Kosher salt is salt traditionally used for koshering meat, a process that removes the blood from it. It’s also fantastic for cooking with, as it contains no iodine or anti-clumping agents!
100 Mind-Blowing Process Facts
Your tonsils can grow back if there is tissue left behind during the removal process. Sometimes it’s accidental; other times, it’s left on purpose.
During the cremation process of a 500-pound body, the corpse was so obese that it set the crematorium on fire.
The process by which bread toasts is called the “Maillard Reaction.”
Your brain is constantly eating itself. This process is called phagocytosis, where cells envelop and consume smaller cells or molecules to remove them from the system. Don’t worry! Phagocytosis isn’t harmful but helps preserve your grey matter.
Animals can experience time differently from humans. To smaller animals, the world around them moves more slowly compared to humans. Salamanders and lizards, for example, experience time more slowly than cats and dogs. This is because the perception of time depends on how quickly the brain can process incoming information.
Chainsaws were first invented for childbirth. It was developed in Scotland in the late 18th Century to help aid and speed up the process of symphysiotomy (widening the pubic cartilage) and removal of disease-laden bone during childbirth. It wasn’t until the start of the 20th Century that we started using chainsaws for woodchopping.
All mammals get goosebumps. When your hair stands on end, tiny muscles contract at each hair’s base which distorts the skin to create goosebumps. This process is called piloerection and is present in all mammals. Hair or fur is used to trap an insulating air layer.
Your brain burns 400-500 calories a day. That’s about a fifth of your total energy requirements. Most of this is concerned with the largely automatic process of controlling your muscles and processing sensory input, although some studies show solving tricky problems increases your brain’s metabolic requirements too.
Uncle Ben’s rice was air-dropped to World War II troops. German chemist Erich Huzenlaub invented a process of parboiling rice to keep more nutrients in the rice and lessen the cooking time. The “Huzenlaub Process” had another unexpected benefit: It stopped bug infestations. The quick-cook, bug-free rice was a big advantage during World War II, and converted rice (as it was then known) was air-dropped to American and British troops. After the war, the company rebranded itself and became Uncle Ben’s Original Converted Brand Rice, named after one of the company’s best rice suppliers. The product hit grocery store shelves in 1947.
May 20, 1873, is the “birthday” of blue jeans. According to the Levi Strauss company, this was the day that Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis, the innovators behind the sturdy blue jeans we all love, got a patent on the process of adding metal rivets to men’s denim work pants. The pants were called waist overalls until 1960 when baby boomers began calling them jeans.
Baked beans are not baked. In the U.K., the dish is usually stewed in sauce. On the other hand, canned baked beans are cooked through a steaming process. Bottom line? “Baked” beans are rarely ever baked.
Hershey’s Kisses were named after the kissing sound, the chocolate makes on the conveyor belt. Before discovering this fun fact, I thought Kisses were named after the shape your mouth makes when you place the chocolate on your lips, tip-first. However, Hershey’s is named for the sound it makes during the manufacturing process. A machine squirts the chocolate mixture onto the conveyor with a “kiss” sound. Another Hershey’s fun fact? The paper-strip plume on top of Hershey’s Kisses is trademarked.
The salty taste of bacon isn’t natural. The salty flavour that we all love comes from the curing and brining process. After the meat is prepared, it is flavoured and preserved.
Bananas get their curved shape by growing towards the sun. All bananas go through a process known as negative geotropism which indicates that they will grow towards the source of sunlight. This is also why it is rare to see a straight banana.
If a body is too obese, it can cause complications when being cremated. A crematorium in Cincinnati was once set on fire during the cremation process of a 500-pound body. The body caused the fire to enlarge and spread to nearby containers which eventually set the entire place ablaze.
A snail can grow new eyes. Certain species of snails can completely regenerate their eyes after amputation. This process is done through the mid-eyestalk.
White chocolate isn’t chocolate. This is made from a blend of sugar and milk products along with some cocoa powder and vanilla extracts. The reason why this cannot be classified as chocolate is that it does not contain any chocolate solids in its making process.
A surgical procedure that removes fear from your brain exists. This process is called selective amygdalohippocampectomy and is used to treat patients with epilepsy. While this may sound like a process you would want to try, it comes with consequences.
