Strange fruit – ten weird facts about bananasBy Gavin Atkins Dec 24, 2011 7:04AM UTC
After a series of cyclones caused a grievous lack of bananas in Australia in 2011, the time has come to reacquaint ourselves with this strange fruit:
10: Banana peels can filter water by absorbing toxins, such as heavy metals in industrial waste like lead, copper, cadmium, and chromium.
9: If you look at bananas under a black light, you will find that they glow blue at the peak of their ripeness.
8: Green banana peels are a source of anti-oxidants, and one study suggests banana peel extract could help treat enlarged prostates.
7: If the sun were made of bananas, it would (initially) be just as hot. Bananas would create just as much pressure and therefore create just as much heat – although it wouldn’t last, since there would be no fusion.
6: Cuban douchebag, Fidel Castro grew up on a 10,000 acre banana plantation.
5: Bananas contain radioactive potassium with a half life of 1.25 billion years. Some say potassium is good for fighting hangovers.
4: If you throw a banana in front of a colony of bees they get really pissed off, because the pheromone that makes bees agitated is the same compound that makes bananas taste like bananas.
3: The banana tree is not a tree, it’s a herb.
2: Because bananas don’t have seeds, popular varieties are at high risk of becoming extinct, should they be attacked by an aggressive disease.
1: Bananas are 80 per cent water, but it is extremely hard to extract banana juice. Indian scientists first found a way to do it in 2005, but the method remains a secret.