Things I Learned in 2023

More than two months into the new year, but better late than never, here is Things I Learned in 2023. This marks the fourth installment of my annual review, officially making it a series. As always, what follows are some surprising, entertaining, or enlightening things I stumbled upon in 2023.

1. South Korea has a unique way of counting a person’s age 🇰🇷👴. South Korea has enacted a new law that modifies the method for calculating ages, transitioning from the traditional “Korean age” system to the international standard. Currently, South Korea employs three age-counting systems, yet the majority of citizens follow the “Korean age,” wherein a person is considered 1 year old at birth and gains an additional year on every New Year’s Day. Consequently, a baby born on Dec. 31 would be regarded as 2 years old the following day.

2. Coffee contains a surprisingly high amount of fiber ☕. A cup of coffee contains between 1.1 and 1.8 grams of fiber, which is 2x-3x the amount found in orange juice. By the way, tea is approximately 3x more popular than coffee, with only water surpassing its popularity.

Tea if by sea, cha if by land. Credits: Nikhil Sonnad

3. Bumblebees exhibit play-like behavior 🐝🥎. Bumblebees have been observed engaging in playful activities, specifically rolling balls, which meets established criteria for animal play behavior. This activity seems to be intrinsically rewarding for the bees, unrelated to immediate survival needs. Notably, younger bees and males tend to engage in these play behaviors more frequently and for longer durations, respectively.

4. There are only two original words for tea 🍵. The term for tea in almost every language derives from just two sources: “cha” and “tea,” both of which originated in China and spread via the Silk Road and Dutch trade, respectively. “Cha” disseminated overland, while “tea” spread by sea, mirroring historical trade patterns.

5. By the time the Saturn V rocket clears the launch tower, it has expended 4% of its fuel 🚀. The Saturn V, the largest rocket ever launched, consumed fuel at a rate of 15 tons per second. This rate of consumption means that by the time it clears the launch tower, 4% of its fuel has already been used.

6. Arctic reindeer can perceive UV light ❄️🦌🔦. Research has shown that Arctic reindeer can see ultraviolet light, an adaptation that may aid them in detecting predators such as wolves and locating food sources like lichen in the challenging and UV-rich Arctic environments. Unlike humans, reindeer seem unaffected by potential eye damage from UV exposure.

7. In 1810, nails were as important to the US economy as industries like personal computers or air travel are today 🔨💻✈️. Between the late 1700s and the mid-20th century, the real price of nails dropped by a factor of about 10. The evolution from hand-forged to machine-cut, and eventually to wire nails, reflects the broader industrial transition from artisanal to factory and continuous-process production. (Via Kent Hendricks)

8. All the gold ever mined could fill approximately three Olympic-sized swimming pools 🏆🏊‍♀️. The total amount of gold ever mined (~197,576 tons) could fit into a cube with 22-meter-long edges. About half of this gold has been mined since 1976.

9. Agriculture’s softer foods reshaped our jaws and introduced us to ‘F’ and ‘V’ sounds 🗣🦷. The shift to farming and softer foods during the Neolithic era resulted in humans developing lasting overbites, which significantly reduced the effort required to produce labiodental sounds such as “f” and “v.” This development has been linked to the proliferation of these sounds in modern languages.

10. Clay soil influenced the early development of romantic literature in Europe 💘✍️. Regions with clay-rich soils adopted the heavy plow sooner, leading to a significant shift from kin-based to manorial societies. This transformation not only foregrounded romantic love but also significantly contributed to improving literacy rates, thus fostering the cultural evolution of love in literary history.

11. Medieval duels permitted women to fight men under equitable conditions ⚔️🤺. In medieval Germany, before 1200, the law allowed husbands and wives to resolve their disputes through combat. To ensure fairness, the husband was required to stand in a waist-deep hole, while both parties were armed with clubs.

12. What causes bean-induced flatulence? 🫘🌬 Foods that induce flatulence contain ingredients called FODMAPs (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols), which humans cannot digest. While our gut bacteria can digest them, the byproduct of this bacterial digestion is gas. The FODMAPs found in beans are primarily a small group of oligosaccharides (complex sugars).

13. The word Tsar is derived from the Latin word caesar 🥇🇷🇺. The term was intended to signify emperor — a ruler of the same rank as a Roman emperor, holding the title by approval of another emperor or a supreme ecclesiastical official, such as the Pope or the Ecumenical Patriarch. However, it was often considered by Western Europeans to be equivalent to king.

14. Humans began wearing clothes 100,000 years earlier than previously believed 👚👖. Recent discoveries have pushed the earliest known use of clothing back to 300,000 years ago. This conclusion is based on the examination of cut marks on cave bear remains from Schöningen, Germany, suggesting that early humans adeptly skinned bears for their pelts.

