› added 8 months ago

32

TIL total solar eclipses happen only once every four hundred years, and the next one is on 4/8!

Read more empirecitywire.com

via reddit.com

R5xyl TIL that during the Cold War, the CIA experimented with using pigeons equipped with tiny cameras to conduct aerial surveillance. While it sounds like a joke, pigeons were genuinely deployed for spy missions!
rRwwd TIL that in the 1700s, Queen Caroline of Great Britain had smallpox innoculation trialled on six prisoners in return for commuting their death sentences. When this was successful, she innoculated her own children, popularising the process.
Mek9K TIL of ancient Egyptian king Psamtik's experiment to discover the origin of human language. He forbade anyone to speak to two infants. Their gibberish sounded like Phrygian, which Psamtik concluded to be the origin of language. Phrygian emerged in the 8th century BC;2000 years after ancient Egyptian
6EVJ8 TIL that the dogs who fought to the death in the infamous Faces of Death movie were really just two puppers smeared with jelly and playing
R7Gvj TIL Senegal and other African countries are building a wall of trees across the width of Africa to stop the advancement of the Saharan desert.