› added 9 years ago

84

TIL: The algorithms or “black boxes” used by some of the world’s top trading firms were “left to evolve” and have become so advanced nobody fully understands how they work.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

wLj98 TIL that taller people have an increased risk of getting cancer, with the risk increasing by about 10% for every 4 inches in height. This is because taller people have more cells, and therefore there are more chances for something to go wrong.
Wk5BB TIL that in 1967, then Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt went missing while swimming at Cheviot Beach, Victoria, in rough conditions. He was presumed dead, although his body was never recovered.
0wX7L TIL of the “next-in-line” effect—a phenomenon that causes people to regularly forget the names of the people they meet for the first time because they’re too focused on worrying about what they’ll say next to that person.
a4go TIL: This is what obesity looked like in 1949
E1p0x TIL USA spent about 24 billion dollars on the “Saturn-Apollo” program until 1969, which would correspond to the sum of about 150 billion dollars today. It was the price to pay to make history, for the first people on the Moon to be American astronauts.