If you’re new to this newsletter, this is my just-for-fun segment each month that is essentially: “What I Googled This Month”. The intention is to bring some levity to your inbox and who knows- maybe you can parade some new fun facts at your next gathering.
You can read a brief blurb about my insatiable thirst for random facts here.
Please note: I am not an expert and this is truly just for fun. I don’t personally stand behind any of the sources. If you’d like to learn more or fact check, feel free to do some googling on your own as well and let me know what you find!
Why I googled: I’m grateful to have been introduced into the flower world by foam-free florists and growers (shoutout to Kamila, Megan, and Floret). By now, we hopefully all know floral foam is bad for the environment but I never really considered what it was made from.
What I learned: Floral foam is made from carbon black (product of petroleum or coal tar), formaldehyde, and phenolic foam (a known carcinogen). It contains the same amount of plastic as 10 carrier bags. (Source)
What I learned: Yes! And they come in a variety of shapes and locations as well. Keep in mind that insects can often hear things beyond what our little human flesh flaps notice. Some have tiny ears on their legs (crickets), some in their antennae (mosquitos), some abdomen (grasshoppers), some wings (lacewings), and sometimes even their mouths (butterflies). With that said, some insects- like most beetles- are deaf.
Scientists are still figuring out how each type of insect evolved ears (as they all started out deaf) but it involves adapting an existing sensory area for better survival and mating opportunities. If you’re curious, this read dives deeper into what they’ve found.
Why I googled: I’ve been thinking about parenthood a lot in the last few years (probably a 30s thing) and I realized that the word “mama” makes me want to curl up in a ball and vomit. AND before you come for me, know that this doesn’t mean I don’t want to have children. It’s just… something about the word?
I feel the same way about the word “wife” (cue: disgust, vom feelings)- so much so that my partner and I changed our wedding ceremony to say “I now pronounce you homies for life”.
Note: I am grateful to even be able to have words around thoughts like these/ even be able to question what parts of my gender norms are “for me” and which ones I want to leave behind in archaic dust. We wouldn’t be in this place if not for trans and NB folks.
What I found: No scientific articles here, just lots of reddit threads. Here’s a good place to start, and here as well. My favourite so far is “Momo” but I kinda wish I could just go by “Neets” 🙃 (Rob says I would regret this once I hear a whiny 3 year old say it.)
What I learned: These are bony horns called ossicones, made of hardened cartilage, and something that both male and female giraffes have. In order to prevent harm to the birth canal, the ossicones start out lying flat. After birth, females develop thinner tufty/hairy ones whereas males have thicker bald ones (as a result of fighting with one another). (Source)
What I learned: So, “P.U.” isn’t actually an abbreviation for two words! The initials are a phonetic rendering of the sound people make when they smell something bad and apparently this exclamation has been spelled many different ways since it first showed up in 1604: “pue,” “peuh,” “peugh,” “pyoo,” and “pew.” (Source). The thought is that perhaps people drew it out over two syllables—pee-YOO—for added flair. (Source). For further reading, this substack writer gets into it.
What I learned: It looks like this might be a case of our human-centered thinking. Woops. We actually have LESS variation in height within-populations than other animals (Source). If you want to read the hypothesis as to why this is the case, you can see more here.
Why I googled: I am a bit of a digital hoarder (400+ browser tabs open on my phone, thousands of emails, thousands more mediocre snap-happy photos on the cloud) so when I had coffee with a friend who is working in the world where climate meets tech and AI, I had a 🤯 moment when she mentioned the environmental cost of storing emails. I can’t recall the exact quote but the forecast is saying that in 15 years, tech will cause more damage/ contribute more emissions than the aviation industry.
What I learned: Storing digital things (photos in the cloud, emails, etc) requires energy in the form of building and maintaining data centers. These spaces require SO much energy in heating/ cooling and upkeep— not all of which is renewable. The fact that we are exponentially growing the amount of content we produce is.. concerning to say the least.
This article says that the amount of energy used for us to power up our laptops to delete said emails is actually worse than storing emails, and the best way to reduce your impact is to use your digital device for as long as possible/ buy fewer devices.
With that said, we can all move forwards with some better habits like the ones outlined here:
Use the right communication app for the context: Instant messaging for things that won't need saving, such as quick questions at work, or "I'm running late" messages.
Use a self-deleting function, such as the `disappearing messages' option in WhatsApp.
Archive your stored emails. It compresses and reduces their size in the cloud so they need less power to live on.
Avoid reply-all. Only send email to people who need to see it -- fewer people means fewer devices, less email network traffic, less electricity used and fewer emissions.
Adding one more to the list: (I’ve lost the article link unfortunately) Storing things in your computer/ external hard drives instead of storing them on the cloud. Safer from hackers and also doesn’t require the use of an energy-heavy data center.
At the end of the day, it’s like that whole individual vs policy change that exists in every industry (recycling, fashion, etc) but IMO, it’s still helpful to note the environmental cost of our digital footprints.
Why I googled: I read a news article about how even in the dead of winter, there was something like over 100 fires in western Canada still burning.
What I learned: In areas where there is lots of dried organic matter (buried logs, roots, etc), tiny pockets of air can keep fires smouldering underground. Sometimes, snow can even act as an insulator for the fire. (Source)
What I learned: It all started in 1800s France where white symbolizes cleanliness and hygiene. The pleats are said to represent all of the different recipes a chef has mastered and/ or the number of ways to prepare an egg. Also, the taller the hat, the closer to god the more authority that chef has. (Source)