Ask Me Anything - The Strangest Things People Ask Google

On average, Google processes over 40,000 searches every second^[1], and with the web now at our fingertips everywhere we go, there’s always somewhere to go to find the answers to life’s most pressing questions.

Our research looked to discover out how the UK smartphone owners use their phones to seek out answers to questions like: why is your face on your head, or how many toes does a rhino have? (Yes, these are real questions from the research).

Our study revealed that three quarters (75%) of the nation now use a search engine as their first port of call for life’s little questions, with four in ten (40%) people using their smartphone to ask Google a question at least once per day, and women more likely to do this (44%) than men (36%)^[2].

We have also considered the top Google search trends in 2017^[3] and found that the top five trending consumer tech searches (globally) were:

1. iPhone 8
2. iPhone X
3. Nintendo Switch
4. Samsung Galaxy S8
5. Xbox One

Google also reported that consumers started more searches with ‘how’ than ever before in 2017.

So, if you’re curious, these are 20 of the funniest (and sometimes weirdest) things the nation has asked their smartphones recently:

1. Do cockerels crow when they feel like it?
2. How many toes does a rhinoceros have?
3. Why is your face on your head?
4. Why does cucumber taste like shampoo?
5. What is the average weight of a panda?
6. What is the length of spaghetti?
7. How can I grow taller?
8. Does the Mandela Effect confirm the existence of a parallel universe?
9. Can helicopters fly upside down?
10. What is the lifespan of a mayfly?
11. How do I get my husband a brain transplant?
12. Who let the dogs out?
13. What percentage of people have seen a ghost?
14. What is the funniest joke in the world?
15. Where are my keys?
16. How does a giraffe clean its ears?
17. What happens to old false legs?
18. Where can I find gold?
19. Why don’t ducks’ feet stick to ice?
20. How can I make a time machine?

To quench your curiosity, we’ve found the answers to some of the most pressing questions above, as well as finding a few more little-known facts from across the internet:

1. A cockerel’s body clock tells it to crow around two hours before sunrise
2. A rhino has three toes
3. An average adult panda weighs 70 – 100kg
4. Contrary to what some believe, breaking wind doesn’t burn any calories
5. Some helicopters can perform a roll, but they can’t maintain inverted flight
6. The lifespan of a mayfly is around a day, but some only live for a few minutes
7. Reports say one in three Brits believe in ghosts and one in five Americans
8. A giraffe uses its tongue, which is 53cm long on average, to clean out its ears
9. Gold can be found on every continent, except Antarctica. The largest amounts of gold can be found in the ocean, but it’s not yet possible to extract gold from seawater
10. Ducks have a counter-current heat exchange system in their feet, so their blood flow helps to match the temperature of their feet to the ice, meaning they don’t stick to the ice and also avoid frostbite
11. If you lift a kangaroo’s tail off the ground it can’t hop
12. The most visited place in Europe is Disneyland Paris
13. Billy goats urinate on their own heads to smell more attractive to females
14. Before the invention of colour TV, 75% of people said they dreamed in black and white. Today, only 12% do
15. Coca-Cola would be green if colouring wasn’t added to it
16. Ketchup was sold in the 1930s as medicine
17. You can buy green bean flavoured ice pops in China
18. Ostriches have the biggest eyes in the whole animal kingdom. Their eyes are bigger than their brains
19. Wombat poo is cube-shaped
20. You can buy eel flavoured ice cream in Japan
21. The average housefly lives for one month
22. The ancient Greeks believed that horseradish was worth its weight in gold
23. Sea otters have a pouch under their forearm to store their favourite rocks
24. Since 2008, video games have outsold DVDs each year
25. More Monopoly money is printed each year than real US currency
26. There really was a Captain Morgan. He was a Welsh pirate who later became the lieutenant governor of Jamaica
27. The Greeks believed that redheads turned to vampires after death
28. Butterflies taste with their feet
29. Email existed before the world wide web
30. Created in 1956, the first VCR was the size of a piano
31. A coyote can hear a mouse moving underneath a foot of snow
32. The first alarm clock was designed for one person and could only go off at 4am
33. The male seahorse carries the eggs until they hatch, instead of the females
34. Female tortoises are usually larger than their male counterparts
35. People who are using a computer blink 66% less than those who aren’t
36. The home of Bill Gates was designed using a Macintosh computer
37. The plastic things on the ends of shoelaces are called aglets
38. The inventor of the Game Boy, Gunpei Yokoi, was originally Nintendo’s janitor and maintenance man
39. In 1936, Russians made a computer that ran on water
40. When potatoes were first brought to France in the 1600s, they were banned because they were considered poisonous
41. Steve Jobs relieved stress by soaking his feet in Apple’s company toilets
42. Around the year 1500, Leonardo da Vinci sketched plans for a robot
43. All public swans in England belong to the Queen
44. Baby elephants suck their trunks for comfort
45. Chocolate was once used as currency
46. Americans consume the most ice cream in the world
47. M&Ms actually stands for “Mars & Murrie’s” the last names of the candy’s founders
48. Big Ben does not refer to the famous clock, but actually to the bell
49. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match
50. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple

For the latest and greatest smartphones in town, head over to Mobiles.co.uk today.