Surprising discoveries: StarCrete, spiders, and SVB merch

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We’re rounding up the most interesting discoveries from last week’s Quartz Daily Brief newsletters. Get the Daily Brief in your inbox every morning, for free! Each day includes a section with surprising discoveries, along with a selection of important and interesting news from the global economy, curated by Quartz.

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2 / 7

A new species of spider is unpleasant to look at

We’ll spare you the photo—click on the link below if you’re feeling brave. But here’s what we know:

🕷️ Its name is Euoplos dignitas, and it was found 100 years ago, but has just now been studied and named
📏 It can grow to 2 inches in length
👵 Like the tarantula, to which it is related, it can live for several decades
😱 It’s probably not coming for you—the Euoplos dignitas lives in a very small area in Queensland, Australia

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3 / 7

You’re unlikely to reach cream parity when you twist an Oreo

A pile of Oreo cookies. — Accept the inevitable.

It took MIT scientists to figure out that the cream filling will end up on one side of the Oreo 80% of the time you twist it. Speeding up your efforts only makes it worse.

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4 / 7

For sale: Silicon Valley Bank merch

A screenshot of a listing of an ugly Christmas sweater from Silicon Valley Bank — Failurecore

Interested in the Christmas sweater of a failed bank? Keep an eye out for other failed company merchandise. Nab a good one for cheap, and you could be sitting on a goldmine.

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5 / 7

Beethoven’s hair gave us DNA answers

Roll over, Rowlf!

Gif: Giphy

Not only was Beethoven’s famous hairstyle a joy to look at, locks of it have finally uncovered the possible reason for his death. As suspected, the liver did it.

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6 / 7

Maybe we’re all made of StarCrete!

A black-and-white image of the rocky surface of Mars — Future building site

A new, highly durable building material that could be used in structures on Mars has a simple recipe that’s almost delicious sounding:

🥔 Potato starch
🧂 Salt
💫 Extraterrestrial dust

Surprising discoveries from the week of March 20: StarCrete, spiders, and SVB merch

Surprising discoveries from the week of March 20: StarCrete, spiders, and SVB merch

The Quartz Daily Brief offers surprising discoveries each weekday—these were our favorites this week

A new species of spider is unpleasant to look at

A new species of spider is unpleasant to look at

You’re unlikely to reach cream parity when you twist an Oreo

You’re unlikely to reach cream parity when you twist an Oreo

For sale: Silicon Valley Bank merch

For sale: Silicon Valley Bank merch

Beethoven’s hair gave us DNA answers

Beethoven’s hair gave us DNA answers

Maybe we’re all made of StarCrete!

Maybe we’re all made of StarCrete!