› added 7 years ago

1005

TIL though alchemists never succeeded in transmuting lead to gold, in 1981 physicists used the particle accelerator at Berkeley to shoot Carbon nuclei at thin foils of Bismuth- the resulting collisions did produced a tiny amount of Gold atoms

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via ift.tt

8ZNa TIL that over 8 years ago Sean Hannity agreed to be waterboarded to prove that it isn’t torture. He still hasn’t done it.
6xGm TIL that an ancient Carthaginian explorer discovered the Gorillas and thought they were “savage people”.
M70ZV TIL of Wendy Carlos, who helped invent the Moog synthesizer and the first transgender person to receive a Grammy for her 1968 album Switched-On Bach (she won a total of 3 Grammys for this album).
pYAYZ TIL that no smoking signs became mandatory in airplane lavatories after a fire on Varig Flight 820 killed all but one passenger by carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation.
6ekl TIL that so many British people make tea after the tv show “Eastenders” finishes, that backup power stations go on standby to cope with the massive surge in electricity