12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Thursday, October 17, 2024

Tomatoes are legitimately weird, and occasionally revolting. Some people thought they were poisonous in the early 19th century. Then tomato ketchup debuted in 1812, and by 1834, Ohio physician John Cook Bennett advertised tomato pills as a treatment for anything from indigestion to jaundice.

Indian engineer Sebin Saji set the Guinness World Record for smallest functioning washing machine, making a 1.28 inch x 1.32 inch x 1.52 inch device that ran a full wash-rinse-spin cycle.

A study found that humans can detect a change in scent as quickly as 60 milliseconds apart, which is about as fast as the human eye can detect a change in color.

A woman has pled guilty after being caught attempting to kayak a bag of 29 turtles across Lake Wallace into Canada.

The intricate rock carvings in Jordan’s ancient city of Petra are a well-traveled tourist destination. A study done with ground-penetrating radar has just identified a brand new, ultra-secret tomb down there.

Ten years ago, two friends went viral for posting that they believed they looked so alike, they must be related. A DNA test revealed that, against all odds, they were right. They recently bumped into a dude and said, “Oh my God, that’s me with a beard,” and turned out to be right again, as this random guy was their biological brother.

Eighteen-year-old Nima Rinji Sherpa became the youngest person to summit all 14 of the planet’s 8,000-meter mountaintops, a record previously held by a 30-year-old.

An Armenian church was just discovered that clocks in at just under 2,000 years old, making it the oldest known structure of its kind, and one of the oldest known churches in the world.

Scientists have conducted a study that’s led them to conclude that some fungi “have memories, they learn, and they can make decisions. Quite frankly, the differences in how they solve problems compared to humans is mind-blowing.”

A Minnesota horticulture teacher drove his family across the country to compete in a California gourd contest. His 2,471-pound pumpkin won first prize, but failed to break the record of 2,749 pounds — which he set, the year before.

We all know that rainforests are incredibly diverse, and relatively unexplored. But one team of scientists just came out of a trip to the rainforests of Madagascar with an astounding seven brand new types of frogs we didn’t know about before. 

According to this team, all seven species make noises that sound like Star Trek sound effects, so they named them with geeky Trekkie references like B. kirki and B. picardi. 

The North American Wife Carrying Championship is exactly what it sounds like. Its wholesome origin, as far as locals can tell, is rooted in a 19th century legend of Ronkainen the Robber, a sick little freak who would conquer Finnish villages and carry off new wives on his back.