› added 5 years ago

254

TIL peeling Scotch Tape in a vacuum releases enough X-rays to produce an image of finger bones on X-ray film

Read more technologyreview.com

via reddit.com

9wl4B TIL The aardwolf knows not to destory its food sources. Aardwolves eat part of a termite mound, leaves it, and return a few months later when the colony has rebuilt so it can have another meal. An aardwolf keeps track of mounds it attacked and can eat 250,000 termites in a single night.
RJBw TIL that Tu Youyou, the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize in medicine, developed a new malaria drug by finding a fever-fighting traditional herb mentioned in a 1,600-year-old text and then isolating the antimalarial compound in the plant.
N7DOJ TIL the oldest recipient of a doctorate degree was German born Ingeborg Syllm-Rapoport, who submitted her thesis in 1938 but wasn’t allowed to defend it under Nazi rule because her mother was Jewish. 77 years later she was finally given the chance to do so and obtained her PhD at the age of 102.
GdMG TIL Democrats used to be “red” (the color associated with socialism) and Republicans used to be “blue” (the color associated with the Union Army). It changed in the 1984 election because “Reagan”, “Republican” and “Red” all start with “Re”.
XE85P TIL food industries were aggressively opposed to writing "insect-based" on ingredient labels even though many products we consume and buy are made with insects. The FDA and EU agreed to allow variations. So, now, when you see "carmine", "cochineal", "natural red 4", or "E120" - that also means bugs.