WTF • Fun • Fact    ( /dʌb(ə)lˌju/  /ti/   /ef/ • /fʌn/ • /fækt/ )

     1. noun  A random, interesting, and overall fun fact that makes you scratch your head and think what the...

WTF Fun Fact 12942 – You Can Hear Rhubarb Growing

When we plant something, it feels like it takes forever to start growing. But that’s not the case with rhubarb. Once this vegetable gets going, it can develop so fast you can hear rhubarb growing.

How to hear rhubarb growing

According to Atlas Obscura (cited below), this is mostly the case with forced rhubarb – the kind you give a little extra effort to in order to get it to develop faster.

“Forced rhubarb, which is made to mature in near total darkness, grows at such an alarming rate—as much as an inch a day—that it actually makes squeaks, creaks, and pops as it gets bigger. It makes for sweeter rhubarb, growers say, and sick beats.”

Of course, if you’re forcing rhubarb to grow in a facility, it can be hard to hear over the sound of any machines you have running to keep the conditions ideal.

Rhubarb’s unique growing characteristics

Atlas Obscura states that “The method of growing forced rhubarb dates back to the early 1800s, and continues in much the same way today. Farmers let the rhubarb grow out in the open for two years, as the roots collect and store calories. Then the plants are transplanted to lightless growing sheds around November, where they continue to grow—warm, but out of season and in the dark. The rhubarb grows without photosynthesis, which normally makes the plant tough and fibrous…The process also results in deep, red stalks, without the normal green shading.”

The loudest noise you’ll hear is the forced rhubarb bursting out of its bud with a pop. Then, it makes a fainter noise as the stalks rub up against each other and squeak. That’s because forced rhubarb isn’t planted far apart.

There aren’t many forced rhubarb growers anymore, though you can still find some in Michigan and Washington state if you want to hear a vegetable grow. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Listen to the Sick Beats of Rhubarb Growing in the Dark” — Atlas Obscura

WTF Fun Fact 12941 – Jousting is Maryland’s State Sport

On June 1, 1962, Maryland became the first U.S. state to adopt an official sport. And you may be totally confused by its choice. That’s because jousting is Maryland’s state sport.

Why on earth is jousting Maryland’s state sport?

For most of us, it seems like an odd choice. But if you explore the Maryland State Archives, you’ll see that “jousting tournaments have been held in Maryland since early colonial times but became increasingly popular after the Civil War.”

And they never really stopped jousting in Maryland. According to The Culture Trip: “The pageantry is not lost in modern-day tournaments. Men (referred to as knights) and women (referred to as maids) are dressed in colorful costumes full of regalia and many of the medieval customs and practices are still utilized. The Maryland State Jousting Championship is held annually and has been sponsored by the Maryland Jousting Tournament Association since its founding in 1950.”

Ok, so we just have to chalk our surprise up to ignorance. But in all fairness, they should really televise that stuff widely.

Making jousting “official”

States that want an official anything – whether it’s a bird, song, flower, or sport – need only propose a bill and have it passed by their state government. Not all states have an official sport, but we’re sure some followed in Maryland’s footsteps (though they didn’t pick jousting).

For Maryland, the whole thing was apparently a no-brainer. In 1962 “Henry J. Fowler, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from St. Mary’s County, introduced a bill during a session of the Maryland General Assembly to establish jousting as the official state sport. The bill passed both houses and was signed into law by Governor J. Millard Tawes.“

Modern Maryland jousting

Today’s jousting competitions in Maryland are held throughout the state and abide by rules created in 1950. It’s a non-contact sport “where competitors on horseback with lance in hand try to spear hanging rings of various sizes while quickly riding by three arches. Rings, ranging in diameter from one-quarter of an inch to approximately two inches, are hung nearly 7 feet off the ground.”

