› added 12 years ago

148

TIL that when no trees were available, whalers would burn penguins to boil down whale blubber into oil.

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WkWoA TIL that sunflowers are capable of cleaning heavy toxins such as arsenic and even uranium from soil.
W7xJd TIL Before natural gas distribution became common, houses had pipelines for coal-derived "town gas" to use for heating and cooking.
wLya8 TIL that while Issac Newton was essentially quarantined at his home when Cambridge was closed in 1665 due to the Plague, he discovered the groundwork for his theories of calculus and the laws of motion.
LkYXp TIL a study of Europeans vs Sherpas during an Everest climb found Sherpa blood had less oxygen but used it more efficiently by burning less fat & more glucose (the opposite of Europeans). Plus Sherpas have thinner blood which put less strain on the heart, & more capillaries to deliver oxygen better.
E1Q00 TIL when you cool helium to about 2 Kelvin it has literally zero viscosity and so can flow through solid ceramics and up walls.