12 Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Some octopi have been observed motivating teams of fish to go out and hunt together. They join in on the dirty work, and if they notice a fish not pulling its weight, they will literally punch it in the face.
World's Best Boss, indeed.
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Mapping Every Basketball Court in America
Data visualization publication The Pudding has aggregated satellite imagery of what it says is every outdoor basketball court in America (59,507, to be exact). Users can like or comment on each one, and the site is asking people to “tell the story” of any court they’re familiar with.
Plastic Recycling Is a Scam, and Now Exxon Mobil May Have to Pay
California is suing Exxon Mobil, one of the main producers of the single-use plastics that are killing everything from your sperm to the entire planet, for lying about how recyclable plastic is. The company has known since the 1970s that large-scale plastic recycling wasn’t feasible, but kept their research hidden and lobbied hard to keep plastic production unregulated.
Saving the Giant Panda From Itself
If giant pandas won’t boink, science is determined to reproduce for them. They’ve been able to convert panda skin cells into stem cells, which is a big step toward being able to effectively clone them.
What’s the Longest Anyone’s Been in Space?
Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov floated around Russia’s Mir space station for 437 days from 1994 to 1995. He looks thrilled about it.
What’s the International Space Station’s Record?
Cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub just spent 374 days aboard the ISS from 2023 to 2024. It was Chub’s first trip to space, while Kononenko broke the world record for most days in space on this mission.
Who’s Spent the Most Time in Space?
Over the course of five missions, Oleg Kononenko has spent 1,111 days in space, breaking the previous record by 233 days.
Climate Change Is Forcing Science to Make Corn Shorter
Powerful windstorms brought on by climate change have been decimating taller crops in corn country. Researchers have begun testing out genetically modified “short corn” that can withstand wind speeds of up to 50 miles per hour (which they test with helicopters).
Crime Is Way Down in America
Murder rates have declined 11.6 percent, the largest drop in a single year over the course of the last two decades. Violent crime in general has fallen by 3 percent. Blue-collar crime isn’t usually included in crime-rate data, so things like McDonald’s stealing wages from its workers by underpaying them for Christmas shifts won’t tarnish America’s stellar record.
The First Annual National Urban Rat Summit
New York City hosted an event for public health officials from all over the country to mingle and discuss strategies for controlling their various rodent problems.
Some Octopi Recruit Hunting Buddies
The blue octopus normally hunts alone, but researchers observed 13 instances of group hunting led by these creatures. The octopus would recruit a group of goat fish, send them out to scout potential mollusk prey, then direct the group on which ones to target. It would also punch fish that attempted to feed without putting in the work.
What’s the Most Unhealthy Fast Food Burger?
Virtual primary care website (what a dystopian phrase) PlushCare released a report titled “The Most Unhealthy Menu Items at America’s Fast-Food Chains.” A cheeseburger from Five Guys is at the top of the list.
The Million Dollar Doorstop
An old Romanian woman who used a random pretty rock as a doorstop for decades found out that it’s actually the world’s largest amber nugget, and has been valued at over $1 million.