Tournaments take place between May and October

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Why Jousting Is Maryland’s Official State Sport” — The Culture Trip

WTF Fun Fact 12940 – Kentucky Has the Largest Cave System

Caves are pretty cool. And if you’ve ever been in one (especially on a tour during which a guide can explain to you all the amazing things you’re seeing), you know that they’re complex as well as a bit creepy and beautiful. That said, we would imagine the world’s largest cave systems to be somewhere in Europe or Asia. But nope – the Kentucky cave system is the largest in the world.

Kentucky’s massive cave system

Kentucky seems unlikely mostly because it’s not all that large. It’s only the 37th largest U.S. state. Nevertheless, it’s all about what lies beneath.

There’s a reason the cave system is known as Mammoth Cave. It is comprised of over 400 miles of subterranean passageways. To give you some perspective, the second largest cave system – Sistema Sac Actun – is in Mexico, and it’s only half the size of Kentucky’s cave system.

According to The Culture Trip (cited below): “Mammoth Cave…could fit the Grand Canyon inside it and have room to spare.”

Cool.

Subterranean history

The site also notes that “Surveyors discovered new rooms and passages throughout the 20th century, linking caves together to become the largest of its kind. Still today, new sections are being mapped, and Mammoth Cave rangers estimate the cave could contain upwards of 1,000 total miles (1,609.3km). While only a sliver of that – roughly 14mi (22.5km) – is open for tours, the park provides an awe-inspiring glimpse into a realm of mystery and intrigue.”

Between the caves and the bourbon, Kentucky is looking like a pretty great vacation destination right now!

Of course, researchers and treasure hunters weren’t the first to discover the cave system. Native Americans knew about it 4,000 years ago and left tools and petroglyphs (aka rock carvings) throughout the cave system. These have been preserved because of the steady temperature and humidity.

“These are also prime conditions for preserving human remains, some of which have been found buried in the caves or trapped under rock formations,” notes Culture Trip. That’s one of the many reasons you’re not going to be allowed down there all on your own.

Mammoth Cave today

There’s a lot that happened underground in Kentucky, for example during the Revolutionary War. But today Mammoth Cave is a national park. That’s a good thing since it helps us keep it safe and preserved from whatever humans might decide to do down there. In 1981, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, and in 1990 an International Biosphere Reserve.

Still, tours of parts of the Kentucky cave system have been going on since 1816, and you can sign up for one today to see stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and other amazing shapes formed by all sorts of geological processes. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Kentucky Is Home to the World’s Largest Cave System” — The Culture Trip

WTF Fun Fact 12939 – Moonquakes

We’ve all heard of earthquakes, but it hadn’t really occurred to us that seismic activity would occur on other celestial bodies. Now that we think about it, it makes sense. And, of course, they wouldn’t necessarily be called “earth”quakes. On the moon, they’ve named them “moonquakes.”

Data on moonquakes?

In 2006, NASA (which is cited below) reported that a Notre Dame professor named Clive R. Neal (who was an associate professor of civil engineering and geological sciences – the department has since changed its name a bit) came to a surprising conclusion.

Neal and a team of 15 other researchers looked at data from the Apollo mission, and told scientists that the data pointed to something interesting. At NASA’s Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) meeting in League City, Texas in October 2005, he announced that “The moon is seismically active.”

That might not seem important because: 1) the team was never on the moon themselves to feel a moonquake, and 2) it’s not like buildings are going to come crashing down if there’s a huge moonquake. However, people like Elon Musk are talking more and more about building structures on the moon and increasing human activity there. If that happens, structures will have the be built to stand up to moonquakes (which we don’t know all that much about).

Types of seismic activity on the moon

According to the research team, there are at least 4 different types of moonquakes (revealed by the data they assessed):

(1) deep moonquakes about 700 km below the surface, probably caused by tides
(2) vibrations from the impact of meteorites
(3) thermal quakes caused by the expansion of the frigid crust when first illuminated by the morning sun after two weeks of deep-freeze lunar night
(4) shallow moonquakes only 20 or 30 kilometers below the surface.

The team said: “The first three were generally mild and harmless. Shallow moonquakes on the other hand were doozies. Between 1972 and 1977, the Apollo seismic network saw twenty-eight of them; a few ‘registered up to 5.5 on the Richter scale,’ says Neal. A magnitude 5 quake on Earth is energetic enough to move heavy furniture and crack plaster.”

