Think science is all about dusty school books and boring lectures? Think again! It's absolutely bonkers! The world around us is stuffed full of weird and wonderful things, and here are 26 crazy science facts to prove it! Read on to find out which animal dissolves itself (before coming back to life) how much DNA we share with mushrooms (clue: more than you think!) and why clouds are so heavy! And if you enjoyed this and need more science facts, fear not! Check out more science fun right here! What about these cool chemistry facts? Or maybe you want to know all about electricity with these 11 shocking electricity facts! You might even like the look of these weird and wonderful human body facts!

1. Birds Are The Closest Living Animal to Dinosaurs

You might think reptiles like crocodiles and snakes seem closer, but in fact birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs! As well as this, lots of ancient dinosaurs had feathers and beaks, which helped scientists to make the connection!

2. Platypuses Glow Blue

As if platypuses weren't already weird enough, if you put one under UV light (and why wouldn't you, a very normal thing to do) it's fur will glow a bluey-green fluorescent colour! And no one really knows why!

3. Bananas Are Radioactive

Don't worry, you can still eat them! Bananas contain potassium, and one of potassium's variants is radioactive. They only have a very tiny bit though. For a lethal dose, you'd have to eat a cargo ship worth. But if you don't like bananas, see if this excuse works next time your parents want you to eat one!

4. Beavers Don't Eat Fish

If we asked you to picture a beaver, chancer are you're picturing it holding a freshly caught fish in its mouth or paws. Which is a lovely image, but there's just one problem- beavers don't eat fish! Thanks to misinformation in stories like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, most people assume they do. So what DO they eat? They're vegetarians! They eat plants, seeds and berries!

5. Clouds Can Be Very Heavy

How can they be heavy? Well, they're made of water, and if you've ever tried to carry a bucket of water, you'll know it weighs a lot! Then how do they stay up? Great question. Basically, the density of the volume of the cloud is less than the density of the same amount of the air around it! Weird!

6. You Share 99.9% of Your DNA With Everyone Else

Whilst it is true that we're all very special and unique (apart from your Uncle Kevin) we're actually mostly made up of the same thing. 99.9% the same thing, it turns out. This shows you just how close humans really are, which isn't that surprising - we're all descended from the same original group of people!

7. And 100% With an Identical Twin

If you happen to be an identical twin, then you'll share 100% of your DNA with your twin, the only person in the whole universe who's genetics are exactly the same as yours! And if one set of twins had children with another set of twins, they're offspring would be genetically siblings, not cousins!

8. ...And Nearly 50% of Your DNA With Mushrooms!

We know it doesn't sound very glamorous, but you're actually closer to a mushroom than a flower. Fungi and people are actually genetically more similar than fungi and plants. But you also share your DNA with lots of other things, including 60% with bananas and 70% with slugs and snails. Yeuch!

9. Hot Water Freezes Quicker Than Cold Water

It's called the Mpemba effect, and the way it works is like this: hot water loses mass as it evaporates (that's steam) whilst cold water doesn't lost nearly as much. So the reason hot water cools quicker is that there's actually less of it to cool - it's already lost loads of mass as steam!

10. You Can Walk On Custard

You've probably heard about Jesus walking on water, which was very impressive because it's impossible - we're too heavy to remain on the surface. But there IS a substance we can walk on - custard! Unlike water, if you apply sudden pressure to custard, it would solidify, not liquify! You'd need about a swimming pools worth if you wanted to actually walk on it though...

11. Cleopatra Lived Closer to us Than the Building of the Pyramids

We often think of the past as one big ancient lump, but actually it's longer than you think. Although queen Cleopatra was an ancient Egyptian, ancient Egyptian history is so long that she actually, lived closer to us (Just over 2,000 years ago) than the building of the pyramids of Giza (4,5000). She'd be more at home with a takeaway coffee than a cursed mummy!

12. It Can Rain Diamonds

It's true...but not here. No, it can rain diamonds on planets like Uranus! Basically all the pressure heat and chemicals in Uranus' atmosphere create diamonds, which then rain down onto the planet below! It sounds pretty glamorous, but it would actually probably be a bit annoying to get pelted with lots of tiny rocks!

13. It Can Rain a Lot of Other Weird Stuff Too

We may not get diamond rain on Earth, but we have had some other pretty weird things rain down on us! This is largely due to abnormal weather taking animals and plants from the ground and then throwing them back down again. Some weird rains we've had on earth include; frogs, fish, tadpoles, birds and even bits of meat! Gross!

