Mind blowing facts, from the Atlantic

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

The Atlantic claims these 2025 facts amazed them. Do they amaze you? This seems a tad melodramatic…

Excerpt:

  1. On average, women’s hands are more sensitive to warmth than men’s, some research suggests.
  2. The U.S. releases 100 million sterile flies in Mexico every week.
  3. A sea-slug species called Elysia chlorotica appears to perform photosynthesis. The slug eats algae, turns bright green, and spends the rest of its life converting light, water, and air into sugar, like a leaf.
  4. The jingle for Pepsi-Cola was the most recognized tune in America in 1942, according to one survey.
  5. Satellites can spot the hot breath geysering out of a single whale’s blowhole.
  6. Some AI doomers aren’t saving money for retirement. If by then the world is fully automated (or we’re all dead), why bother with an IRA?
  7. Scientists discovered—or created, depending on your perspective—a new color named “olo” this year. (Those who have seen it describe it as a sort of teal or a mix of blue and green.)
  8. Modern potatoes likely descended from an ancient tomato plant.
  9. By one calculation, spending on AI accounted for 92 percent of America’s GDP growth in the first half of 2025.
  10. This year, a baby with a rare genetic condition became the first child to receive a customized CRISPR gene-editing treatment to fix his specific DNA mutation.
  11. During the late 1800s, baseball players experimented with four-sided bats.
  12. And in the early 1970s, Little League tried to prevent girls from playing baseball by saying that being hit with a ball could cause breast cancer…
Misread thread titles
2

That list would have been appropriate for an article in People magazine, or Readers Digest.

If The Atlantic thinks this is what appeals to their readers , well,… color me truly disappointed.

3

Well, we used to. Then someone decided that fighting the spread of screw worms was woke.

4

Atlantic must not have been included in the latest Signal chats with JD and Kegsbreath.

5

Pepsi Cola hits the spot
Twelve full ounces, that’s a lot.
Twice as much for a nickel, too,
Pepsi Cola’s the drink for you!

My dad used to sing it around the house when my sister and I were little (1960s).

In the 1950s, Walt Kelly parodied it in Pogo with “Pensacola, it’s the spot” on the sides of the flat-bottom boat the characters occasionally paddled around in.

6

Okay, I’m going to report myself for threadshitting as soon as I post this. My apologies to the OP (who I think is a great poster) for any denigration, real or implied, and I’ll take my note or warning when and if it comes.

So anyway:

I am a big fan of Atlantic magazine, along with Harpers and the New Yorker. I also (gasp) read and admire the Washington Post and New York Times.

In general among such publications, in the last 8 years and especially since the last election, I’ve seen some decrease in quality and more pandering - though more in Wapo and NYT than in the magazines. But honestly, not too much, given the inevitable fallacy of false equivalence which will rear its ugly head whether we like it or not. Regardless, I am a staunch supporter of them all. They aren’t perfect, but they stand for important values of objectivity, critical thinking, and information-sharing.

Were the cherry-picked facts presented in the OP “mind-blowing”? Eh, maybe, maybe not. They were interesting. The OP has given us 12 out of 55 in the actual article. Surely most of us could identify 12/55 (less than 25%) of a list marketed as “mind-blowing” as items that we’d not find particularly intriguing or tickling our fancy.

I really hope that a reasonably thoughtful, objective, critical-thinking press survives the current political landscape. The Atlantic is part of that hope. If they want to print the occasional slightly amusing, less-than-astonishingly-intellectual-but-kinda-thought-provoking article, in hopes of hanging on to tired readers and hoping to gain a few more, well … I’m not making fun of them or canceling my subscription because of that.

So, to answer the OPs question: the 12 facts you present may or may not amaze me, but I’’m uncomfortable criticizing them because of that. The Atlantic is overall great, and a bulwark against the crumbling of American democracy. Why would I take the time to excoriate them for falling slightly short of some hypothetical intellectual ideals in a list they presented for fun at the end of the year?

7

Are you a subscriber and regular reader of The Atlantic?

8

The monthly Harper’s Index has been a long time favorite

9

First, the twelve facts given in the OP aren’t selected by the OP from the list in The Atlantic. They are just the first twelve in that article. Second, this list isn’t the first time they have printed such an article. It appears that the first time they published such an article was in 2018.

10

Not surprising, women having more sensitive skin has been known to science for decades. Scientists even figured out why some years ago; women have the same number of nerves but a smaller body compared to men, especially their hands. So they end up with more nerve endings per square inch, giving them both more sensitivity and better resolution. Again, especially in the hands.

11

I thought the new colour was pretty mind blowing myself. But I’m disappointed we can’t see it!

12

Having read a few issues of The Atlantic (and Harper’s too), I’m surprised that they’re running clickbaity items like “55 Facts That Blew Our Mind.” All that’s missing is “(You Won’t Believe #37!)”.

But it’s that time of year, where publication continues, but contributors likely slow down for the holiday season. And if The Atlantic didn’t get enough contributions to make up a full issue, my guess is that they likely went to their “filler file,” and printed something from that.

13

I’ve noticed “shocked to discover” being a phrase used in headlines lately. Often the shocking discovery is some small piece of trivia or history that wasn’t secret in the first place, just too inconsequential to be headline news (until someone needs some clickbait). The most recent one I remember seeing in the wild was a headline that people were being shocked to discover that Natalie Portman’s real last name wasn’t “Portman”. (Her real name was publicly known in the 1990s. Wait until they find out about Winona Horowitz!)

14

[some group] Horrified is another trending lede phrase.

15

There’s probably another thread for clickbait memes. People are outraged!!!

16

Comedian Brian Regan has a bit where he orders fast food and gets sickered into buying a Burger King.

I’d like to order a Whopper!

(Crackle crackle). Would you like franchise with that… in Pensacola…

Guess I know where he gets his inspiration!

17

Sure you can! It was described as a kind of blue-green. That’s been an ugly car paint colour for years, and looks like this: :wink:

18

The Atlantic used to have a list like that in every issue.

19

Oops, my characterization of “cherry picking” was wrong and unfair. Sorry, OP. (I still love The Atlantic though, and it’s fine by me if they publish similar lists every year.)

20

I thought all those were at least mildly interesting, and read the one about sea slugs to my husband, who sometimes jokes about eating enough spinach to be able to photosynthesise.

I also enjoy the Atlantic.