12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Tuesday, March 4, 2025
It can be hard to tell when a horse is sad or stressed, since they just kind of stand around for most of the day no matter how they’re feeling. But scientists are hard at work developing a cool little video game that will help them diagnose a horse with depression.
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How to Tell If Your Horse Is Depressed
Horse scientists have developed a touch-screen video game that tests a horse’s memory and reaction to detect cognitive issues like stress, sleep issues and depression.
Tattoos Work in Part Because They Trick Your Immune System
When you get a tattoo, your body recognizes the ink as a foreign substance and deploys white blood cells to consume it. But they can’t digest it, so they just sit around, eventually die and release the ink back into your dermis. New white blood cells come and slurp it up, and the cycle repeats. Rather than flushing the ink out of your skin, this process actually locks it in place.
What’s the Hairiest Animal on Earth?
Sea otters have the highest hair density of any living animal, at up to 1,000,000 follicles per square inch. For comparison, the average listicle writer has zero follicles per square inch above their eyebrows.
The First Private Lunar Lander That Didn’t Blow It
A ship called Blue Ghost launched by a Texas startup became the first non-government funded machine to land on the moon without crashing or tipping over. They beat a competitor, Intuitive Machines, by four days.
A New Type of Glass Made Out of Salt and Sound
Researchers have developed a way to make glass using ultrasonic waves and a salt bath. It renders a stronger, smoother type of glass that may cut out the need for harmful chemicals in self-cleaning windshields and germ resistant surfaces.
People Are Betting on the Pope’s Death
There have been about $600,000 in wagers on the Polymarket bet “New Pope in 2025?”
People Are Crashing Funerals to Get Into an Exclusive Restaurant
China’s Erlong Funeral Home has a dining area that caters to its customers, but they make such great noodle dishes that some foodies have infiltrated funerals and posed as mourners to get access to them.
How to Turn Off the Spigot of Data to Meta
John Oliver put together a helpful guide at JohnOliverWantsYourRatErotica.com on how to adjust ad settings on Facebook and Instagram so that the company will profit less from your data and activity.
Firefox Is No Longer a Safe Haven for Ethical Data Usage
JohnOliverWantsYourRatErotica.com suggests you “use a privacy-focused web browser like Firefox,” but Firefox has already pulled a disappointing heel turn. Much like when Google deleted “don’t be evil” from its corporate code of conduct, Firefox deleted their promise to never sell user data.
What’s the Safest Seat on a Plane?
If you want to feel the fewest effects of turbulence, anywhere in the middle of the plane has the most structural rigidity. If you’re worried about escaping in case of emergency (or just making your connecting flight), you want to sit in an aisle seat of an exit row. If you’re worried about plane crashes, a middle seat in the back of the plane gives you a 68 percent chance of survival (slightly better odds than the center or front).
The First One-Trick Pony in History
The first instance of the phrase “one-trick pony” in print comes from a 1905 circus review: “...the marvels that were seen at the first one-tent, one-clown, one-trick-pony, pioneer Oregon circus.” It was meant to contrast the show to others that featured horses, who were larger, more impressive and capable of doing a bunch of stuff. A good trick horse could walk on its hind legs, take off its own saddle and even remove its trainers clothes, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Breaking News: Sex Doll Dorm Fire
A student at China’s Hefei University of Technology tried to hide his “inflatable girlfriend” from his roommate, so he put it out in the hall and, bafflingly, lit it on fire. Emergency services responded to the growing dorm fire and, as they’re wont to do, found that the source was burning pile of porkable plastic.
