› added 10 years ago

140

TIL that more than four billion years ago Earth was hit by several objects larger than 600 miles that could vaporize the oceans and sterilize the surface yet bacterial life survived deep underground and each time recolonized the planet.

Read more nasa.gov

via reddit.com

LQvA9 TIL that the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Gavrilo Princip, who set off the chain of events in the July Crisis and eventually the outbreak of WWI, and some of his accomplices, is buried at a mausoleum called "Heroes Chapel".
Dx7g TIL Pythagoras drowned his student, Hippasus for stating that irrational numbers exist.
jNk7n TIL about the sentinel hypothesis: an evolutionary psychology idea that explains why people have different sleep schedules. Night owls and early birds played important roles in early human life.
R7wo4 TIL of Jeff Erlanger (1970-2007), who was a quadriplegic child who appeared on an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in 1981. Almost 20 years later, when Rogers was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999, Erlanger was a surprise guest to introduce him.
rNvd TIL That the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland were actually good for the environment, as the volcano emitted much less CO2 per day than the planes it grounded.