› added 5 years ago

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TIL a magnet powerful enough to lift an aircraft carrier is in the ITER fusion reactor core

Read more iter.org

via reddit.com

NYXJ TIL the X Prize Foundation cancelled their $10 million genetic sequencing X Prize when the technology in the industry was beginning to approach the cost and accuracy thresholds for awarding the prize.
oBR1Y "Humans are excellent at picking up patterns, even better than computers, despite recent advances in machine learning."
Qjnp TIL that while a person who inherits two copies of a cystic fibrosis mutation has a terrible disease, someone who only has one (a carrier) has an inborn resistance to cholera, typhoid fever, and tuberculosis. This is an example of heterozygote advantage.
rmPy TIL that in Chernobyl they planted hemp to remove toxins from the soil in a process that’s called “phytoremediation”
K8GG TIL when Alexander the Great was a child, his tutor rebuked him for wasting so much incense during a sacrifice to the gods. Years later, Alexander conquered Gaza and sent back 18 tons of the spices to his old tutor with a note telling him not to be stingy with the gods.