Fun Fact Friday
Check this page weekly––new facts are uploaded every Friday!
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1/13/23
Even the most avid gardener has likely never heard of silphium. But did you know this plant was once worth its weight in gold?
Grown in the ancient city of Cyrene, this plant was unbelievably delicious. Eaten both fresh and cooked, even when this plant was fed to sheep, their flesh became more delicious. Silphium was as useful as it was delicious––used as both an aphrodisiac and as birth control, some believe that the heart-shaped seeds are the reason we associate the shape with love and romance to this day. This plant was referenced in poems and songs. It was so deeply loved by the Roman people that it became unbelievably expensive. But where is this plant today? It's...well...gone. As it turns out, silphium was never able to be grown in farms. It grew naturally in the wild in one small part of Libya. When it was all consumed, unable to be regrown in farms, it was simply "out." Today, we can only imagine the taste of this vanished plant! Source + Info |
Silphium was so fundamental to Cyrene's economy, the locals stamped its image on their money (Credit: Alamy)
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12/30/22
There's nothing better than a refreshing Coca-Cola! But did you know this drink, one of the most popular sodas in the world, was originally created as medication?
Created in 1886 by pharmacist John S Pemberton, Coca-Cola was originally advertised as a tonic for common medical ailments. The first recipe relied on actual cocaine from the coca leaf and caffeine from the kola nut. No worries though, the cocaine was removed in 1903! While the use and recipe may have changed, Coca-Cola remains a worldwide favorite to this day. So the next time you grab a nice cold Coke, take a second to reflect on the history of this beverage! |
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10/21/22
Did you know that one of the earliest types of hearing aids was actually disguised as a royal throne?
In the year 1819, hard-of-hearing King John VI of Portugal had this chair designed as a type of hearing aid. The arms of the chair were hollow, with intricately carved lions' mouths open and serving as receivers. This king required his subjects to kneel before the throne and speak directly into the lions' mouths. The sound traveled up the hollow chair into a tube near King John VI's ear, allowing him to hear what was said. If only this king could sign instead––he surely would have been able to communicate with more ease! Source + info |
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9/9/22
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8/26/22
Did you know that no one born blind has ever developed schizophrenia? This is a fact that has stumped scientists for years!
Researchers speculate that those who are born blind learn to navigate the world using other senses to compensate. This inherent skill might be what protects the brain from developing schizophrenia. Other hypotheses center on the theory that a blind person's brain is able to create strong and accurate mental images, decreasing the likelihood of being susceptible to hallucinations and psychosis. Source + more info |
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8/19/22
Have you ever wondered what might happen if you're stuck in the middle of the Antarctic with appendicitis and the only doctor around is...you?
This was a conundrum faced by Russian surgeon Dr. Leonid Rogozov in 1961. As the only doctor on an expedition to the Antarctic, he had no other option when he felt his appendix was close to bursting. He gave his colleagues detailed instructions, including how to revive him should he begin to lose consciousness, and he set to work operating on himself. Incredibly, Dr. Rogozov survived the surgery! Curious about what to do if you find yourself alone on a desert island or in the middle of the Arctic with a rupturing appendix? Don't reach for the scalpel! Instead, sit upright with your knees pulled up to your chests. Then if the appendix does burst, in this position you had the best chance of pus draining into the bottom of the pelvis and becoming walled off in an abscess, rather than infecting the peritoneum and causing fatal complications. Source + more info |
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8/12/22
What is it, exactly, that makes a human a human? What makes a chimp a chimp? And how often can those lines be blurred? This was a topic explored deeply by psychotherapist Maurice Temerlin in the 1960s and 1970s.
Temerlin and his wife raised a newborn chimp named Lucy as if she were their human child. They taught her to dress herself, use the toilet, flip through magazines and eat at the dinner table. She was able to use 140 different ASL signs and communicated frequently with others, often over cups of tea that she brewed herself. When Lucy eventually grew too big and aggressive to remain in the home, the Temerlins decided to send her to a wildlife rehabilitation center. Lucy struggled with this incredibly. She could not relate to other chimps and was unable to adapt. A graduate student named Janis Carter joined Lucy at the rehabilitation center, initially only planning to stay for a few weeks. She stayed, instead, for a total of 8 years to ensure that Lucy rehabilitated well enough to survive on her own. Source + more info |
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7/29/22
Did you know sharks love the taste of the Internet? The Internet exists as a series of tubes––a bundle of underwater cables that zip our data around the world. In 1987, it was reported by The New York Times that sharks “have shown an inexplicable taste for the new fiber-optic cables that are being strung along the ocean floor linking the United States, Europe, and Japan."
Google has recently begun "biting" back by wrapping the tubes in kevlar to protect them from sharks! Source + more info |
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7/15/22
On Thursday, February 14th, 1884, future president Theodore Roosevelt's wife and mother both died; his mother of typhoid fever and his wife of a serious kidney disease, just two days after giving birth.