15. Early Britons had dark skin 10,000 years ago ☀️🇬🇧. Cheddar Man, the oldest near-complete human skeleton found in Britain, has shed significant light on the traits of Western European hunter-gatherers. DNA analysis indicates that, around 10,000 years ago, dark skin was prevalent in the area, in contrast to the lighter skin of modern Europeans, which resulted from later immigration and genetic contributions from farmers and pastoralists.

16. The shape of a cat’s pupils correlates with their hunting styles and habitats 🐈👁️. Cats with vertical slit pupils are typically ambush predators, benefiting from enhanced depth perception and light control, which aids in hunting close to the ground. Vertical pupils allow cats to precisely control light entry, expanding their pupils up to 300-fold, providing superior vision along the y-axis and excellent depth perception. Round pupils, in contrast, can expand only about 15-fold. Consequently, larger cats, like lions and tigers, who pursue their prey, often have round pupils.

17. JPEG images contain hidden pixels if their dimensions are not divisible by 8 🖼️🎱. JPEG images are encoded on an 8x8 grid. If the image dimensions are not multiples of 8, padding is required. This padding differs by JPEG library; for instance, Adobe uses a mirrored pattern, while libjpeg repeats the last pixel’s value.

18. One factory manufactures the majority of microwave ovens sold in the US 🔬🌊🇺🇸. Midea, a giant appliance manufacturer, produces most countertop microwaves sold in the U.S. under various brands, including Toshiba, GE, Whirlpool, and Sharp. Galanz, another major player in microwave manufacturing, produces about half of the world’s microwaves and is located approximately a 30-minute drive from Midea.

    Bonus: LG and Samsung manufacture their microwaves independently. Panasonic produces its own mid-range and high-end countertop models, though its budget models appear to be manufactured by Midea.

19. The global popularity of Thai cuisine results from deliberate gastrodiplomacy 🇹🇭🍲. Launched in 2002, the Global Thai program was a government-led culinary diplomacy initiative aimed at increasing the number of Thai restaurants worldwide. This effort is seen as crucial in promoting tourism and boosting exports from Thailand’s agricultural sector.

20. A Judas goat is a trained goat used to lead sheep or cattle to slaughter while its life is spared 🐐🐑🩸.

21. The middle name of Home Alone star Macaulay Culkin is Macaulay Culkin, resulting in his legal name being Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin 💁‍♂️🃏. Culkin chose to change his middle name following a public poll, previously bearing the middle name Carson.

22. The north of the cities in the Ruhr area is poorer than the south because the coal was deeper there and thus was mined later 🪨🧭. The economic disparity between the northern and southern regions of cities in the Ruhr area is attributed to the depth of coal deposits. Deeper coal seams in the north resulted in later development and prolonged industrial activity, leaving a lasting impact on urban development, population distribution, and the socio-economic landscape.

Geological profile through the Ruhr area. Credits: @LHaffert

23. Kilkenny beer was initially the brand name used during the 1980s and 1990s to market a stronger version of Smithwick’s in the European and Canadian markets due to the difficulty in pronouncing ‘Smithwick’s’ 🍺🇮🇪. The term now refers to a similar yet distinct beer, following the closure of the original Kilkenny brewery in 2013 and the move of production to Dublin. A visitor center at the brewery’s original site remains open, offering insights into its history.

24. Syria was originally synonymous with Assyria 🇸🇾. Originally, Syria referred to Assyria, a significant Mesopotamian empire spanning from the 20th century BC to the 7th century BC. The name Assur, from the Akkadian language, denotes the city of Assur, which rose to prominence as the capital of the Akkadian Empire. Over time, the term broadened to encompass the entire region, eventually leading to the modern country’s name, Syria.

25. During the Apollo era, NASA employees utilized the broom method to detect dangerous hydrogen fuel leaks by holding a broom out in front of themselves to see if it ignited 🧹🔥🚀. This method evolved from using brooms to detect invisible hydrogen flames by their sudden ignition upon contact, to employing advanced hydrogen-sensing tape that changes color to indicate the presence of hydrogen, marking a significant advancement in safety measures.

NASA engineer Heidi Barnes demonstrates the antiquated “broom method” of detecting invisible hydrogen and alcohol fires. Credits: NASA.

26. Rapamycin, a molecule with various medical applications, was originally discovered in the soil of Easter Island 💊🗿. The discovery of rapamycin, with its uses ranging from coating coronary stents to treating rare lung diseases and cell tumors, traces back to Easter Island’s soil. This story underscores the potential of natural sources in medical advancements.

