A list of curious facts
One: Hyaluronic acid. Everyone who’s had an even nodding acquaintance with skincare knows that it is the go-to ingredient in moisturisers and serums—especially the anti-aging kind. The brave, new use of HA: in condoms! Yup, Australian brand Frenchie is selling Beret Condoms lubricated with hyaluronic acid. And it is apparently 100% natural and very good with “vaginal dryness, sexual comfort, and pleasure.” (InStyle)
Two: Which were the very first birds domesticated by humans? Turkeys? Chickens? The correct answer: Geese! That’s the conclusion of a new study which looked at a Chinese settlement of Stone Age hunter-gatherers and rice farmers between 7,000 and 5,500 years ago. FYI, this might explain why China accounts for nearly 76% of the world’s consumption of goose meat. (Smithsonian)
Three: Did you know it took a full-on colonial propaganda campaign to persuade us Indians to drink chai? We were highly sceptical of this strange concoction of sugar, boiled leaves, water and milk—but the Brits desperately needed a new market for tea grown in Indian plantations. Over time, the campaign won over many Indians—though Gandhi-ji remained adamantly hostile:
“In my opinion, the usefulness of tea, if any, consists in the fact that it supplies a warm sweet drink which contains some milk. The same purpose may well be served by taking boiled hot water mixed with a little milk and sugar."
Over the decades, the PR campaign included a variety of delightful calendars and advertisements—as you can see below. Serious Eats has more on chai’s Indian history. Find more images here and over at Scroll.
Four: A startup claims that it has created a real invisibility shield—like those awesome sci-fi movies. Ok, so you can’t wander around the world in this three by two foot board that costs just shy of $400. But you do get your very own full size invisibility shield as long as you stand very still. And it is kinda cool. Futurism has more on how it works. See the demo below.
