this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] hushable@lemmy.world 15 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

One of my favourite stories is the accidental discovery of synthetic purple dye. IIRC there was a chemist researching something completely unrelated and when he disposed some assorted chemicals down a sink he noticed they turned purple.

[–] BubbleMonkey 15 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

This is basically the reason we have artificial sweeteners, too.

Some dude was trying to make/do something, and labs were sort of “lol everything is safe” back then so he like… had a sandwich.. and noticed it was sweet.. so he just sort of tasted all the stuff he was working with and found aspartame. (I believe it was aspartame)

I believe the same is true for fabreeze, the underlying chemical mechanism was an accidental discovery because the researcher’s wife noticed he didn’t smell of cigarettes. It never caught on tho because it, naturally, has no smell, and you become blind to smells you are constantly exposed to, so until they added perfumes (fabreeze as we know it today), even tho it worked, nobody cared to use it. I wish I could actually find it unscented.. the scented shit stinks and gives me headaches.

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.world 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It's Febreeze. I know I'm being a stupid spelling nazi but I swear everyone spells it wrong and for some reason it drives me crazy. I have similar feelings about Scünci from my youth, but that battle has long been lost.

[–] BubbleMonkey 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I mean… No offense or anything but I really don’t care if I mis-spell a brand name. It’s super unimportant in the grand scheme of things. It’s.. all just stupid marketing anyway, and if they cared, they would have used a smarter spelling.

What I am concerned about is calling oneself stupid and a nazi (of any sort at this point) while actually being neither. Even as a hyperbolic thing, it’s something I greatly dislike.

Please be kinder to yourself. It’s ok to be pedantic, but just say that instead :)

I also have things that make me unreasonably annoyed. It’s ok to have those things :)

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.world -2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Oh I fucking know it I was just being nice. I'm pretty awesome and I want all Nazis dead including the ones currently in government in the US and Europe. Just say it right motherfucker. Febreeze. Feh-breeze not Fab breeze doltish sod. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻. :)

[–] BubbleMonkey 4 points 4 months ago

Oh.. umm.. well have a good time with that, I guess.. 👍

[–] areyouevenreal@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Where are Nazis in government in the US or EU? Even Donald Trump isn't a card carrying Nazi, even though he isn't a good person or politician. He also isn't in office, and that's the closest to an actual Nazi I can think of in either place.

Anyway, someone made space for you and then you decided to call them a doltish sod. After calling yourself awesome no less. The truth is you're not "awesome" if you are going to behave like this. There is something wrong with you.

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

Yes I am seriously mentally ill but sometimes I get some good takes in. I definitely went too far with the fabreeze rant. I was just being silly, it might come across better in person.

[–] rockerface@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Also, I believe the rubber was discovered by a scientist accidentally dropping a mixture of a bunch of materials like resin onto a burner, which made it volcanize (man I hope I got the word right) into a layer of rubber in the middle

[–] ImInLoveWithLife@lemm.ee 6 points 4 months ago

Vulcanize, haha. All good, though!