› added 7 months ago

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TIL Red-Eyed Tree Frogs use “Flash Coloration” which is when an organism displays certain colors at rest versus in motion. When the frog is startled, it can flash its bright red eyes, orange webbed feet, and blue/yellow lateral stripes, which startles predators and allows the frog to escape.

5Yl98 TIL in 1901, the Wright brothers built their own wind tunnel out of wood, old hacksaw blades and bicycle spokes; using it to test more than 200 wing shapes hand made from pieces of sheet steel and wax. The data it generated was critical to their first powered flight two years later.
x6edB TIL on Valentine's Day in 1991 during the Gulf War, the RAF attempted to airstrike a bridge in Fallujah with laser guided missiles, but they malfunctioned and hit a local marketplace. The RAF apologized and subsequently attacked the bridge again, hitting a different marketplace.
8aROL TIL in 1984 a group of paleontologists ate a buffalo stew that had been frozen for 30,000 years. The flavor was reported as tough with an earthy mushroom smell.
neO07 TIL Despite his scientific background and immeasurable contributions to promoting science to the public, Carl Sagan's nomination was rejected from the National Academy of Sciences leading to the Sagan Effect where popular scientists in the media are seen as less knowledgeable than their peers.
699P7 TIL about the battle of talas. A battle where the forces of the Abbasid caliphate and the allied Tibetian empire fought against the Tang Dynasty of China for control of sry darya region of Central Asia. The battle ended with a Abbasid victory that marked the end of the Tang westward expansion.