› added 4 years ago

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TIL The Toba catastrophe theory that states human population was bottle-necked about 70K years ago due to a super massive volcanic eruption. Humanity may have dwindled to less than 10K individuals and many other animal species were similarly affected.

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M7Nx0 TIL a volcano caused the creation of Frankenstein. Indonesia's Mt. Tambora erupted in 1815, and the next summer was Europe's coldest on record. Shelley, Byron, & friends were on vacation but had to stay inside, so they came up with scary stories, such as "Frankenstein", and the modern vampire.
9Y8OQ TIL that by suppressing the expression of certain genes specifically for beak development, scientists were able to grow a chicken embryo with a dinosaur-like snout instead of a beak
W7vl8 TIL: There was a drinking game in Ancient China with referee officials and a "registrar of rules" to maintain order and issue penalties. If a guest is considered a "coward" for dropping out, they would be branded as a "deserter" and not be invited back in the future.
N75EN TIL that actor Brian Blessed is a fully trained astronaut, having completed over 800 hours of 'space training' in Moscow, and "remains the number one civilian on the wait list for the International Space Station."
0dQNM TIL Inhabitants of high-radiation areas in Iran exhibit fewer radiation-induced chromosomal abnormalities than those in normal-radiation areas, suggesting a potential adaptive response to chronic natural radiation exposure, despite receiving significantly higher annual doses