Grocery store labels often list strange-sounding ingredients like BHT and BHA, sodium nitrate, sulfites, and sodium benzoate. These preservatives are added to food to keep it from spoiling—but some people might wonder how they work, or whether they’re harmful.
The TED-Ed video above explains how microbes (like bacteria and fungi) and oxidation cause food items to go bad. It also gives a brief overview on the different types of preservatives, how they help prevent the chemical changes responsible for decomposition, and how they’ve been used historically. For now, TED-Ed says, the jury’s still out on whether these additives are conclusively linked to major health risks. But if you’re still concerned, a growing number of companies are getting rid of preservatives, or trying to find alternative ways to help foods stay fresh.
The Italian government is offering all 18 year olds a €500 ‘culture bonus,’ which can be spent on books, concert tickets, theatre tickets, cinema tickets, museum visits and even trips to the country’s national parks.
A team sets up a polling booth in an isolated forest in India each election so that a lone priest who lives there can vote, because the Election Commission mandates that no voter should “ordinarily travel more than 2km to reach the booth.”
The track’s creator, YouTube’s Murmiland, calls this a “rafting track” because it has water running along it. That makes for an exciting sound mix, and adds a bit to the visual chaos of all these marbles rolling along.
Keep an eye out for the miniature Stonehenge replica, and enjoy the simple pleasures of marbles and gravity.
Hair conditioner is something of a mystery to me. Yes, I know it’s supposed to make hair shiny and lush and all that. But how does that actually work? In the video below, chemist George Zaidan goes deep on the chemical properties of hair conditioner, breaking down the many categories of ingredients and how they interact to make conditioner work.
The other fun part of this video, aside from the seriously geeky chemistry stuff, is Zaidan’s attempt to make and use his own hair conditioner. Get ready for the inevitable shower scene!
The holiday season seems to start earlier and earlier each year, and it’s never too soon to start thinking about the perfect sweater to help you join in the festive spirit. This year, you can embrace your inner hero (or villain) with a line of DC Comics Christmas sweaters, featuring Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Joker, or Two Face designs. Featuring both pullover and cardigan styles, these brightly colored sweaters range from Christmas-centric designs to something you could slip into your everyday wardrobe.
The Classic Batman sweater features the Gotham City skyline standing tall on the sleeves, while the Superman one touts a zig-zaggy snowflake design on the sleeve “for just the right amount of ‘ugly.'” While the Superman and all four Batman sweaters are perfect for an ironic Christmas party, the Wonder Woman sweaters are probably the most universal, since they lack any obvious holiday theme. Though they may be advertised as “ugly sweaters,” they’re a notch above the normal holiday eyesores.
The most attractive sweaters for longtime fans might belong to the villains, though. To add a bit more comic authenticity to these two sweaters, Two Face’s design is a direct homage to the cover of Batman Annual #14, by artist Neal Adams, while the Joker looks to be taken straight from Batman: The Animated Series.
All of the sweaters sell for less than $50 and are exclusive to fun.com.
As a recurring feature, our team combs the Web and shares some amazing Amazon deals we’ve turned up. Here’s what caught our eye today, November 12.
Mental Floss has affiliate relationships with certain retailers, including Amazon, and may receive a small percentage of any sale. But we only get commission on items you buy and don’t return, so we’re only happy if you’re happy. Good luck deal hunting!
You’ve probably never seen Song of the South, but you’ve likely had its most famous song lodged firmly in your brain at one point or another. Let’s take a closer look at what is arguably Disney’s most controversial production ever, which was released 70 years ago.
1. THE STORIES WERE WRITTEN BY TEDDY ROOSEVELT’S UNCLE.
Though Disney borrowed the Br’er Rabbit tales from author Joel Chandler Harris, the stories were originally published in Harper’s magazine as written by Robert Roosevelt, Teddy’s uncle. In his autobiography, Teddy wrote that Robert took the stories down from his Aunt Anna’s dictation, then sent them to Harper’s, where they “fell flat.” It wasn’t until Harris created the Uncle Remus stories that Br’er Rabbit and his pals became “immortal,” in Teddy’s words.
