› added 10 months ago

94

TIL that since April 2021 MOXIE has been successfully making oxygen from mars atmosphere, and was able to produce oxygen on seven experimental runs, in a variety of atmospheric conditions, including during day and night, and through different Martian seasons.

Read more news.mit.edu

via reddit.com

BxXb TIL Gaius gracchus, the ancient roman politician, had a bounty put on his head to the price of the head’s weight in gold. Although the head was delivered, the prize was never paid, as it was discovered that Gaius’ captor had emptied out his brain and replaced it with molten lead.
GYDp7 TIL that US sailors captured by North Korea, were flipping the middle finger in photos to protest the propaganda on their treatment. The North Koreans for months photographed them without knowing the real meaning of the finger, while the sailors explained that the sign meant good luck in Hawaii.
e0p9n TIL that 28 fossils of the largest extinct species of snake were discovered in a coal mine of Columbia. The "Titanoboa" lived about 65 million years ago. The species clocked out at about 48 feet long and weighed roughly 2,500 lb.
rxZ1 TIL that Marine Col. Henry Pierson Crowe served during WWI, the Banana Wars, WWII, and the Korean War, and won both the Silver Star and the Bronze Star on Guadalcanal, telling his men “You’ll never get a Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!”
j6MxE TIL that the only palindromic hit song by a palindromic artist is SOS by Abba.