12 Trivia Tidbits for Thursday, March 21, 2024
Scientists Have Made an RNA Adam and Eve
It’s widely theorized that life began when one bit of RNA spontaneously replicated itself. Scientists are hard at work playing god in the lab, and have made a big step forward: They got an RNA molecule to start reproducing other RNA molecules.
Facebook May Be Specifically Prioritizing A.I. Image Posts
Meta said they’d be adding a warning to A.I.-generated images, but preliminary results from a Stanford study seem to indicate that they’re currently promoting them. The fakest, most aesthetically repulsive, lowest-effort A.I. images (see: Shrimp Jesus) appear to be given preference in Facebook’s algorithm.
Artists Are Crowdsourcing the World’s Largest Flipbook
To date, over 6,000 frames of a digital flipbook have been drawn. The project asks people to trace the previous frame as faithfully as possible, and the subtle differences between each frame should make for a mesmerizing animation when the project is completed.
The Global Ice Cream Industry Is Imploding
Unilever, which owns half of the top 10 ice cream brands in the world, is spinning off its entire ice cream division and cutting over 7,000 jobs. Gutting brands like Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Klondike and Popsicle will save them almost $1 billion over three years — tell your kids that if they’re sad that ice cream is going extinct.
The First Stadium Built Exclusively for Women’s Professional Sports
The 11,500-seat CPKC Stadium, part-owned by pro soccer player Brittany Mahomes and pro football player Patrick Mahomes, just hosted its first game between the Kansas City Current and the Portland Thorns.
Meet the World’s 10th-Largest Nuclear Power: Jeff
Charts showing the top 10 nuclear powers on the planet sometimes show “Jeff” in 10th place, with <10 nukes. It’s not a country, or a dude, but an international scientific coalition that collects nuclear data, called the Joint Evaluated Fission and Fusion Project.
The U.S. Is About to Have a Plumber Shortage
Due to retirement and insufficient industry recruitment, it’s estimated that by 2027, we’ll have over half a million fewer plumbers than we need to keep everything flowing.
An Anti-Vax President Was Indicted for Lying About His Vax Status
Dryrotted muppet and then-President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro was just found to have conspired with his aides in 2022 to lie about himself, his daughter and some of his inner circle getting vaccinated. It’s more than just a jerk move; he forged his vaccination records in order to meet with (and endanger) other world leaders.
The $9,000 Sweater That Relies on Slave Labor
Italian fashion company Loro Piana sells a sweater made of wool from the vicuña, a llama-like creature, for $9,000. A journalist has found that destitute vicuña farmers in the Peruvian Andes are sheering their wool for the company for free.
Sweating Profusely May Protect You Against Lyme Disease
MIT and University of Helsinki scientists have found that about one-third of humans have a protein in their sweat that’s hostile to the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
Bangladesh Has the Most Polluted Air on the Planet
A study of air pollution in the world’s cities found that Bangladesh came in as the most polluted, at 79.9 micrograms per cubic meter. Ninety-nine of the top 100 are in Asia, with 83 in India alone.
Researchers Consulted Homer’s ‘Iliad’ and Found 10 Shipwrecks
A team of archaeologists just finished a four-year search off the coast of Kasos, using the Iliad as a guide. They found 10 previously unknown wrecks, with the most recent dating back to World War II and the most ancient dating back to 3,000 B.C.