100 Things We Learned in 2023

Picture an onion. Now double the size of it, and double it again, and maybe double it a few more times. Now you’re picturing something closer to the world’s biggest onion, which was grown and shown this year at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show. This massive onion weighed just under 20 pounds—imagine making a Bloomin’ Onion out of that.

Every year, we collect our favorite stories, fun facts, and innovations from the previous 12 months. For this year’s video, Mental Floss editor-in-chief Erin McCarthy is breaking down all the excellent things we learned in 2023, from some amazing space discoveries and a few hard-working robots to enough animal news to get you through the winter—and more record-breaking superlatives beyond the world’s biggest onion.

Like, for example, the towering poison ivy plant discovered in March 2023 by Robert Fedrock, while he was out for a walk on his property in Paris, Ontario. The monster plant ultimately measured a whopping 68 feet—as tall as two school buses stacked end to end. In June 2023, Guinness World Records named it the world’s tallest poison ivy plant. (Fedrock got a case of poison ivy during his investigation, but presumably, it was worth it.)

Plants weren’t the only record holders declared this year: There’s also the world’s oldest bodybuilder, 91-year-old Jim Arrington; the world’s most expensive ice cream; and the world’s largest skeletal chicken.

And in less fun records, July was most likely the hottest month ever recorded in human history—a fact that was declared on July 27. “We don’t have to wait for the end of the month to know this,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said. “Short of a mini-Ice Age over the next days, July 2023 will shatter records across the board.” 

To find out what other amazing things we learned in 2023, watch the full video on YouTube—and make sure to subscribe for new videos every week.