› added 4 years ago

203

TIL Mature Douglas Fir trees can send sugar to saplings via miles of underground, gossamer-thin mycorrhizal fungi. Birches can loan carbon to fir trees in the summer, while firs pay it back in fall. Trees of different species can share nitrogen leached from salmon leftovers from a bear's lunch.

Read more researchgate.net

via reddit.com

QbkM TIL that Mark Spitz, nine time olympic champion, jokingly told the Russian swim team coach in 1972 that his moustache increased his speed in the water, deflecting water away from his mouth. The next year, every Russian swimmer was sporting one.
oRmn7 TIL that the very first "crowd wave" at a sports event ocurred spontaneously. At a Colorado Rockies NHL ice hockey game in 1980, a section of the crowd rose to their feet slightly later than the section beside them. This continued around the area to complete a "wave", without having been prompted.
LQv9m TIL of the Illusory Truth Effect which is when people will start to believe a lie if they hear it enough times simply because the "familiarity can over power rationality," causing something familiar to feel right.
KOXyB TIL: In Costa Rica, a sea turtle conservation organization is exposing sea turtle egg poachers by placing fake sea turtle eggs on the beach, with GPS trackers imbedded inside the eggs to reveal the location of whoever takes them.
6veW TIL For as long as NYC can remember, there have only been 2 days in NYC when no shootings, stabbings, or slashings were reported. These two days occurred in 2012 and 2013.