Short answers, pulled from the story.
Chili peppers originated in modern-day Peru and Bolivia, where Capsicum plants have been part of human diets since about 7,500 BC. They were first cultivated in east-central Mexico some 6,000 years ago and spread independently across the Amazon and highland South America before European contact.
Capsaicin, chemically known as 8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide, is the primary compound that causes the burning sensation of chili peppers. It belongs to a family of related compounds called capsaicinoids. Capsaicin binds with pain receptors in the mouth and throat, triggering signals that travel to the brainstem and thalamus.
The Scoville scale measures the heat intensity of chili peppers in Scoville heat units (SHU). It was invented by American pharmacist Wilbur Scoville in 1912. His original method measured how much a chili extract had to be diluted in sugar syrup before a panel of tasters could no longer detect any heat; since the 1980s, high-performance liquid chromatography has replaced the taste panel.
Pepper X from the United States is the hottest chili pepper on the list of the world's nine hottest peppers, rated at 2.69 million Scoville heat units. Wales produced Dragon's Breath at 2.48 million SHU, and the Carolina Reaper from the United States registers at 2.2 million SHU.
Christopher Columbus and his crew were the first Europeans to encounter Capsicum when they reached the Caribbean. The Spanish brought chilies back to Europe, and they appear in Spanish records by 1493. Portuguese and Spanish traders then introduced them to Africa, Arabia, and Asian trading posts including Goa, Sri Lanka, and Malacca during the 16th century. The earliest known mention in Chinese writing dates to 1591.
Yes. In 2021, the Plant Habitat-04 experiment aboard the International Space Station grew four chili plants of a specially dwarfed Hatch cultivar over 137 days. The plants produced twenty-six peppers across two harvests; most were eaten by the crew and twelve were returned to Earth for study. It was described as the first generally recognized fruiting crop grown in space.