    Also worth a watch: How to Prevent Almost All Disease - The Medlife Crisis Podcast #1

27. A US man developed an uncontrollable Irish accent after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, despite having never visited Ireland 🇺🇸🗣🇮🇪. This instance of foreign accent syndrome, marking the first reported case in a prostate cancer patient, suggests a possible link to a paraneoplastic neurological disorder, where the immune system mistakenly attacks parts of the brain.

28. Ancient clay tablets have facilitated the decoding of a long-lost Canaanite language, providing a linguistic connection to ancient Hebrew and bridging a 4,000-year gap 🪦. Similar to the Rosetta Stone’s role in deciphering Egyptian scripts, these tablets reveal the relationship between the Amorite language and Akkadian, offering invaluable insights into ancient languages and cultures.

29. No one knows the exact composition of the Smallpox Vaccine 💉❓. The vaccinia virus, a key component of the smallpox vaccine, does not originate from smallpox, monkeypox, or cowpox, but from an unidentified source. Despite its pivotal role in eradicating smallpox, the origins of the vaccinia virus remain a mystery, with no natural reservoir identified. Genetic analysis suggests a close relationship to horsepox, yet the pathway through which vaccinia became central to the vaccine remains unresolved.

30. Bees are so small and their wings move so rapidly that the air around their wings acts like thick syrup 🐝💨🍯. Due to their diminutive size and the fast movement of their wings, bees function within a low Reynolds number regime, significantly influenced by air viscosity. This dynamic causes the air around their wings to behave as if it were a denser fluid, similar to syrup or honey. This unique condition offers more resistance but also enables bees to generate the necessary lift for flight by rapidly flapping their wings.

31. Magnets are named after a region in Greece 🧲🇬🇷. The term magnet originates from “stones from Magnesia”, a region in Greece, where naturally magnetized pieces of the mineral magnetite were discovered over 3000 years ago. These magnetite fragments, known as lodestones, had the ability to attract iron or each other.

32. Nintendo Switch cartridges taste bitter to deter children from swallowing them 🎮👅. The cartridges are coated in denatonium benzoate, the most bitter chemical compound known, discovered in 1958. This bitter coating is intended as a safety measure to prevent ingestion by children.

    Bonus: Humans have an orders of magnitude lower threshold for detecting bitterness compared to other tastes.

33. A royal lives clause in Disney World’s development agreement ensures the agreement lasts “until 21 years after the death of the last descendant of King Charles III” 🐭👑. This legal provision in Disney’s development agreement with its self-controlled oversight board stipulates that the agreement remains effective until 21 years after the last descendant of King Charles III, who was alive at the time of the agreement, passes away. This clause secures Disney’s control over its 25,000-acre theme park complex in Florida for an extended period, significantly restricting the new oversight board’s governance capabilities.

34. The Acropolis in Athens was a well-preserved temple until its destruction in 1687 🇬🇷🧨💥. In 1687, the Parthenon on the Acropolis, used by the Ottoman Turks as a gunpowder magazine, was severely damaged by a mortar round fired by Venetian forces attempting to capture Athens. This catastrophic explosion resulted in the temple’s roof collapsing and widespread dispersal of its components, leading to its current ruinous state.

35. Poseidon’s Kiss 🔱💋=💩💦.

36. Erect penile length has increased by 24% over the past 29 years 🍆😮. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 75 studies, encompassing data from 55,761 men from 1942 to 2021, found that the average erect penis length has seen a global increase of 24% over the last 29 years.

37. Stressed plants emit sounds 🌱🔉. Plants under stress emit ultrasonic sounds, detectable in both acoustic chambers and greenhouses using a dual-microphone recording system. Machine learning models trained on these sounds were able to accurately identify specific plant conditions such as dehydration and injury, suggesting that plants can communicate distress through audible signals.

Stressed plants emit airborne sounds. Credits: Khait et al.

38. Parrots enjoy video calling other parrots 🦜🤳. A study involving 18 pet parrots demonstrated that allowing them to make video calls to other parrots using touchscreen tablets reduced their feelings of isolation. The birds engaged more in social behaviors, indicating that video calling can replicate the social interactions found in natural flock dynamics.

    Bonus: Watch the video of this research.

39. The mystery of eel reproduction, solved over a century ago, was rediscovered in 2022 🤨💭. Danish scientist Johannes Schmidt, over a century ago, identified the Sargasso Sea as the breeding ground for eels through extensive data collection from ships across the Atlantic. This finding, which clarified the complex migration cycle of eels from European rivers to the Sargasso Sea for spawning, was rediscovered in 2022.