You can turn coal mixed in peanut butter into a diamond. With enough high pressure and equipment, the carbon material inside the coal can turn into a diamond. However, this process takes an extensively long time to complete.
Large banks use computers to process checks and debit card charges by the highest amount first. This is because checks with higher amounts of value need to be thoroughly double-checked first before clearing. This explains why it may take a few working days before clearing can be issued.
Rabbits eat their faeces. After eating them, they will digest them again like normal food. Rabbits have two kinds of droppings, little black round ones and softer black ones known as cecotropes. The cecotrope droppings are the ones that they eat and they do this so they can re-absorb any undigested nutrients from their food. This process is normally done once a day.
China originated paper making. The first papermaking process was documented during the 25-220 CE (Eastern Han period). At some point during the 8th century, Chinese papermaking spread to the Islamic world which later on was used as a method of making paper currency.
Until it blows against something, the wind makes no sound. Ready for more did you know the facts? The sounds you hear during a windy day are due to the speed of the wind coming into contact with various objects at the same time. The process of friction can also cause sounds at higher pitches depending on the speed of the wind.
The human liver has 500 functions. This is also the only vital organ inside the human body that is capable of regenerating. One of the more well-known functions of the liver is producing bile which helps in the process of digestion.
A fly will always launch backwards to get away faster. Fruit flies can turn midair by shrugging their shoulders. Research has also found that a fly can process information at a much faster speed compared to humans. The average fly can process the ongoings of its surroundings seven times faster than a human being can.
Red is the first colour a baby sees. Out of all the colours, red has the longest wavelength. Therefore, red is easier to process for a developing baby’s eyes. Grab your nearest baby book to confirm.
Elephants are pregnant for 2 years. Elephant pregnancy is the longest out of any mammal. Their calves take 2 years in the womb to develop fully. This lengthy process is why an elephant will only have 4-5 offspring in its lifetime.
Films used to be hand-painted to have colour. As early as 1902, films were colourized by a lengthy process of hand-painting each frame.
Bad feelings are good for you. Nobody wants to feel sad, afraid, or hurt, but suppressing these negative emotions can hamper us psychologically. One’s mental health should acknowledge and know how to process negative feelings.
The Wombat poops in cubes. Before you ask, no – their buttholes aren’t square. You’ve heard of cubed watermelons. Now, nature brings us cubed poop! Wombat poop is cubical because of their long, slow digestive process.
Saffron is more expensive than gold. Iran is the world’s main producer of saffron, supplying 95% of the saffron market. Each flower produces about three red stamens which must be hand-picked. For every 150 flowers, only 1 gram of saffron is produced. The lengthy process plus its rarity makes this precious spice cost $3,000 per kg.
Vampire bats drink half their body weight in blood. For each meal, bats consume an ounce of blood. By the end of the 20-30-minute process, a bat will have consumed almost its entire weight in blood. However, bats can still fly after a meal because their stomach lining absorbs the liquid as quickly as possible.
Your brain is constantly eating itself. Called phagocytosis, this process allows cells to envelop and consume smaller cells or molecules to remove them from the system. It might sound a little scary, but it’s a good thing since it helps our brains preserve grey matter!
The smaller the animal is, the slower they can process time. How animals perceive time can depend on how quickly the brain processes new information. Animals like mice or lizards will experience time differently than horses or dogs.
The human brain is eating itself. Phagocytosis is where cells consume smaller cells or molecules to ultimately remove them from the system. This is not a harmful process but a necessary one to preserve grey matter in the brain.
Earth has a squishy interior. Earth’s interior is not solid but rather has a semi-solid or ‘squishy’ consistency owing to high temperatures and pressures. This squishy consistency allows the mantle to flow and move over geological timescales, which is responsible for phenomena such as plate tectonics, volcanic activity and Earthquakes. One consequence of this squishy interior is a process known as post-glacial rebound. During the last ice age, large portions of Earth’s surface were covered by glaciers, causing the underlying mantle to deform and sink. As the glaciers melted and receded, the mantle slowly rebounded back to its original position over thousands of years, causing the land above it to rise. This process is still occurring today in places such as Canada, Scandinavia, and Greenland, where the land is still rebounding from the weight of the glaciers that once covered the region. Recent research has found that West Antarctica is rising faster than anywhere else in the world, thanks to data from ESA’s GOCE gravity mission. The study of post-glacial rebound provides important insights into the structure and behaviour of Earth’s interior, and how it responds to changes in the surface environment over long timescales.
