› added 2 years ago

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TIL 5,200 tons of space dust falls on Earth every year

Read more space.com

via reddit.com

VMk9G TIL fishing nets account for 46 percent of the trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, with the majority of the rest composed of other fishing industry gear, including ropes, oyster spacers, eel traps, crates, and baskets.
54J8 TIL that in 1959, an experimental nuclear reactor meltdown in Simi Valley (35 miles from Los Angeles) released an estimated 458 times more radiation than the Three Mile Island incident. The site remains radioactive to this day, which is surrounded by 500,000 people within 10 miles
Wk1k4 TIL of the Australian town of Cooper Pedy. 80% of the residents live underground to avoid the incredible heat above ground.
rRNOx TIL that chocolate bars used to cost 5c and were used as meal replacements. As a result, in the US a popular choice was aptly named "Nickel Lunch".
l77jr TIL that about one in 2,000 people in the UK is a carrier of variant CJD, or "mad cow" disease, linked to eating contaminated beef. Relatively few people who catch the infectious agent develop symptoms and it's unknown if they can transmit it to others.