40. One way to verify the creation of stem cells is to implant them in mice without an immune system, resulting in the growth of teratomas, benign tumors containing a variety of human cells 🐁👂🦷. To test the pluripotency of created stem cells, scientists implant them into severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice, which lack a functional immune system and therefore do not reject foreign tissues or cells. When pluripotent stem cells are implanted, they can form teratomas, tumors containing differentiated cell types from all three germ layers (ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm).

41. Jeff Bezos is not only extremely wealthy but also owns a significant amount of land 🤑🤠. As of 2022, Jeff Bezos owns approximately 420,000 acres of land, ranking him among the largest private landowners in the United States. His holdings encompass a variety of landscapes, from vast undeveloped territories to areas with potential for agricultural and commercial use.

42. Oyster mushrooms have carnivorous tendencies 🍄‍🟫🪱. Oyster mushrooms, typically found growing on tree trunks, possess the ability to trap, kill, and consume nematodes. This carnivorous behavior is facilitated at the mycelial level through the production of microscopic structures that secrete neurotoxic fluid droplets. When nematodes come into contact with this neurotoxin, their esophagus contracts, allowing the fungus to penetrate and digest them from the inside out.

    Bonus: Spalted wood, often found in dead trees, is a result of fungal activity.

Spalted wood. Credits: LukeTriton

43. Sweden’s size is remarkably large (from a European perspective) 🇸🇪. Covering approximately 450,000 square kilometers, Sweden’s land area is comparable to that of California (~425,000 square kilometers) and about 1.25 times larger than Germany (357,000 square kilometers). When mapped from Germany’s northernmost point near Flensburg, Sweden stretches southward almost to Naples, Italy.

Sweden is much larger than most people think. Credits: The True Size…

44. Plate subduction is a complex and intriguing geological process 🌋🌏. Despite the Deep Dive YouTube channel having only four videos, each offers valuable insights into the intricacies of plate subduction, a fundamental aspect of Earth’s tectonic activity.

45. Public domain differs from public realm 📖🔐. Public domain pertains to works not under copyright, freely available for use without permission. However, such works can still be restricted behind paywalls, limiting public access despite their copyright-free status.

46. The American Hippo Bill of 1910 proposed introducing hippos from Africa to serve as an alternative meat source, dubbed lake cow bacon 🦛🥓. Proposed by Representative Robert F. Broussard, the bill aimed to address invasive water hyacinth issues and the meat shortage by importing hippos for consumption and as a means of controlling the hyacinth. Despite initial support from figures like Theodore Roosevelt, the bill was ultimately shelved due to concerns over feasibility and potential ecological impacts.

47. Yokohama Stadium doubles as a storm drain during heavy rainfall 🏟🌧️. The stadium not only hosts sports events but also plays a vital role in the city’s flood management strategy. Its design allows it to serve as a temporary reservoir, capturing and holding floodwater during heavy rainstorms.

48. “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” is known as a pangram or holoalphabetic sentence, utilizing every letter of the alphabet at least once 🦊🐶. Used since the late 19th century, this sentence employs 35 letters. Other shorter pangrams include “Waltz, bad nymph, for quick jigs vex.” (28 letters) and “The five boxing wizards jump quickly.” (31 letters).

49. Between 1974 and 1978, two chimpanzee communities engaged in warfare 🐒⚔️. The Gombe Chimpanzee War in Tanzania’s Gombe Stream National Park was a violent conflict between the Kasakela and Kahama communities. The Kasakela’s victory led to the elimination of Kahama males and temporary expansion of their territory.

50. An ancient tombstone bears a tragically humorous inscription 💀🪦. The inscription on a tombstone from the ancient Greek city of Alexandria Troas, now in the Louvre, Paris, reads:

    “Passer-by, Aphrodisios is my name; I’m a citizen of Alexandria Troas and a leader of the chorus. I die a most pathetic death because of my wife, the dirty adulteress (whom Zeus will destroy). Her secret lover, Lychon—a member of my own family!—slaughtered me, still in my youth. He threw me from the heights like a discus. I was twenty years old, so full of beauty, when the Moirai spun my fate and sent me as a delight to Hades.”

    (Via Neatorama)

51. Road stress caused by vehicles increases in proportion to the fourth power of the axle load.

    • A truck (weight: 30 tonnes, 3 axles ➝ 10 tonnes per axle)
    • A car (weight: 2 tonnes, 2 axles ➝ 1 tonne per axle) The load on the road per axle is 10 times greater for the truck than for the car. However, the damage to the road is 10^4=10,000 times as great. Comparatively, a bicycle at 0.05 tonnes per axle causes 1/20th the load and 1/160,000th the damage to the road, meaning the bicycle inflicts the same road damage after 160,000 crossings as a car does in just one.