The last thing we want to hear if we decide to visit the moon is that any event out of our control could be a “doozy.” And these shallow moonquakes sound potentially deadly:

“Furthermore, shallow moonquakes lasted a remarkably long time. Once they got going, all continued more than 10 minutes. ‘The moon was ringing like a bell,'” Neal said.

Imagine the insurance premium on that moon house!

What else is interesting about moonquakes?

While we have plenty of aftershocks on Earth, earthquake vibrations from individual events usually last around 30 seconds – or 2 minutes, tops. That’s because of something called chemical weathering (as Neal says) – energy moves across minerals in the earth, and those deaden the vibrations relatively quickly. Not so much on the moon:

“The moon, however, is dry, cool, and mostly rigid, like a chunk of stone or iron. So moonquakes set it vibrating like a tuning fork. Even if a moonquake isn’t intense, ‘it just keeps going and going,’…And for a lunar habitat, that persistence could be more significant than a moonquake’s magnitude.”

Moon structures will have to be built of flexible materials so that they can move with the vibrations (that way they don’t crack). But first we need to know a lot more about engineering details like the maximum fatigue threshold needed so we can build those materials. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Moonquakes” — NASA

WTF Fun Fact 12938 – King Charles III First To Attend School

In the British Royal family, there’s always been intense media scrutiny. However, despite safety and other concerns, the man we now know as King Charles III was the first British to go to school.

Of course, we mean traditional school. All of the royals in the recent past were educated – they were simply tutored at home.

King Charles III’s history

Born in Buckingham Palace on on November 14, 1948, Prince Charles Philip Arthur George would wait quite some time to ascend the throne – in fact, he was the longest king-in-waiting in British history.

Charles was just 3 years old when his mother Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II. At the time she gave him the title Duke of Cornwall, and at age 20 he also became the Prince of Wales.

After being tutored at home by his governess until age 8, Charles was then sent to Hill House School in west London, then to Cheam (a preparatory school in Hampshire), followed by Gordonstoun, a Scottish boarding school that had been attended by his father Philip and where he similarly became Head Boy.

Gordonstoun was known for its character-building outdoor activities, but rumors are that Charles had a rather unhappy education there after being bullied. Later, he said the experience taught him a lot about his “abilities and disabilities.”

Prince Charles also attended the Timbertop campus of Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, Australia in 1966, which he called some of the best years of his young life.

Charles’ later education

After graduating, King Charles III also became the first British Royal to ever graduate from college (an institution that had already been around for centuries, so it’s not necessarily an unlikely feat).

He graduated from Trinity College at Cambridge University in 1970 with a degree in History before joining the Royal Air Force to become a pilot and the Royal Navy to fly helicopters. He spent seven years in the military, eventually earning the rank of commander on the HMC Bronington (a minesweeper) in 1976.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Britain has a new monarch: What to know about King Charles III” — The Washington Post

WTF Fun Fact 12937 – Queen Elizabeth Bought Wedding Dress With Ration Coupons

In light of the death of Queen Elizabeth II yesterday, it’s always interesting to look back and see how things were different over the 96 years during which she was alive. While there are plenty of opinions to be found, we’ll stick to what has been recorded as fact, such as the Queen’s purchase of her wedding dress using WWII ration coupons.

Queen Elizabeth’s wedding dress ration coupons

First of all, at the time of her marriage, Elizabeth was a princess – and one who had volunteered with the British Armed Forces during WWII.

Two years after the war, on Nov 20, 1947, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor married Philip Mountbatten. While the war was over, austerity measures were still in place. And while you certainly can’t tell by looking at the royal wedding, the glamorous gown was made with the help of war ration coupons.

She was given 200 extra ration coupons, which she put towards the dress that she got married in at Westminster Abbey.

According to British Heritage (cited below), “she was also given hundreds of clothing coupons by brides-to-be from all parts of the country to help her acquire the dress. She had to return these coupons as it was illegal for them to have been given away in the first instance.”

