Why cork takes decades to make a wine stopper

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Wine stoppers are a supreme lesson in generational patience. An oak tree must grow for a quarter of a century before its bark is thick enough to strip, and then you have to wait another nine years for it to regrow. It makes the plastic alternatives look remarkably appealing to impatient winemakers.

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Why cork takes decades to make a wine stopper — STACKY / Economy

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Why cork takes decades to make a wine stopper

A bigger world.One discoveryat a time.

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The natural sponge that holds 20 times its weight

The peanut farmers who needed a license

Australian military forces officially declared war on a flock of emus in 1932 because the giant flightless birds were devastating the Western Australian wheat economy during the Great Depression.

Vetiver grass roots are uprooted purely for their oil

Deep underground in converted Missouri limestone mines, the United States government sits on a massive, secret stockpile of roughly 1.4 billion pounds of surplus cheese.

Sea sponges can grow back after being cut

A bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.