Happy Friday! If you're new to Now I Know, you'll notice that today's format differs from the rest of the week. On Fridays, I pause to write the "Weekender," my "week in review" type of thing, or to share something else I think you may find interesting. Thanks for reading! — Dan
I Need to Check My Dates
Hi!
Yesterday’s newsletter was a re-run of sorts — I shared this story about a date tree that was believed to be extinct but, well, isn’t. It’s from my first book, which came out in 2013, and the original story references that scientists were looking to get the tree to grow fruit, hopefully by the mid-2020s. I did a quick scan to see if that happened and saw nothing.
But — ironically, maybe? — that’s because I did a bad job checking the dates. Not the dates of the date tree, but the dates on the calendar. I guess I was quickly scanning for “2023” or “2024” and failed to notice this story from 2021. In 2020, researchers were able to pollinate another tree from trees grown from the ancient date palm seeds, and that new tree yielded 111 dates. The year after, 700. And maybe, more to come in the years since. The BBC also covered the story, below:
This is really cool — we’ve been able to literally bring a species back to life from a 2,000 year old seed. People today are able to eat food that didn’t exist for millennia. You can’t get your hands on the dates yet — there are only a few trees growing them and I can’t find an export market for it yet (although I missed the 2021 story, so maybe I missed that too). But regardless, the whole idea fascinates me.
I just need to get better at reading calendars.
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The Now I Know Week In Review
Monday: Wheel of Fortune... or Divorce?: A superfan does the math on why it’s important to be nice to your wife, especially if Vanna White is involved. By the way, there are eight hidden game show names here, for those who asked. I’ll not make a list as to not give it away (unless you ask for it individually).
Tuesday: A Hateful Glass of Wine: A toast, but not to life. At all.
Wednesday: Pumped Up: The problem with patenting hand soap?
Thursday: A Date With Destiny: See above.
Long Reads and Other Things
Here are a few things you may want to check out over the weekend:
1) “How a Chemist and His ‘Poison Squad’ Inspired the First Food Safety Regulations” (Scientific American, 9 minutes, May 2024). The subhead: “Author and science journalist Deborah Blum describes how an Indiana chemist kicked off the first major food regulation in the U.S.”
2) “The Graveyard of Empires” (The Fence, 9 minutes, July 2026). The opening is a great hook — here it is, and I’ll leave you to read the rest:
Anyone who has traversed Britain’s cities over the past two decades will recognise the American candy stores and souvenir shops that have spread across the country like Japanese knotweed. The stores, radiating surgical-grade light from their empty interiors, imbue places like the West End with an uncanny quality. Everything about these establishments seems designed to repel customers. So what exactly has led to the proliferation of these shops?
3) “The Disappearing Las Vegas Buffets Hold a Mirror to the American Soul” (New York Times'/gift link, 10 minutes, July 2026.) I’ve never been to Vegas and wouldn’t go there for the buffet anyway. But it’s definitely a slice of Americana.
Have a great weekend!
Dan