Episode 8

Ketchup

Over 300,000 tonnes of ketchup sachets are distributed every year to catering services.
It generates approximately $1 billion of profit for manufacturers who make them, of which Heinz has 70% of the market share.

Whiskers

Rats have approximately 30 large whiskers and a lot of smaller ones.
Each whisker is connected to roughly 40,000 neurons in the brain and they sweep it back and forth approximately 8-12 times per second.
As soon as one of them comes into contact with something and bends, it tells the neurons in its brain to investigate further.

Marijuana

In 2022, an estimated 500,000 jobs in the U.S. were associated with the professional Marijuana trade.
Even Lake Superior State University in Michigan offered a $1,200 scholarship to wannabe chemists in their new 2,600-square-foot facility for studying Marijuana.  

Palm Oil

In 2021, Sri Lanka announced it was banning the import of 200,000 tonnes of palm oil each year, and reducing its own production of palm oil to protect the environment.
Plantation owners will be encouraged to plant rubber trees instead.

School Bus

55% of children in the U.S. take the school bus. 95% of these school buses are relatively old diesel buses and recent studies revealed that the pollution inside the bus was up to ten times higher than outside of the bus.

Internet Use

In 2000, 48% of Americans did not use the Internet.
By 2005, it was 32% didn't use it.
By 2010, it fell to just 24% who didn't use the internet.
By 2015 it was 15% of Americans did not.
In 2020, that number dropped to 7%, which is still 23 million people.

Digital Advertising

Digital advertising such as banner adverts, sponsored videos and so on, are big business for the major players that distribute them.
Google is the top earner with a 28.9% share of the market.
Facebook is second with a 25.2% share.
Finally, Amazon is slowly catching up with a 10.3% share, reported to be worth $15 billion per year.

Beeswax

Beeswax has several properties, but one of them is the ability to make things waterproof.
If you have fabric shoes that you would like to keep dry when it is raining, rub beeswax over the fabric.

The Three Jacksons

The Three Jacksons - An acrobatic act that in 1934, stood on the ledge of the 86th floor of the Empire State Building and performed a balancing act without safety equipment.

Final Performance

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, was both Angela Lansbury's and Stephen Sondheim's final movie role before they both passed away.
While their roles were small (in a Zoom call with the main character), it was apt that Angela's final appearance on screen would be in a murder mystery movie.

Mummy Scanned

Scientists have used three-dimensional CT scanning to digitally unwrap the mummy of Amenhotep I, an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled from 1525 to 1504 B.C. The mummy was discovered in 1881, but researchers have been hesitant to unwrap it physically for fear of damaging the well-preserved remains.
The CT scans revealed that Amenhotep I was about 35 years old when he died. He was about 5 feet 7 inches tall and had a slender build. His teeth were in good condition, and he had no signs of disease. The scans also showed that Amenhotep I was buried with a number of funerary objects, including a golden mask, a pectoral necklace, and a pair of sandals.

Dark Matter

Astronomers have detected the presence of a previously undiscovered dwarf galaxy known as FAST J0139+4328 which is approximately 94 million light-years from the Earth.
The reason this galaxy is important is that it does not emit any light whatsoever, which suggests it is entirely made up of dark matter.
Dark Matter is extremely difficult to observe and some scientists wonder if it even exists because it does not absorb, emit or reflect any electromagnetic radiation, thus making it impossible to see.
But now there may be ways to understand this unexplained branch of physics if scientists can unlock how and why a Dark Matter galaxy can be formed.