The Moon is drifting away from Earth. You read that correctly! The Moon is gradually drifting away from Earth at a rate of approximately 4 cm per year. This phenomenon is caused by the Moon pulling on Earth’s oceans creating tidal forces that produce a bulge of water on the side of Earth facing the Moon. This bulge in turn creates a gravitational pull on the Moon, causing it to accelerate slightly and move further away from Earth. Over time, this process has caused the Moon to move farther away from Earth each year. This gradual drift is not noticeable on a day-to-day basis, but over millions of years, it can have significant effects on Earth’s rotation. Today, most scientists believe the Moon is ‘Earth’s child’ – a large body collided with Earth, destroying our planet’s mantle and sending material into orbit from which the Moon formed. This ‘big splash’ theory would explain why the Moon’s rocks are similar to those on Earth. Bonus fun fact: Australia is wider than the Moon. The Moon sits at 3400 km in diameter, while Australia’s diameter from east to west is almost 4000 km. The Moon, as a sphere, has more surface area, but it’s still pretty impressive.
Most people are aware that Beethoven was deaf. However, the musician figured out a way to hear even after losing the ability to hear sounds. If Beethoven bit into a metal pole that he connected to his piano, then he could hear through a process called bone conduction.
A company in Japan awards non-smokers an extra six days of paid leave each year. It was brought to the marketing firm’s attention that employees who went for smoke breaks had more than 15 minutes of extra time away from their desks each day. Instead of penalising smokers, they came up with a creative incentive to quit smoking while keeping their non-smoking employees happy in the process!
Stripey things like escalators and Venetian blinds can cause migraines. It turns out that our brains are simply unable to process incredibly uniform stripes, particularly vertical stripes. They increase something in our brains called gamma oscillations, which is one of the leading causes of migraines and even seizures. We’re not sure why, but it’s only artificial stripes that set us off, while the irregular stripes of a zebra are easy on the eyes.
What Was The First Ever.COM Domain? Symbolics Inc. registered the first .COM domain on March 15, 1985. For obvious reasons, the company chose to register Symbolics.com on the World Wide Web. Nordu.net was technically the first domain name ever but didn’t go through the registration process. Less than 15,000 domains had been registered to the web in 1992. In 2010, more than 200 million domains were registered to .COM alone. Dozens of other domain names exist, and millions of websites are registered with each one. No domain name is going to come close to dethroning .COM anytime soon, if ever. Regardless, Symbolics.com will hold its place in history.
Your tonsils could grow back if there was tissue left behind during the removal process. Sometimes it’s accidental; other times, it’s left on purpose.
Your nose is always visible to you. Your mind ignores it through a process called Unconscious Selective Attention.
The Rivalry Between Microsoft and Linux: Microsoft waged war against Linux in the early 2000s seeking to stop its spread and usage. It incurred a staggering $421 million in the process. Nowadays, the two operating systems are no longer locked in battle, and in fact, there’s been more collaboration between the two in recent years.
NSCID No.9: The promulgation of NSCID No.9 in 1952 brought about greater participation by civilian members (CIA and State) in the COMINT process, recognising the necessity for more centralised technical operations.
GPT-3 has been fine-tuned for a variety of language tasks, such as translation, summarisation, and question-answering. Even service desk software can leverage AI capabilities to process requests and enhance the quality of responses.
Open AI is facing several lawsuits for copyright infringement in ChatGPT’s training process. Some of the plaintiffs are The New York Times and book authors like George R.R. Martin and John Grisham.
Consumers Will Embrace Chatbots for Improved Business Communications: Leading research and advisory firm Gartner, Inc. predicts that over the next decade, AI-enabled proactive chatbots will boost customer experience by anticipating the needs of customers and connecting with them at an emotional level. According to Gartner, advanced chatbots will be able to process 95 per cent of customer interactions, cutting human involvement to 5 per cent.