› added 3 weeks ago

4

TIL that in 2016, MIT scientists engineered spinach plants with nanotech so that when their roots detected explosive chemicals in the soil, the plants could literally send an email alert to researchers

Read more bbc.co.uk

via reddit.com

mxVMp TIL Werner Herzog once promised fellow documentary maker Errol Morris that he would eat his shoe if Morris ever finished his movie on pet cemeteries, because he found Morris to be incapable of ever finishing his projects. In 1978 Morris finished his film, and Herzog publicly cooked and ate his shoe.
PYarJ TIL Wealthy magnates plotted to overthrow Roosevelt but were foiled by a two-time Medal of Honor Recipient. Although a Congressional Committee found the plot to be true, no arrests were ever made.
V9Mm TIL Robert De Niro Sr., father of the famous actor, was an abstract expressionist painter whose work has been collected in many museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Whitney in New York City.
oBaXo TIL that 900 year old African coins were found of the coast of Australia, making them the oldest foreign artefacts found on the continent, predating the Europeans by centuries.
XEk7D TIL before “The fresh prince of bel air” Will Smith was already famous but was so broke that he used the bus as a means of transportation where he was often recognized and asked for autographs.