› added 5 years ago

103

TIL the fastest land speed record is 1,227.985 km/h (763.03 mph), the fastest manned rocket-powered aircraft was 7,270 km/h (4,520 mph), and water speed record was 275.98 knots (511.11 km/h, 317.59 mph).

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

nWwEd TIL that the 1928 Summer Olympics was the first to allow women to race in the 800m, but after media coverage claimed women couldn’t handle the race, it was removed from the Olympics for 32 years, only returning in 1960.
oRgrr TIL Spiders can fly using electricity in the air (a process called ballooning). They can release silk threads that catch an electric field, which then interacts with the Earth's electric field, providing lift and propulsion. This allows them to travel long distances, even across oceans.
pLDA TIL that Nichelle Nichols did not dislike wearing Uhura’s very short Starfleet uniform on ‘Star Trek’ (1966-1969). She later said, “I was wearing them on the street. What’s wrong with wearing them on the air? I wore 'em on airplanes. It was the era of the miniskirt. Everybody wore miniskirts.”
OodaY TIL that the Irukandji, a jellyfish from Australia that is less than an inch big, has a sting which causes feelings of impending doom, incredible lower back pain, relentless nausea and vomiting, full body cramps, and profuse sweating.
DQgag TIL it’s a myth that any amount of alcohol consumption kills brain cells and the quantity required to actually kill a brain cell would also kill you. Instead, alcohol does harm dendrites, which are the branch-like ends of brain cells that are key for passing messages from one neuron to another.