› added 1 month ago

10

TIL that shrapnel is named after Henry Shrapnel, the inventor of the exploding cannonball.

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R7OD8 TIL In archeology an inscription of a language's alphabet is called an abecedarium (pronounce ay-bee-see-dare-ee-um). They're usually practice exercises from ancient students who were learning to write.
E16Z7 TIL Apollo 12 was struck by lightning during launch and was on the verge of being aborted before a single Flight Controller realised that flipping a little known switch would restore enough systems to save the mission.
x6457 TIL a team of researchers at UC Irvine found that the average attention span in 2004 was 150 seconds. In 2012 it was found to be 75 seconds, and recently was found to be 47 seconds.
DQome TIL that anthropologists have identified 7 'universal' moral rules found all around the world: help your family, help your group, return favours, be brave, defer to superiors, divide resources fairly, and respect others’ property.
9YAyG TIL the earliest evidence of hominid murder is 430,000 yr old skull found in the Atapuerca Mountains of Spain. The skull has two distinct holes in the forehead, thought to be from blunt force trauma and was found dumped down a deep shaft in a cave.