Instead, think of a bench the same way you would a shoe organizer. Of course, the wood that you’ll be using is much sturdier since it has to support people. Sand it down so that you’re not getting any splinters on your hindquarters.

3. Coffee Table

In almost the exact same fashion that you’re making a bench, that can also be used as a coffee table. Where a bench will have a narrower top end, the coffee table will be a bit wider so that you can set various items on there and decorations. Also like benches, this is a project that doesn’t take a lot of money if you already have the tools. It should be able to be completed in one afternoon, making it an ideal beginner’s project.

2. Magazine Storage

Perhaps you want a project that requires smaller parts if you have limited space. If that’s the case, you may want to try making a magazine storage rack that can also be used for folders or other important documents that you want to keep nicely organized. While this is a little more advanced due to more cutting, the fact that it’s a smaller project is a good introduction to cutting with some pretty low stakes overall.

1. Photo Frames

We end on a project that most people make for their introduction into woodworking, and that’s the picture frame. This is one of the most popular projects because you can put your own artistic spin on things, and there’s no ‘wrong’ way to do a picture frame as long as it hangs without falling apart and you can see the picture that you’re displaying. There’s a lot of sentimental value behind this project, and you see a lot of them being made in home economics classes around the country. Except this time, you won’t be using popsicle sticks, but rather cutting your own wood to make it truly yours.

Out of all of the college programs that are available, medical school is the most selective for prospective students. Only around 23,000 people are accepted into medical schools each year, forming the future physicians of the United States. There are plenty more that hope to get in, and you may be one of them. If you find yourself hoping to get into medical school, there are some things to consider. Here are five things you need to know before choosing a medical school.

5. The School’s Graduation Rate

One of the first things that you want to look at is the graduation for all of the medical schools that you’re considering. In terms of overall graduation rate in the United States, around 83 percent of medical school students go on to graduate their program. If you want something that will allow you to get through school at a standard difficulty, aim for 83 percent or higher. Going lower than 80 percent will really challenge you to the point where you may drop out. With that said, you have to think in terms of how much you want it overall.

4. The Admission Standards

Now that you know how difficult it will be to finish your schooling, we have to consider how hard it’s going to be just to get accepted. Some medical schools have such a low admission rate that it’s not worth going through the expensive and time consuming process just to get a quick rejection. Some of the hardest medical schools in the United States include Virginia Tech, New York University, Texas Christian University, Stanford and Kaiser Permanente. That’s because all of these schools have an acceptance rate of less than two percent. The University of Tennessee is much more favorable at nearly 16 percent.

3. Support From Staff

Not all medical schools are the same and expect you to learn everything on your own time and have staff that are hard to get a hold of if you need support or have questions. That’s why you want to focus on schools with programs that offer generous office hours, career services and more. When you’re a medical student, you’re likely to be focused on studying around the clock so when you run into stressful situations, you want to know that you’ll have the pillars of support that you need.

2. Alumni Base

When you’re looking at any college, you want to look at the alumni base that the school has produced, and that’s true for any program of study. Sure, some schools might produce a lot of alumni, but are they producing notable alumni? Look at schools with a rich history of producing the world’s best physicians. Just a few doctors to think about and the schools they went to include William Abdu (Dartmouth/Tufts), Myles Abbott (Miami) and Fouad Abbas (University of Maryland).

1. The Cost

Of course, you’ll want to know if you can even afford going to medical school. Medical school is often the most expensive program for any college, and unless you are extremely lucky, you’re going to find yourself in a lot of debt. Try to match yourself with a school that’s affordable enough to make payments until you really get your career launched and start earning the big bucks to pay off those loans.

Every year, nearly 90,000 people take their shot at the Medical College Admission Test, or the MCAT for short. Those that have taken the test know you need to finish with a great score to get accepted into medical school, so it’s important to get it right. If you’re one of the thousands that’s planning on taking the test and are stressing out, it’s going to be just fine. Here are five tips to follow for studying that will help you reach your maximum potential.

5. Know the Requirements

There isn’t a uniform score that you need to get on your MCAT for every medical school. With that in mind, focus on what the requirements are for the school or schools where you’re applying. When you’ve found out what the schools require, you can set your expectations on the MCAT. This means that if you finish with a particular score, you can expect to get into one school over the other. Don’t just Google it and take the first result that you see, either. Make sure to contact the school directly and find their requirements.

