› added 2 weeks ago

TIL that in the Australian marsupial Antechinus, the entire species reproduces in a single suicidal mating event: all males breed nonstop for 2–3 weeks, the stress of which causes every male to die from internal bleeding, organ failure and immune collapse.

Read more pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

via reddit.com

Z49D TIL that in 2008, 40% of German soldiers were overweight and unfit for duty. 8% were severely overweight
Vo60 TIL that today is the 100 year anniversary the first woman to parachute from an airplane. She was also the first person to free-fall (jump without a static line), and is credited for the term ‘rip cord’ when she got tangled during a static line jump and had to cut herself free during a jump.
PYoNO TIL About Einstein's "Year of Miracles". In one year he published 3 papers that changed modern physics. The first about the particle theory of light (won him his Nobel Prize), the second led to people accepting the existence of atoms, and the third introduced special relativity (E=mc^2). He was 26.
e0LD4 TIL that in WW2, the Italian submarine “Leonardo Da Vinci” torpedoed the troopship “Empress of Canada”, while on a return journey. The ship sank and half of the resulting 392 deaths were Italian prisoners of war.
X0Yy6 TIL the Level 42 song "Lessons in Love" has 7 different bass sounds—three analog synths, two FM synths and two electric basses (one thumb line and a finger-style line).