› added 6 years ago

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TIL That due to animals matching the output of acorns, oak trees will have a "Masting" year. A masting year will see a tree produce tons of extra nuts to prevent from all seeds being eaten. All trees in an area will do it at the same time for some unknown reason.

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via reddit.com

mx1dE If it’s a particularly contagious virus, it would spread across the planet in a year. “If it starts in New York, it’s going to be in London certainly within a week,” says Ira Longini, a biostatistician at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle who uses computer models to analyze how viruses globe-trot. “And from there, it will quickly travel to the rest of North America and Europe.” For Longini’s computer forecasts to become reality, though, certain conditions would need to be met.
NXmLP TIL about endospores - bacteria that can lie dormant in permafrost for over 10,000 years
wYb6 TIL that M&M stands for Mars and Murrie’s
X0A4X TIL game designer Will Wright (creator of The Sims) held the record for the illegal 'Cannonball Run' race to drive across the US in 1980, driving from New York to California in 33 hours 9 minutes
PZEe TIL that MSG is generally accepted as harmless by the scientific community, with the negative stigma arising from a handful of anecdotal complaints in the 1960’s