Creating Queen Elizabeth II’s wedding dress

Just because it was a dress purchased in light of austerity measures doesn’t mean it was austere. In fact, the purchase was more of a gesture to the people.

“The dress was designed by Norman Hartnell. His signature was always said to be embroidery. The designer enjoyed working with soft, floating fabrics, particularly tulle and chiffon, and with plain, lustrous silks…The dress was made of Chinese silk, with a high neckline, tailored bodice, and a short train…The ivory silk gown had a 13-foot-long train with a pattern inspired by a Botticelli painting and was bedecked in crystals and 10,000 seed pearls imported from America.”

It is said that the coupons went towards some of the extra flair involved.

She would become queen less than a decade after her wedding. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Queen Elizabeth II bought her wedding dress with WWII ration coupons” — British Heritage

WTF Fun Fact 12936 – Evidence for the First Amputation

Archaeologists have found a skeleton bearing the signs of a Stone Age amputation procedure. This evidence for the first amputation (that we know of) is significant because it’s much earlier than previous evidence and the person it was performed on survived the surgery.

Is this the first amputation?

We’ll never really know of this skeleton belongs to the first person to survive an amputation since we can’t possibly know when we’ve collected every archaeological sample.

But what we do know is that the skeleton was found in a cave in Borneo (in Indonesia) and is roughly 31,000 years old! It belonged to a young adult (the gender is uncertain), possibly around the age of 19-20.

When the child was roughly 10 – 12, their left leg was amputated below the knee, and they went on to live for years as an amputee.

Prehistoric surgery

It appears the child died 6 – 9 years after the left leg amputation. That’s pretty impressive considering it was done without modern painkillers and the blood loss was probably severe.

It’s proof that there was some way of controlling the bleeding and helping the patient survive tens of thousands of years earlier than we first thought.

Proof of the amputation was discovered when researchers came across a grave and found a skeleton missing the lower part of its left leg. Because there were no bones found nearby, it was clear that the person was buried without a leg.

Upon closer inspection, researchers realized the bones had been carefully removed. Enough healing had taken place to indicate that it was an intentional surgery that took place years before the person’s death.

Because there were no signs of infection, bone crushing, or other fracturing, it’s clear that the leg wasn’t bitten off (by a crocodile, for example) or lost in an accident.

The skeletal proof

As the researchers put it in their article in Nature (cited below):

“There is no evidence of infection in the left limb, the most common complication of an open wound without antimicrobial treatment. The lack of infection further rules out the probability of animal attack, such as a crocodile bite, because an attack has a very high probability of complications from infection owing to microorganisms from the animal’s teeth entering the wound. The partial consolidation of the bone between the left tibia and fibula and complete closure of the distal end of the left fibula are consistent with late-stage amputation changes. The small size of the left tibia and fibula compared with the right suggests a childhood injury, as the bones did not continue growing. The severe bone thinning of the left tibia and fibula is also suggestive of the heavily restricted use of the left leg resulting in musculoskeletal disuse atrophy. Some thinning of the cortical margins of the right tibia suggests that TB1 was rarely ambulatory owing to the incapacitating nature of the injury to the lower left leg.”

TB1 is the name of the specimen. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Surgical amputation of a limb 31,000 years ago in Borneo” — Nature

WTF Fun Fact 12935 – Pumpkin Spice Taste Mystery

Traditionally, pumpkin spice flavorings have not contained pumpkin at all. Of course, pumpkin spice lovers have been mocked for their “fake flavor,” even though there are plenty of flavors that have no real foodstuffs in them. That pumpkin spice taste so many of us like is really just cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc.

Starting around 2015, things changed for Starbucks fans. They actually got pumpkin in their pumpkin spice drinks.

The new pumpkin spice taste

Even though Starbucks’ pumpkin spice drinks are sold in the fall and winter, they are the chain’s most popular offerings, with the pumpkin spice latte (or PSL) maintaining the #1 spot. In fact, Starbucks sells around 20 million of them per year. We don’t drink them, but we can’t deny there’s a certain tastiness there (thanks to lots of sugar and fat and stimulating spices like cinnamon and clove).

