Interesting Facts About Salt You Probably Didn’t Know Yet

Salt. Yup, you read that right. Plain old salt. We use it on a daily basis, but we don’t really know salt, do we? It’s like that friend you see once a year whenever the old gang comes back together and you pretend to know each other but you can’t even remember if he’s married or not. Salt is that guy.

Thankfully, science cares enough about salt to actually research some of its unique properties. Let’s take a look at some of the amazing things you can do with salt. Or not so amazing things. They’re not all good, trust me.

Cleans Wounds Better Than Soap
Research shows that salt water used to clean out wounds reduces the risk of further infections when compared to regular soapy water. Naturally, this is good news for poor countries, since salt is way cheaper.

It Causes Brain Inflammation
Told you they weren’t all good. Research on rats shows that a high-salt diet turned them … well, stupid. Once the rats were off the salt, they once again performed well on their maze tests.

Salty Stars Have A Shorter Lifespan
Usually when a star dies, it burns hydrogen and helium, followed by a phase in which it sheds gas and dust. After this, they become white dwarfs. Stars that have high amounts of sodium don’t shed gas and dust, they just turn into white dwarfs instantly.