Roosevelt was so deeply devastated by this double-tragedy that he put an X in his diary on that day, writing, "the light has done out of my life." Roosevelt fled his home, leaving his infant daughter with his sister, and he escaped to the West where he attempted life as a rancher. Two years later, he returned to New York, where he resumed his life in politics and took over raising his daughter, Alice. While Alice grew to love and admire her father, she did harbor resentment for the early abandonment. She was known as a rebellious free spirit who didn't conform to society's expectations of women at the time. Her father, President at the time, once famously remarked, "I can either run the country or I can control Alice, but I cannot possibly do both." Source + more info |
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6/17/22
Graduation season is upon us! You've surely noticed all the depictions of wise owls on graduation cards, balloons and decorations. Have you ever wondered how owls came to represent wisdom?
The myth of the wise owl traces all the way back to ancient Greece! Owls were considered wise because of their heightened senses and association with the night. Their night vision, in particular, impressed the Ancient Greeks, who believed that this vision was a result of a mystical inner light and associated the owl with the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena. Throughout history, this association was present across many other parts of the world, as well, including Ancient Rome and Indigenous America. While science has proven that owls are no wiser than the average wild bird, modern society clearly still believes in the wisdom of the somber owl! Source + more info |
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6/10/22
Did you know that sage––yes, the same sage that's easy to grow pretty much anywhere today––has been used as a medicinal herb all throughout history?
Packed with vitamins and antioxidants, sage carries the following health benefits:
For centuries, cultures around the world have cultivated sage for its medicinal properties. From Egypt to France to Indigenous America, sage has long-since been hailed a super-herb. So go ahead and try a cup of sage tea today! Source and more info |
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6/3/22
Civil Rights and pizza––the greatest combination there is!
Did you know that Michael "Mike" Ilitch, founder of Little Caesars Pizza, quietly paid the rent of Rosa Parks until the time of her passing in 2005? Ilitch, who also owned the Detroit Tigers, was known for using his wealth to help others. He died in February of 2020 and it wasn't until after his death that most folks learned about his act of kindness towards Rosa Parks. Source + more info |
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5/27/22
Meet Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, the Black female scientist who was instrumental in developing the COVID vaccine! Dr. Corbett's team took the knowledge they'd gained over the past 6-years and applied it to a vaccine platform in collaboration with Moderna.
"The vaccine teaches the body how to fend off a virus, because it teaches the body how to look for the virus by basically just showing the body the spike protein of the virus" Dr. Corbett explained. "The body then says 'Oh, we've seen this protein before. Let's go fight against it.' That's how it works." Source + more info |
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5/20/22
Tired of watching produce go to waste after just a few days in the fridge? You might be shocked to learn that rural communities in Afghanistan use an ancient method to keep produce fresh for up to 6-months, without the use of any chemicals or preservatives!
This method, called kangina, involves nothing more than mud and straw. Produce, like grapes, can be placed inside tightly sealed mud-and-straw containers. Once they're ready to be eaten, the container is broken open and the grapes are enjoyed, tasting fresh as ever! "Each season, when the lush fields turn red and yellow, Ahmadi, [an Afghan farmer,] buys 1,000 kilograms of grapes. About half of them he sells fresh; the other half he preserves using kangina and resells for a profit months later. “We use mud from the village, mix it with straw and water, and then form the bowls,” explains Ahmadi’s daughter Sabsina, 11, who, during the harvest, helps her father after school. After laying the bowls in the sun for about five hours, they place the grapes in the dry bowls, which they seal with more mud and store in a dry, cool corner over the winter. Most families in the village do the same, in a process that takes up to 20 days. Grapes that aren’t preserved are either eaten or dried and made into raisins. Source + more info |
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5/13/22
Have you ever heard of Joseph LaRoche? LaRoche is believe to have been the only Black man on the Titanic. Originally from Haiti, LaRoche graduated from French university with a degree in engineering but faced incredible discrimination while looking for adequate work. As a result, he planned to return to Haiti with his family to work as a professor of math.
LaRoche's original tickets were for a different ship, La France, but that ship's dining policy required that parents eat separately from their children. LaRoche did not accept this, as he had two very young daughters, the younger of which was chronically ill. So, he swapped his tickets for the Titanic instead. On that fateful night, April 15, 1912, LaRoche's wife and older daughter escaped on a lifeboat. LaRoche's final actions were rushing to put his younger daughter on the same life boat and then promising his wife that he would see her again. His body was never recovered. He was 25-years-old when he passed. Sources + more info |
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5/6/22
Pet ownership comes with more perks than just the kisses and cuddles! Research shows that people with household pets benefit from lower stress levels and decreased risk of cardiovascular disease. In fact, one study of 2,400 cat owners showed that cat owners face a significantly lower risk of stroke and heart attack. A series of 10 studies with 3.8 million participants revealed that dog owners have a 24% risk reduction when it comes to mortality!
Give that pup a kiss and hug your cat extra tight. They're helping you out more than you realize! Source + more info |
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4/29/22
Humans are the best endurance runners on the planet!
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4/22/22
There actually aren’t “57 varieties” of Heinz ketchup, and never were. Company founder H.J. Heinz thought his product should have a number, and he liked 57. Hint:
Hit the glass bottle on the “57,” not the bottom, to get the ketchup to flow. (heinz.com) |
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