› added 12 years ago

90

TIL of the 36 members of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, only 6 have degrees in anything related to science.

Read more science.house.gov

via reddit.com

oBMg7 TIL about dazzle camouflage, used for naval ships in WWI. It consisted of "complex patterns of geometric shapes in contrasting colours, interrupting and intersecting each other." This would make it hard for German U-boats to accurately shoot torpedoes.
5BOp TIL that Saguaro cacti have such a long lifespan that the don’t even grow their first arm until they pass 75 years of age.
9jGM TIL in 2022, two stars in the constellation Cygnus will collide causing a red nova explosion that will be about as bright in our sky as Polaris, the North Star
x6XB5 TIL in the 1600s Kimpa Vita, an aristocrat in the Kongo Empire - the most powerful in Central Africa - started a new version of Catholicism: Antonianism. Gaining thousands of converts from peasantry and nobility, she took over the capital city of Sao Salvador. Aged 22, she burned at the stake.
GNXJ TIL-Astronauts from the Gemini and Apollo missions used a condom like device to extract urine. The sizes were small, medium and large. Instead of these terms, Astronauts preferred to use “extra large, immense, and unbelievable”.