› added 6 years ago

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TIL that scientists and historians believe that the same sailors whose story inspired Melville’s Moby Dick also may have caused the extinction of the Floreana Tortoise and the Floreana Mockingbird, species that inhabited Charles Island in the Galapagos.

Read more smithsonianmag.com

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gMr97 Ever since Morpheus explained how the machines use humans as batteries in The Matrix, we’ve been fascinated by the idea. But can the human body actually generate enough current to do anything useful? We decided to find out, by asking experts how long it would take a human brain to charge an iPhone.
J1Ql8 TIL Schrodinger constructed his famous "cat experiment" to show that misinterpretations of quantum theory can lead to absurd results that do NOT match the real world - today many popularizers of science have embraced the absurdity of Schrodinger's Cat and claim that this is how the real world works
Y7jLv TIL that in 2015, Seal released an official explanation of the lyrics to "Kiss from a Rose." It read: "I have avoided explaining these lyrics for 25 years. I am not going to start doing it now."
xVxOw TIL that Prince was supposed to sing the hook on Kendrick Lamar's "Complexion (A Zulu Love). Prince heard and loved the record, and the concept of the record got both of them talking until they realized they didn't record anything and they ran out of time in the studio.
xV99w TIL of an ancient city, Cahokia, which was settled circa 600 AD and by 1250 was bigger than London. The cultural heritage site is located 8 miles from the Gateway Arch, in Illinois. The city was made up of pyramids and large earthen mounds, and “Woodhenge,” which marked the soltices and equinoxes.