A New Milk Fad Is Taking Over The World And Other Facts
Welcome to What We Learned This Week, a digest of the most curiously important facts from the past few days. This week: the hot new milk on the block, how to properly wrap your headphones and the land that no country wants to claim.
WHITE GOLD
A2 Milk Is A Real Cash Cow
Lately, it seems, the public has turned on milk. The fact that the sheer number of adults who have trouble digesting can support an entire sub-industry of dairy products has led some to question whether we should be drinking milk at all. That said, this has not stopped enterprising dairy farmers from coming up with A More Drinkable Milk.
Enter Australia's A2 Milk. Unlike regular milk — which contains both A1 and A2 beta-casein proteins — A2 milk is drawn from cows that produce milk with just A2 proteins. The company, and the scientists that support them, claim that milk with A1 proteins leave behind fragments when digested that cause inflammation, and that people who drink milk with just A2 proteins "just feel better." Research-wise the verdict is still out, but the market's response has been, well, decisive. In the past year, A2 Milk's market value has tripled to over $1 trillion. That's some serious cheese.
IT'S STEEPED IN HISTORY
A Teapot Is Very Important To Computer Graphics History
If you've used a Windows screen saver, seen a Pixar film or pay the slightest attention to graphics rendering technologies you've probably seen it. It's short and round. Here is its handle, here is its spout. By why, after nearly four decades since computer graphics pioneer Jim Newell used the Utah teapot in a paper on 3D rendering, does the teapot persist? It's the perfect random item. It's complex enough to demonstrate unique reflection patterns and cast shadows upon itself, but simple enough in terms of geometry to render quickly. And when someone figures out a serviceable placeholder, people tend to latch onto it.
[Nautilus]
TAKES TWO HANDS TO UNTANGLE
It Takes 10 Seconds To Properly Wrap Any Cable
Sailors and AV experts are excused from this demonstration, but for the rest of you: Yes it is really this easy to prevent your headphones from becoming a jumbled mess. And we should add that properly wrapping any cable not only saves you time and frustration, but also extends its life. You see, most damage to cables happens when you're pulling and tugging on them in the process of untangling. So, just wrap it up.
[Digg]
SURPRISING
The Girl Who Convinced Her Boyfriend To Kill Himself Might Also Be Mentally Unwell
Two years ago, 18-year-old Conrad Roy killed himself. Leading up to Roy's suicide is a very lengthly stream of text messages with his girlfriend, Michelle Carter. In those text messages it is clear that Carter convinced Roy to go through with the suicide.
Currently, Carter stands trial for involuntary manslaughter. And while the case presents a pressing legal question of texting-as-murder, a deeper — and possibly more complex and interesting — question is what would cause Carter, who also clearly loved Roy, to force him towards suicide. As Marin Cogan's investigation in New York Magazine's The Cut reveals, she too might have been dealing with some none-too-pleasant thoughts either.
[The Cut]
EVEN IF NO ONE WANTS IT
You Can't Just Go Out And Claim Unclaimed Land
Between Egypt and Sudan, lies Bir Tawil, an 800-square-mile patch of godforsaken desert that no country has laid claim to. A loving father, Jeremiah Heaton, wanted to fulfill his daughter's wish of becoming a real-life princess. And so Heaton travelled to Bir Tawil, literally planted a flag in the ground of the still-not-insignificant parcel of land and named his daughter Princess of the Kingdom Of North Sudan.
What resulted was the geopolitical equivalent of claiming the last fry for yourself. What Heaton did not realize was that just because no one has claimed something does not mean that no one wants to lay claim to something. What's more, the action of a white man traveling across an ocean to seize land in the name of royalty has, historically, not ended well. But most importantly, writer Jack Shenker got there first.
LIKE CLEARING ANY BLOCKAGE, SATISFYING
A Tunnel Borer Finally Breaking Through Is Not Boring
For months, even years, tunnel boring machines labor in darkness and obscurity. They slowly, carefully chew away at the earth, beneath our feet. Watching them finally emerge out the other end is nothing short of triumphant. Here, watch Alice make a breakthrough in New Zealand.
[Digg]
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