12 Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Friday, September 6, 2024

Looking at 26 data points, including the number and variety of entertainment, affordability and weather quality, a study found that Colorado, New York, Nevada, California and Florida are the funnest states in the land.

Looking at affordability, well-being, healthcare, weather and crime, a different study found that North Dakota, California, Washington, New York and Alaska are the worst states to retire in.

Because TikTok has hacked into the human brain and knows how to make people buy more useless bullshit during a livestream, it’s become popular for TikTok teens to hold heated Trump versus Harris debates to attract a digital crowd. One guy said he’s making $7,000 per month.

A new study has found that sleeping in on the weekend can reduce your risk of heart disease by 20 percent, and improve a bunch of other good stuff like weight management and lifespan.

A brain study of 141 depressed people found that one specific neural network, responsible for scoping out external stimuli, was 73 percent larger than in control groups. They believe it’s taking up real estate that might otherwise be used to regulate emotions. This discovery may help with early diagnosis and treatment for around 20 percent of people suffering from depression.

A cabal of book publishers just won a federal court case that claimed the Internet Archive’s Free Digital Library violates their copyright. A nonprofit designed to give everyone free access to literature is getting wiped, while A.I. companies are arguing that they need free access to the entire internet, or else their expensive and harmful pet project will continue to suck.

Researchers say that collagen, which is found in lots of body tissues but most prominently in hair and nails, has a chemically unique protein bonding structure that allows toenails to skip parts of the fossilization process and remain intact.

Shortly after The Onion announced it would be putting out a print edition again, J.Crew announced it too will be resurrecting its print catalogue that died back in 2017.

After implanting the first genetically modified pig kidney into a human in March, biotech start-up eGenesis has raised $191 million in funding.

OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever left that company to start his own, "safer" A.I. model he calls Safe Superintelligence. He just raised $1 billion, putting his company at a total valuation of $5 billion.

A lily pad in the MIssouri Botanical Garden won a global “water lily weigh-off” by holding up 142.1 pounds. It probably could have held more, but the judges ran out of weights.

Researchers at Cornell University connected electrodes into a mushroom inside of a squid-ish robot, which allowed its electrical impulses, made in response to stimulation from light, to control the robot’s legs.