52. Bavarian place names often end with -ing, while Swabian place names often end with -ingen 🇩🇪🏙️. The Lech river, a right tributary of the Danube, reflects the historical border between Old Bavaria and Swabia, evident in the place names ending in -ing (Bavarian) and -ingen (Swabian).

53. Alpine Marmots have a remarkably low genetic diversity ⛰️🦫🧬. This low genetic diversity is primarily attributed to a bottleneck effect during their colonization of the Alpine habitat following the last ice age.

Apline Marmots have a remarkably low genetic diversity. Credits: M Ralser

54. Blue-green colexification is the linguistic phenomenon where a single word is used to describe both the colors blue and green 💙💚🤷. In languages exhibiting colexification, one term may describe the sea, sky, and green vegetation, with historical linguistic evolution in certain cultures leading to the separate classification of these colors.

55. Fall lines are a geological boundary of flat coastal plains, influencing settlement patterns and the development of major cities 🏞🏙️. The fall line marks the transition from coastal plains to higher elevations, with towns emerging at natural river stopping points, significantly impacting cultural and demographic development.

56. Nicotine is named after the French diplomat Jean Nicot, who was born in 1530 🚬🇫🇷. Jean Nicot introduced tobacco to France, promoting its medicinal use. Nicotine is named after the tobacco plant Nicotiana tabacum, itself named after Nicot.

57. 7up was originally named “Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda” in 1929, containing lithium citrate, , a mood-stabilizing drug, until 1948 ⚛️🥤. The name was later shortened to “7 Up Lithiated Lemon Soda” before being further shortened to just “7 Up” by 1936, with its origins unclear but possibly related to its original seven ingredients or the lithium content, reflecting an atomic mass of 7.

    Bonus: As of 2023 the 7up brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo.

58. French cuisine is weird 🇫🇷🥄🐦‍⬛.

    The ortolan, a songbird about the size of a sparrow, is caught and fattened in the dark or after its eyes have been removed for about 14 days. The darkness confuses the bird’s day and night rhythms , causing it to constantly eat. It then reaches about three times its original weight. It is drowned in Armagnac and cooked in fat in a special small pot.

To eat, the bird is placed completely in the mouth and chewed. The eater puts a napkin over his head. On the one hand, the napkin should keep the scent close to your mouth and nose, and on the other hand, it is considered more polite not to bother those sitting next to you with the sight and the resulting noises.

59. In 15th century England, birds were often given human names 🕊️🇬🇧. Names like Will Wagtail and Philip Sparrow were common, with some names, such as Maggie for Magpie, becoming permanently associated with the birds.

    (Via Kottke)

60. The UK’s geological history involves being part of two ancient continents, Laurentia and Gondwana 🇬🇧💔. Initially split between Laurentia (which would form the core of North America) and Gondwana. The northern part of Scotland was part of Laurentia, while the southern part of Great Britain was on Gondwana.

61. Ciabatta was first created in 1982 🇮🇹🥖. The bread was invented by a baker in Adria, Italy, as a response to the widespread popularity of French baguettes.

62. In 1992, Los Angeles averaged one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day 🏦🔫🦹. Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles was dubbed the “Bank Robbery Capital of the World,” with 2,641 bank robberies in 1992. The phenomenon was driven by factors such as easy freeway access for quick escapes and an increase in cocaine use, but the trend declined due to enhanced bank security, stricter laws, and shifts in drug culture.

63. What do you call it when the sun shines while it rains? 🌦️ The phenomenon is commonly known as a sunshower, but it has various other names across cultures, including “the wolf is giving birth,” 🐺 “the devil is beating his wife,” 👹 and “a monkey’s wedding” 🐒.

64. The moon is 40 million years older than previously thought 🌚👴. A 2021 analysis of a moon rock from Apollo 17 revealed the moon formed about 4.46 billion years ago, making it around 40 million years older than previous estimates suggested.

Bonus for the German readers:

Süßstoffe: Süß schmeckende Substanzen, die keinen oder nur einen unbedeutenden Brennwert (Kalorien) haben und wesentlich süßer schmecken als Zucker; sie sind nicht kariesfördernd.

Zuckeraustauschstoffe: Zuckerähnliche Substanzen mit einem geringeren Brennwert (Kalorien) und meist geringerer Süßkraft als Zucker, die nicht kariesförderd sind; in großen Mengen können Zuckeraustauschstoffe zu Blähungen und Durchfall führen