› added 4 years ago

49

TIL that the British colony of New South Wales originally included what is now New Zealand, the Australian states of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, and South Australia, the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory, and Norfolk Island

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

0d05y TIL of the 'Azolla event', a situation in which a species of floating fern covered the Arctic Ocean ~49 million years ago; scientists suspect the fern grew so aggressively that it removed enough CO2 from the atmosphere to initiate a global ice age
evDL TIL of The Waffle House Index, An Informal Scale Used By The United States Government To Determine Severity of Storms Based on Opening/Closing of Waffle Houses
OGPOL TIL Crocodiles swallow stones that grind the food inside their stomachs. It also keeps them underwater longer
4Kda TIL that a Googolplex (1 followed by a googol zeroes) can’t be written down because it would take up more space than there is in the known universe.
b9DPj TIL The “Cinnamon challenge” is dangerous. Cinnamon powder, when inhaled, can cause inflammation and permanent scarring in the lungs, leading to conditions like emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis.