› added 1 year ago

81

TIL From 1600-400 BC, the Mesoamerican Olmec civilization was using and processing bitumen (asphalt) and may have used it like currency.

Read more sciencedirect.com

via reddit.com

k7B4 TIL Andy Weir, the author of The Martian, was so keen on getting every detail right, he wrote programs to calculate the orbital paths of spaceships that appear in the book.
69vdW TIL Professional poker great Stu Ungar overdosed on drugs during the third day of the 1990 World Series of Poker Main Event, but he had already assembled such a great chip lead that he was able to make the final table and finish 9th in the tournament without playing another hand.
R7kW6 TIL French neuroscientist Michel Jouvet disabled the mechanism in cats brains that inhibits movement during REM sleep. While sleeping the cats moved their heads, arched their backs, and stalked invisible prey.
AxQl TIL that the phrase “balls to the wall” comes from aviation; ball-shaped handles controlled the throttle and fuel, and putting these handles closer to the wall resulted in the fastest possible speed
E1rax TIL about Pitcairn Island, the least populous national jurisdiction in the world. Its 50 inhabitants are descended mostly from a group of 9 mutineers, who settled on the island in 1790.