› added 4 months ago

27

TIL that the common shower loofah has its “roots” in the Luffa plant. The fruit section of L. aegyptiaca ( Luffa) can be processed, removing everything except the network of xylem fibers. It can then be turned into a kitchen or bath sponge, which is the origin story of the canonical shower loofah.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

nemZG TIL that Cutter (a division of Bayer) knowingly sold blood tainted with the HIV virus to Taiwan, Malaysia, Argentina, China, and other "less developed countries", effectively infecting thousands of hemophiliacs with HIV.
x6OLB TIL George the Lobster is the oldest recorded lobster ever, estimated to be 140 years old (born ~1869) at the time of his capture in 2008 off the coast of Newfoundland. He was released back into the wild in 2009 and it is unknown if he remains alive today.
lob4N TIL the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s have a ‘Flavour Graveyard’ where unpopular ice cream flavours go when they are retired.
N5ke TIL common rocks and hardened clays can trap electrons in quantum pockets for thousands of years and release those electrons when reheated giving off light that can be used to date the rocks-( Thermoluminescence dating).
wLG16 TIL that Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone, wrote the first draft for Planet of the Apes. The Statue of Liberty at the end was his idea.