› added 6 years ago

164

TIL that in 1975 a cat was credited as a co-author of a physics paper, after Jack Hetherington accidentally used articles such as "we" and "our" in a study on atomic behavior. Unwilling to change the errors, he simply added his cat as a co-author, under the name "F.D.C. Willard"

Read more atlasobscura.com

via reddit.com

w4ZW TIL that the oldest alliance in the world is between the UK and Portugal, and is over 700 years old.
Lk8N9 TIL that Pangolins walk on two legs, and use their tail as a counterbalance to keep them upright. They’re also able to close their noses and ears to keep ants out when they’re eating.
aVRA TIL Micro USB cables are designed to absorb the mechanical wear of the connection, so that after thousands of connections and disconnections only the cable needs to be replaced instead wearing out the port on the device.
EbDo TIL The Malaysian pen-tailed tree shrew subsists on a diet roughly equivalent to 100% beer, drinking the fermented nectar of the flower buds of the bertam plant. This nectar can reach up to 3.8% alcohol content. Despite this, they don’t appear to get drunk.
vaG7 TIL wet hay can spontaneously combust causing barn fires