4. Practice Tests

Among the first things that you’ll want to do is establish a baseline of your knowledge, and the best way to do that is through a practice test. After studying, presumably your score can only go up, so think of your first practice test score as your minimum and continue to practice as the months pass. Try not to take too many practice tests as you’ll end up feeling burnt out and might not be studying everything that you need to study. Instead, set a schedule of when you’ll take these tests, preferably twice per week.

3. Specify Your Study Time

Set aside a specific time of day in which you’re going to study for the MCAT, and specify each block of time what it is you’ll be studying. Set aside time to watch a certain video or read a certain chapter. The closer you stick to a schedule, the better you’ll use this time overall. Plan out your entire study schedule in advance; thinking of it the same way you would a college class. You’ll know what to expect every time, which helps put your mind at ease.

2. Take Time to Relax

Speaking of a restful mind, don’t spend every waking moment or every day studying for the MCAT. Sure, it will require more studying than anything else you’ve done in your life, but you’ll burn out quickly if you’re studying 14 hours per day. Set aside break days or hours in your day where you’re focused on something else. The information you’ve learned isn’t just going to magically disappear and you’ll be better prepared when you’re in a good state of mind on test day.

1. Start With Accuracy

Many of us are so focused on time that we forget to do things accurately, and that’s very true when it comes to tests like the MCAT. Because of the time limit, you’ll likely be focused on that rather than getting things right. When you’re taking your first practice test, completely ignore the time and work on your accuracy. If your accuracy is already top notch, you can then work on reducing the time it takes to finish for your highest score.

Birds can be thought of as the fish of the land. Sure, they all fall into one major category, but there are so many different types that have wildly varying characteristics that they may as well be living on different planets sometimes. It’s wil to think that bald eagles, hummingbirds and penguins all fall under the same category of just ‘bird.’ With that in mind, there are some unbelievable traits for every species of bird. Some stand out as being the zaniest, most interesting and downright scary or hilarious. Here are five of those bird facts that leave people scratching their heads.

5. Bird Poop is Also Pee

Do you know how in movies and TV shows, characters try to make their cars run faster by shedding unnecessary weight? Birds sort of do the same with their bodies to make them more lightweight and able to fly. Because of this, birds tend to not have bladders, and your car is the target. Bird bodies expel waste in the form of uric acid, and it’s a mixture of both feces and urine. So when you go out to your car on a cold morning and see it covered in that gross white substance, you’re getting the worst of both worlds.

4. Quoth the Raven

Have you ever wondered why ravens, crows and other similar birds are written about so much? It’s because not only do they have a uniquely gothic look, but they’re also among the smartest birds you’ll find. That’s right, ravens and crows can actually remember human faces and other details of their surroundings. This makes it so that they can keep coming back to pester you, and it sort of messes with your mind. If you feel like the same bird keeps bugging you every day, it’s because it might be.

3. Hummingbird Diet

Everyone knows the hummingbird; the cute little animal that never stops flying and gently sips away at the nectar you leave out for it in a feeder. What you might not realize is just how much the hummingbird eats in a day. With its heart racing at over 1,200 beats per minute, the hummingbird needs to constantly feed just to survive. That insanely high metabolism translates into your average sized man needing to eat nearly 300 pounds of meat per day just to not waste away.

2. Elephant Birds Once Ruled

There are some pretty big birds flying around these days, but none were as large as the elephant birds of Madagascar. Having gone extinct around 1,000 years ago, elephant birds were so large that you probably would’ve mistaken them for private airplanes. That’s because they were nearly 10 feet tall and could weigh up to 2,000 pounds. Fossil records confirmed these birds existed, and imagine if they were as common as pigeons.

1. Flamingos are Friends

Let’s end things on a bright note here, quite literally. The most famous pink birds that you know have a very humanistic trait in the fact that they make friends from a young age, get into relationships and keep those friends and family close to them for the rest of their lives. Mates will raise chicks every year and all flamingos have about three to six close friends and all lean on each other to both thrive and survive.