12 Farm-Fresh Trivia Tidbits for Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Home Depot is so invested in the flower biz that they’ve got dozens of little laboratories all over the country, trying to Frankenstein the next super-flower.
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The Oldest Tax Evasion Scam in the Book
An 1,900-year-old papyrus details a scheme involving two men selling and freeing slaves, which was claimed by a prosecutor to be a tax evasion attempt.
Oh Cool, There’s a New Way to Experience Time That Makes Even Less Sense
Measuring the difference between “then” and “now” becomes complicated at the quantum scale, so scientists needed a method that involved just observing a state, rather than starting a clock from zero. They found a way to observe ripple patterns created by zapping atoms into what’s known as a Rydberg state, and with that sentence, I’ve reached the limit of my knowledge about quantum timekeeping.
Can Chewing Gum Prevent the Flu and Herpes?
UPenn researchers are trying to give antivaxxers an alternative way to ingest antiviral medication: a special gum made from the lablab bean.
Scientists Have Developed a Brand New Color, and All You Have to Do Is Blast a Laser Into Your Eye
Five researchers have witnessed the color “olo,” a highly saturated kind of blue-green we’re not able to experience under normal circumstances: “The color we see is a version of it, but it absolutely pale by comparison with the experience of olo.”
Drones That Battle Zeus Himself
A Japanese company has developed a fleet of drones that are essentially flying lightning rods that can divert lightning strikes from populated areas. They hope to improve the technology to be able to harness and store lightning strikes as a form of renewable energy.
Humans Are Still Faster Than Robots — For Now
Twenty-one androids competed in Beijing’s Yizhuang half-marathon, with the fastest crossing the finish line in two hours and 40 minutes. The first-place human won in one hour and two minutes.
World’s Coolest Parrot Got Stuck in a Tree and Could Only Be Lured Down With Cigarettes
Swedish firefighters were called to help rescue a parrot who refused to come down from high up in a tree. The bird screamed obscenities at rescuers, and only came down when offered a pack of cigarettes.
Home Depot Has a Nationwide Network of Flower Laboratories
The company’s gardening department hauls in $20 billion every year, so they work hard to find ways for idiots to be effortlessly good at gardening. They operate 25 different trial gardens in nine different climates to come up with the best and most robust flowers. One big win was the SuperCal petunia, which they discovered grows well in all climates.
The Amount of Americans Who Don’t Want to Be Parents Has Doubled in Just Two Decades
Between 2002 and 2023, the percentage of Americans who never want to have children jumped from 14 to 28. “Maybe decimating social safety nets and making everything more expensive will increase flagging birth rates,” said your dumbest coworker.
What Are the Worst States to Have Sex In?
A study of data like STI rates per 100,000 people, teen birth rates and the state of abortion rights has found that Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana are the riskiest states to have sex in.
You Actually Can Judge a Wine by Its Label (Maybe)
A study of the animals that appear on wine bottles found that cats usually indicate a high rating and high price, birds mean medium quality and price, pigs mean cheap and bad and amphibians mean higher price for lower quality. One major caveat: They used Chat-GPT to detect and sort the animals, so there’s a fair chance that this is all completely false.
That’s a great way to ruin an interesting study, and we hope The Pudding is proud of themselves.
What Makes Americans Cry?
A recent YouGov survey found that experiencing the death of a loved one is the most common reason both men and women cry, followed by death of a pet, feeling extremely sad and cutting onions. The biggest gender gap occurs when feeling overwhelmed or stressed — about 70 percent of women will cry in that scenario, while only about 30 percent of men will (admit to it).
