› added 6 years ago

158

TIL that researchers at the University of Manchester have trained a regal jumping spider named “Kim” to leap on demand for a robotics research in 2018. First time a spider has been successfully trained to jump.

Read more news.nationalgeographic.com

via reddit.com

xVDe1 TIL That ancient Greeks hung a branch of bay over the door of a sick person to fend off evil and death. This led to the garlanding of newly qualified doctors with a bay wreath, known as the Bacca laureus in Latin, which gave us the word "baccalaureate" (University Degree).
pgRA TIL Nobel Prize winner Guglielmo Marconi had secured free passage on the Titanic’s maiden voyage but decided to take an earlier ship to catch up on work. Three years later he disembarked the Lusitania right before it was sunk by a German U-Boat.
Lkmj9 TIL Golden rice is just NORMAL RICE genetically modified to contain VITAMIN A because where rice is part of the staple diet people were DYING with deficiency
loBA1 TIL In 2009, a drunk New Zealander lost a poker bet and had his name changed to "Full Metal Havok More Sexy N Intelligent Than Spock And All The Superheroes Combined With Frostnova". He found out that it was accepted 5 years later after receiving a confirmation letter.
a8EQL TIL that Pope Francis hasn't watched TV since 1990, after making a pledge to the Virgin Mary. It has kept him from watching his favorite soccer team, Buenos Aires-based San Lorenzo. So a member of the Swiss Guard tells him the scores and keeps him up to date on the standings