Why do so many American hockey players sound like fake Canadians?Credit: DepositPhotos ShareWhats the weirdest thing you learned this week? Well, whatever it is, we promise youll have an even weirder answer if you listen to PopScis hit podcast. The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week hits Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and everywhere else you listen to podcasts every-other Wednesday morning. Its your new favorite source for the strangest science-adjacent facts, figures, and Wikipedia spirals the editors of Popular Science can muster. If you like the stories in this post, we guarantee youll love the show.FACT: Hockey players really do sound more CanadianIn this weeks episode, I dive into a fascinating linguistic quirk of the sports worldwhy do so many American hockey players sound like fake Canadians?My obsession with this topic started with research from linguist Andrew Bray. He noticed the phenomenon of fake Canadian accents while studying hockey lingo. While he originally set out to analyze hockey slang for its own sake (e.g. biscuit for puck or celly for celebration), he found himself asking an even bigger question: Why do American players seem to take on Canadian-esque speech?Bray recorded his conversations with players, analyzing their vowel shifts and pronunciation. He confirmed that many American hockey players adopt features of Canadian English, but not quite enough to pass as actually Canadian. Instead, they end up in this uncanny valley: they sound just Canadian enough for other people to notice, but not enough to blend in. This could be a case of linguistic mirroring, which is when people unconsciously adjust their speech to fit into a social group. Since hockey has such a strong Canadian identity, American players may be picking up on those speech patterns as part of the sports culture.Bray isnt the only person out there studying Hockey English. In fact, one study suggests that even Canadian players are accused of sounding more Canadian than theyre supposed to.Along the way, we chat about our own relationships with hockey, regional accents, and how our voices shift depending on where we are and who were with (and yes, we talk about Madonnas infamous British phase).FACT: We finally know why plants go toward the lightBy Riley BlackScientists finally figured out how plants know where the light is coming from! I had to hustle to include this as a last-minute addition to my book when I learned about it.Weve known for ages that plants are phototropic, which means they bend toward sunlight. You probably remember doing simple experiments with seedlings in school that showed this is the case. But until 2023, we didnt know how they did it.The answer came from an accidental discovery. Researchers found that plants with a mutation in a protein transporter (ABCG5) couldnt follow the light. As it turns out, plants rely on tiny air pockets inside them to scatter sunlight and create a gradient, telling them which way to grow. No air pockets? No phototropism.I love discoveries like thissomething we all assume is understood, but where science is still catching up!You can learn about the evolutionary romance between plants and animals in my new book, When the Earth Was Green.FACT: With enough pans of lasagna, you could theoretically power anythingBy Amanda ReedEver pulled foil off leftovers and found weird black spots? Congrats, youve made a lasagna cell! It happens when you store salty, moist foodlike lasagnain a steel pan covered with aluminum foil.Basically, youve unintentionally built a battery: the aluminum foil acts as the anode, the steel pan as the cathode, and the salty food as the electrolyte. Over time, the foil corrodes where it touches the food, thanks to galvanic corrosion. This reaction breaks down the foil, leaving behind aluminum salts. Those arent harmful, but theyre not exactly appetizing either. Acidic foods like vinegar-heavy dishes can speed up that particular effect, even without the full battery setup.The American Chemical Society whipped up a tasty little experiment showing that lasagna cells really do produce power. You can check that out here.