› added 7 years ago

75

TIL that the International Space Station has been described as the most expensive single item ever constructed at $150 billion.

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b9Oop TIL that the first vending machine was invented 2000 years ago in Roman Egypt and sold Holy Water. When the coin was deposited, it fell upon a pan attached to a lever which let some water flow out. A counterweight snapped the lever up and turned off the valve once the coin was tilted off the pan.
e0PB4 TIL What is dead may never die: Astronomers discovered a "zombie" star that went supernova in 1954...then exploded again in 2014. According to the study's lead author, "This supernova breaks everything we thought we knew about how they work."
X00eX TIL the last monolingual Irish speaker died in 1998
oOvo TIL we now know rats react differently when men are around than they do women, potentially invalidating 100 years of behavioural studies using lab rats
Y7kKx TIL During the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, up to 90% of the Damage was Caused Not by the Quake, but by the Subsequent 30+ Fires