› added 9 years ago

1555

TIL that there is an autonomous robot patrolling the Great Barrier Reef, finding destructive starfish and killing them by injecting them with poison

Read more scientificamerican.com

via ift.tt

xdED TIL that there used to be a system of mountain beacons, much like in LOTR, where a message could be sent hundreds of miles in less than an hour.
D7Wj TIL that the purchase of Alaska from Russia by the U.S. was originally mocked by U.S. citizens, who called it “Andrew Johnson’s polar bear garden”
GY6o5 TIL Harry Houdini Piloted the First Airplane That Flew Over Australia
N7rmE TIL that 70% of wealthy families lose their wealth by the second generation, and 90% by the third.
epvpn TIL in 2016 two teens died after ingesting a concoction known as 'Dewshine' (a mixture of Mountain Dew & racing fuel, which is virtually 100% methanol). These are the first reported deaths in the US associated with the mixture. Two other teens who also drank it became intoxicated, but survived.