According to Newsweek (cited below): “On August 30, Starbucks officially ushered coffee lovers into the fall season with the return of its pumpkin spice latte; however, the return has left some customers feeling disappointed, as they believe the iconic drink tastes different this year than in years past.
Posting to TikTok on Thursday, a purported Starbucks barista named Maria confirmed that the drink does, in fact, taste different this year because the company “changed” its pumpkin spice recipe. The video has amassed over 860,000 views and more than 1,400 comments.”

How could they change such an iconic flavor?! Well, it turns out that some stores are getting an updated recipe, but pumpkin has been part of it for around 8 years.

Now with real pumpkin (kind of)

The newer Starbucks syrup contains “real pumpkin ingredient” – whatever that means.

While PSL fans on TikTok are insisting there’s something different about the 2022 lattes, Starbucks has maintained that they are using the same recipe as in previous years.

So what is pumpkin spice?

Until Starbucks relented and added some sort of pumpkin-derived flavoring, no pumpkin spice actually contained pumpkin. Even the pumpkin pie spice we buy in stores is simply a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and ginger.

Regardless of whether it’s “real” or not, the flavor is now iconic. In fact, Merriam-Webster added the phrase “pumpkin spice” to their dictionary in 2022. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Why Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Tastes Different This Year: Barista Explains” — Newsweek

WTF Fun Fact 12934 – Axolotl Brain Regeneration

In an amazing evolutionary feat that we wish were available to many of the humans we know, it turns out the salamanders known as axolotls can grow back parts of their brains. Axolotl brain regeneration is just another one of this creature’s amazing regenerative abilities.

Axolotl body regeneration

According to IFL Science (cited below), the initial discovery is an old one:

“The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is an aquatic salamander renowned for its ability to regenerate its spinal cord, heart and limbs. These amphibians also readily make new neurons throughout their lives. In 1964, researchers observed that adult axolotls could regenerate parts of their brains, even if a large section was completely removed. But one study found that axolotl brain regeneration has a limited ability to rebuild original tissue structure.”

Regenerating the brain

At the Treutlein Lab at ETH Zurich and the Tanaka Lab at the Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, researchers are trying to figure out just how complete axolotl brain regeneration is. For example, one question is what types of brain cells are they able to replace?

One of the authors of a recent study noted in IFL Science that looking at brain cells was the key to understanding the regenerative process:

“In our recently published study, we created an atlas of the cells that make up a part of the axolotl brain, shedding light on both the way it regenerates and brain evolution across species. Why look at cells? Different cell types have different functions. They are able to specialize in certain roles because they each express different genes. Understanding what types of cells are in the brain and what they do helps clarify the overall picture of how the brain works. It also allows researchers to make comparisons across evolution and try to find biological trends across species.”

Axolotl brain mapping

The research team uses a specific type of RNA sequencing to get snapshots of brain samples. More specifically, they focus on the telencephalon (the region that contains the brain’s neocortex – the seat of behavior and cognition). The cells in this area are highly diversified.

By identifying the genes that are active when cells such as neurons replicate or turn into other cell types, the researchers can get a sense of how more mature cells form in the axolotl’s brain form over time.

The real test comes when the researchers inflict an injury on part of the brain, damaging some cells, then checking in later to see if they’ve regenerated.

And they found that in about 12 weeks, most of the axolotl’s brain cells have been replaced by new ones. The cells even reformed neuronal connections.

Can axolotl brain regeneration research help humans?

Even if you don’t care about axolotls, the research is important for the future of human brain research. There are many diseases that affect cognitive capacity (not to mention the role of aging on the brain). Understanding the process by which the axolotl’s brain regenerates could someday help up apply this knowledge to humans. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Axolotls Can Regenerate Their Brains – These Adorable Salamanders Are Helping Unlock The Mysteries Of Brain Evolution And Regeneration” — IFL Science