12 Trivia Tidbits for Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Bee populations have been in rapid and alarming decline since 2006. The National Agricultural Statistics Service’s bee census has shown that honeybees are now the largest growing population of livestock in the country, having added nearly one million colonies in five years. On the other hand, the USDA’s Annual Honey Report shows a continued decline, so we’re not exactly in the clear.

According to a report from Japanese beer company Kirin, China consumes the most total beer (at 11 billion gallons per year; the United States came in second at 5 billion gallons), while the Czech Republic consumes the most per capita. 

Explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton left behind some powdered milk during his 1908 Antarctic expedition. Because it was so well-preserved, researchers have been able to study it to see how 11-plus decades of technology and selective breeding have changed the quality and chemical structure of dairy. Overall, it’s remained remarkably similar. 

In response to California’s minimum-wage hike, fast-foods chains have indicated that they’ll be firing humans and developing more automated tools and systems. Chipotle is already working on the Autocado, a guacamole-making robot.

The top rookie salaries in the WNBA max out around $80,000. By contrast, Ice Cube just offered Clark $5 million to play in the 3-on-3 basketball league he started in 2017, called BIG3.

Gmail was launched on April 1, 2004. It was a simpler time, when the industry killer’s official motto was “don’t be evil,” they were known for making funky little jokes, and offering 1 free gig of storage seemed a mathematically impossible extravagance.

The team released an official list of instruments that are allowed in their park for the upcoming season, including bongos, congas, tambourines, tamboras, tamburas and some types of cowbell.

A new study found that the average American worker clocks out at 4:03 p.m. on Fridays, an hour earlier than in 2021.

Denim jeans were banned in North Korea in the 1990s, as they’re a symbol of American imperialism. People noticed that an episode of the BBC’s Garden Secrets, originally broadcast in 2010, just hit North Korean airwaves, and the fully clothed host was blurred out below the waste.

It’s often assumed that Wi-Fi is short for “wireless fidelity,” but that phrase is technically meaningless. In reality, it’s a play on Hi-Fi, a term that refers to high quality audio equipment. It was pitched by marketing firm Interbrand, the same company that came up with the brand names Prozac and Compaq.

A recent sleep study had subjects between the ages of 18 and 70 sleep for four hours a night, and then asked them how old they felt each day. After only two nights of suboptimal sleep, subjects reported feeling on average four years older than they really were.

Scientists tweaked the DNA of a bunch of mice embryos, in a complicated experiment designed to help understand how changes to the 3D structure of DNA can impact embryonic development. A graduate student noticed that one fetal mouse’s genitals had been replaced with two more mouse hands.