› added 2 days ago

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TIL Charles Darwin was invited on the HMS Beagle voyage as a companion to the captain, Robert FitzRoy, who feared the isolation of a five-year journey might drive him to suicide

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via reddit.com

xVWQg TIL grasshoppers & locusts are the same species. Grasshoppers are generally solitary & innocuous, but when overcrowded, a chemical releases in their brain which turns them into a locust — ravenous, horny, and attracted to large groups. Oddly enough, that brain chemical is: Serotonin
LQ05r TIL Tsunamis also happen in the Mediterranean.
R5147 TIL The Vatican operates a telescopic observatory in Arizona
LkJkv TIL that in 1938, a man in prison trained a cockroach to smuggle him cigarettes. He was later released because the warden said "a man who can train a cockroach doesn't belong in prison".
gMP19 TIL That “Machiatto” means “marked” in Italian. A Latte Machiatto is milk marked with espresso; the milk is “marked” with coffee. An American Latte is built in reverse, where the coffee is “marked” with milk and foam.