› added 3 weeks ago

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TIL Albatrosses can glide for thousands of kilometers without flapping wings, using a technique called dynamic soaring. By repeatedly rising into the wind and descending downwind, they gain energy from the vertical wind gradient, allowing them to cover nearly 1,000 km per day with minimal effort

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a8rwZ TIL about the Supersonic Oblique Wing design
E1Pvo TIL Marie Curie's century-old notebook is still radioactive and requires lead box. Any researchers who wish to view it are required to sign a liability waiver.
KO1JJ TIL Samsung tests their phones using a butt-shaped robot
kOa54 TIL that in 1917 a French cargo ship full of high explosives exploded in Halifax Harbour. The explosion was so powerful that an 1100 lbs anchor shaft launched in the explosion flew over the entire town and landed in a field 4 kilometres away.
9wM7D TIL that the two-man astronaut crews on the first four space shuttle missions wore special launch suits and sat in military jet-style seats that allowed them to eject at altitudes as high as 80,000 feet. These were no longer used once the shuttle was declared "operational" for future NASA missions.