› added 8 months ago

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TIL that, in a resting state, the brain consumes about 20% of the body's energy. The sight and hearing parts of the brain consume far more energy than parts used for smell and memory. Also, white matter only uses 20-25% of energy as gray matter.

Read more brainfacts.org

via reddit.com

9YnB6 TIL 99 years ago 4,500 tonnes of a mixture incl. ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded at BASF in Oppau, Germany, killing 500-600 people, injuring 2000 more. The explosion, estimated to have 1–2 kilotonnes TNT equivalent, could still be heard more than 300km away in north-eastern France and Munich.
Zn5Y TIL that the US Air Force connected 1,760 PlayStation 3’s together to build supercomputer
ZpK9a TIL Memphis has an advertising campaign to discourage murder called Real Men Don't Murder
N7Wb6 TIL that in 2019, Pope Francis received a bottle of Oban malt whiskey while visiting Scottish priests, and declared it to be 'the real holy water'. The BBC captured the footage for a documentary, which was censored by the Vatican.
5YeRn TIL red spider lilies are poisonous and were planted near burial sites in Japan to prevent animals from digging up corpses. As a result the flowers are now associated with death, funerals, and the afterlife.