14. There Is An Animal Made up of Different Animals

Well, not an animal so much as an organism. They're called siphonophores and they look a lot like jellyfish, with one difference - a jellyfish is a single organism, whilst siphonophores are lots and lots of single-celled organisms acting as one. They can't move on their own, so they live in one big colony, which happens to look like a jellyfish!

15. Human Eyes Are the Best Cameras

Have you ever wanted to capture a beautiful sunset and when you took the snap you couldn't understand why it doesn't look as good? That's because even the most advanced and sophisticated cameras are nothing compared to the human eye! A phone camera, for example, might have about 12 pixels, but the human eye? Over 500!

16. Honey is Antibacterial

Speaking of Ancient Egypt, when tomb raiders and archaeologists opened the pyramids and other resting places, they discovered that people had been buried with lots of food supplies (in case they get peckish on their way to the afterlife). And amongst all that food, there was one thing that you can still eat today - honey! That's right, honey's sugar content is SO high that it never spoils, although you'd probably still prefer a jar of Rowe from the shops. It's also got antibacterial properties, and has been used throughout history to treat wounds and injuries.

17. Some Animals Have Magnets in Their Heads

We don't mean they look like Magneto, exactly, but birds like geese do have one thing in common with him. They have a special part of the brain that acts like a magnet, letting them know where north is at all times. Why? So they know where they're going when they migrate! Basically they have a built-in satnav, and never need to worry about their phone running out of battery and getting lost!

18. You Had More Bones When You Were Born Than Now

Where did they go?! Don't worry, they're still here, technically. When you're a baby, you're born with several bones in your head that gradually fuse together as you get older. So several bones become one! Clever!

19. Isaac Newton Was A Magician

We don't mean he wore a top hat and performed at parties. We mean that, even though Isaac Newton was a respected scientist of his age, he was also fascinated by alchemy - the 'science' of turning metal into gold! Back in the 17th century, science and superstition were at a bit of a cross roads, which meant that even really clever people like Newton believed that they could use spells and potions to make gold!

20. Silk is Stronger than Steel

Alright then, so why aren't all the suspension bridges built of silk then? Well, for one thing, they'd get wet pretty quickly, but there are other reasons too. The reason silk is so strong is because its molecules are more tightly packed than other materials (for example, a human hair). That means that pound for pound it can hold more weight than, for example, steel. But its much easier to drive a bus over steel, so we'll stick with it for now.

21. And Your Teeth Are Stronger Than Your Bones

Teeth and bones are very similar, but they're not actually made of the same material. Teeth are coated with the hardest substance in your body - enamel. How strong is it? There's only one thing on earth stronger than enamel - diamond! Now we're wondering if we had bones made of enamel, would we be like superheroes?

22. Venus Spins Clockwise

Venus is the only planet in our solar-system to spin clockwise - we guess it just wanted to feel special. Why does it do that? Well, one theory is that it was once hit by a meteor so powerful that it managed to knock Venus off orbit and make it spin backwards! It might even have hit another planet! Let's hope that doesn't happen to us!

23. Some Trees Are Very Very Old

Trees are some of the oldest living plants on the planet. Some of the ones in the UK are at least a couple of thousand years old, like the Fortingall Yew in Perthshire. Others, like Prometheus in Nevada, lived to be nearly 5,000 years old - until it got cut down! Doh!

24. Octopuses Have Three Hearts

That's only the start! They also have blue blood, which needs protein in it to transport oxygen around the body. And they have nine brains, an extra mini one in each arm! They also sacrifice themselves, becoming thin and weak as their children grow, so that their kids can thrive. Octopuses might be the most dramatic animals in the whole ocean!

25. Caterpillars Digest Themselves to Turn Into Butterflies

We know it sounds gross! But its absolutely true! Here's what happens - when a caterpillar goes into its cocoon, its broken down by enzymes. The genetic code it needs to become a butterfly is still there in the form of imaginal discs, and, using energy from the caterpillar goo, it becomes a butterfly! Incredible!

26. A Million Seconds is about 11 Days. A Billion Seconds is About 32 Years

A million might sound like a lot - if you counted to a million, it would take you about a week. But the really crazy thing is how big a billion is. Because if you counted to a billion...it would take over 30 years! You'd have to really want to avoid your homework to do that!