In one of the most bizarre findings in the history of both the planet and clothing, scientists recently discovered alarmingly large amounts of denim fiber have accumulated in the Arctic. You read right, as you sit in an easy chair wearing faded blue jeans.

All the gathered denim fluff is what gives breaking icebergs that odd blue tint. OK, so that’s not even remotely true, but you still might want to ponder The Smithsonian headline “Microfibers From Blue Jeans Are Polluting Arctic Oceans; Researchers found that bits of denim are much more prevalent in our oceans than previously thought.”

The headline caught me as much for the breakthrough findings as for the fact we had “previously” even thought about it.