# Obscure mundane things that kind of blow your mind sometimes **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249 "2022-02-10T21:57:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 96
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249/96 "2022-02-13T23:50:24Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > perhaps to recognize the contrast from the historical belief that there is something “special” about humans That’s not my understanding of the phrase. The complete quote from Carl Sagan is more explicit: > Our Sun is a second- or third-generation star. All of the rocky and metallic material we stand on, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions of years ago in the interior of a red giant star. _We are made of star-stuff_. That aside, the point you are making is, in my opinion, more revelatory than it seems. It is one of the most common patterns in the history of science to understand that what’s happening _over there_ is the same as what’s happening _here_, or vice versa. Newton’s theory of gravity came from realizing that what pulled the planets on their trajectories was the same force as what pulled apples to the ground. Stars themselves were not immediately understood to be the same as our sun. And for a case of the opposite, helium was discovered as an element in the sun before it was found on Earth. > [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > I guess my point is that I understand why the statement can be both amazing and mundane at the same time. Oh, sure. That’s the whole point of this thread, after all. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obscure-mundane-things-that-kind-of-blow-your-mind-sometimes/959249)._