› added 10 years ago

298

TIL: M.A.R.A.U.D.E.R was a US weapon able to produce doughnut shaped rings of plasma and balls of lightning that exploded with devastating effects when hitting its target. The project’s initial success led to it becoming classified and no more details of how it developed after 1993 are available

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

nWx17 TIL the invasive destructive trailing ant can chew through rubber and plastic, and has damaged car tires and ignition systems. In 1922, it was even reported that these ants infested a research lab, killed several lab mice and attacked the scientists.
wo8mP TIL The World Factbook, published by the CIA, lists Australia’s coastline at 25,760 km (16,007 miles) and Japan’s at 29,751 km (18,486 miles). The World Factbook is wrong according to other measures which put Australia's coastline at 66,530 km (41,340 miles)
ReZ1 TIL that an estimated 20% to 25% of people are immune to hangovers.
OoXa4 TIL that although we think of electric vehicles as being a very modern technology, they actually pre-date internal combustion engines and were popular between the 1880s and 1920s.
nexvB TIL the Kit Kat chocolate bar can trace its origins to a worker at the chocolate bar factory who put a note in the suggestion box saying the company should invent a chocolate bar that “a man could take to work in his pack up”.