› added 6 years ago

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TIL of the kākāpō—a nocturnal, flightless parrot that drags its face along the ground to navigate and has a mating ritual where the male digs a hole in a hill, lays down in it and makes loud noises all night until a female takes interest in him.

0wXYp TIL I learned why we can “smell metals” when they don’t have a significant vapour pressure, sublimating etc. We smell the reaction of oils in our skin with the metal, producing detectable byproducts such as ketones, not the metal itself.
4kv8X TIL chicken noodle soup has actual healing properties. After consuming, white blood cells behave differently and create an anti-inflammatory response that can help with upper respiratory issues (ie: the common cold)
oRAxA TIL in 499 century BC, king Histaiaeus (ancient Greece) sent secret military messages tattooed on bald heads of messengers. After the hair regrew, they sent the messengers. In the destination they were shaved again to reveal the message.
X0X7E TIL that the Nazca Lines in Peru, massive geoglyphs created by the ancient Nazca civilization, were made by removing reddish pebbles to reveal the lighter ground beneath. Some of these lines are over 1,200 feet long and can only be fully appreciated from the air.
NX7dP TIL an unnamed male director tried to cast Salma Hayek in his film, but the studio refused as "they couldn’t imagine a Mexican in space." The director later told Hayek he was ashamed and should have walked away but he needed the movie.