2. DISNEY’S DECISION TO MAKE SONG OF THE SOUTH RAISED EYEBROWS RIGHT FROM THE GET-GO.
The NAACP released a statement that said that while the artistic and technical aspects of the film were truly impressive, “the production helps to perpetuate a dangerously glorified picture of slavery … [the film] unfortunately gives the impression of an idyllic master-slave relationship which is a distortion of the facts.” However, other reviewers thought that the issue was handled well. Even the actors defended their parts. Hattie McDaniel told The Criterion, “If I had for one moment considered any part of the picture degrading or harmful to my people I would not have appeared therein.” Star James Baskett agreed, saying, “I believe that certain groups are doing my race more harm in seeking to create dissension than can ever possibly come out of the Song of the South.“
3. IT’S BEEN RUMORED THAT JAMES BASKETT DIDN’T ATTEND THE PREMIERE BECAUSE NO HOTEL WOULD ALLOW HIM TO STAY.
It’s been a long-standing rumor that Baskett himself was unable to attend the movie’s Atlanta premiere because no hotel in town would accept the black cast members. This is unlikely, as MousePlanet points out, because there were several black-owned hotels in the city at the time, including the Savoy. What is true is that Atlanta was still under segregation laws at the time, so the cast would have been separated at the premiere anyway. To bring Baskett to the city but stop him from attending events, one newspaper article from 1946 noted, “would cause him many embarrassments, for his feelings are the same as any man’s.”
4. THE FILM WAS A SUCCESS, BUT NOT BY A WIDE MARGIN.
The original release netted the studio just $226,000.
5. WALT DISNEY HIMSELF CAMPAIGNED FOR BASKETT TO WIN AN ACADEMY AWARD FOR HIS PERFORMANCE.
Walt Disney told Jean Hersholt, then the president of the Motion Picture Academy, that Baskett’s performance was his own creation, “almost wholly without direction.” Disney’s efforts worked: Baskett received an honorary Oscar in 1948. Sadly, he died just three months later at the age of 44.
6. BASKETT’S HONORARY ACADEMY AWARD ISN’T THE ONLY ONE SONG OF THE SOUTH WON.
“Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” also won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
7. BASKETT PLAYED TWO MAJOR PARTS.
Baskett not only played Uncle Remus, he also voiced Br’er Fox.
8. THE MOVIE HAS NEVER OFFICIALLY BEEN RELEASED ON HOME VIDEO.
Though the film has been reissued several times, including a “re-premiere” that was held in Atlanta for the 40th anniversary in 1986, it has never been released on home video in the United States. Whether there are future plans for a release remains to be seen. While Disney CEO Robert Iger has called the movie “antiquated” and “fairly offensive,” fans have been rallying for years to get it released. Enterprising consumers can find copies that were released in Japan and Europe. You can also see part of it right here:
9. DISNEY CREATED A COMIC STRIP AS A PROMOTIONAL TOOL.
The Disney Company created a newspaper comic strip about Br’er Rabbit to help promote the movie. It actually ended up with a longer shelf life than the movie itself: the strip ran from 1945 through 1972.
10. CONTEMPORARY VERSIONS OF BR’ER RABBIT AND BR’ER FOX ARE VOICED BY JESS HARNELL.
These days, Br’er Rabbit and Br’er Fox are voiced by Jess Harnell, also known for providing the voices for Wakko on Animaniacs and Cedric on Sofia the First, among other things. Though Br’ers Fox and Rabbit don’t get used much, they have popped up in video games, amusement park rides, and the occasional cartoon where Disney characters mingle.
Meet a set of twins, and one might proudly proclaim that he or she is “the older one.” (Later in life, the younger twin may be the one boasting.) But such distinctions won’t be so clear-cut for Samuel and Ronan Peterson, twin brothers born at Massachusetts’s Cape Cod Hospital last weekend. The confusion? Daylight Saving Time.
Cape Cod Health Newsreported the riddle as follows:
“Samuel was born at 1:39 a.m. on Sunday, November 6, followed 31 minutes later by Ronan, at what would have been 2:10. But at 2 a.m. that morning, Daylight Savings Time ended for the year, making it 1:10 a.m. and leaving Ronan—at least in the official record—older than Samuel.”
While not quite a chicken or the egg dilemma, the situation is hardly common. “It’s the first time I have ever seen this in over 40 years of nursing,” maternity nurse Deb Totten said of the twins’ birth order.
The boys’ father, Seth, had a feeling the time change might cause a conundrum. “I said, they’re either going to be born on two different days, or the time change may come into play,” he said. Call it twintuiton.
This week, the web series Gross Science really lives up to its name, highlighting all the animals that defend themselves against predators by vomiting everywhere. The video, spotted by Laughing Squid, discusses birds like the European roller, whose chicks spew a noxious-smelling orange bile when touched.
Grasshoppers can puke when they’re faced with predators, too, and it’s eating these bugs that gives the European roller its ability to vomit up chemicals foul enough to warn its parents that danger is near.
Other birds that utilize vomit to ward off danger include the fulmar, a sea bird that shoots a projectile stream of stomach oil at its enemies. The oil can hit targets up to 6 feet away, and is sticky enough to cling to feathers and prevent any birds on the receiving end from flying or floating.
And should you ever hang out with a camel, watch out for that spit. It’s not entirely saliva.
.jpg){kind=link}