› added 7 years ago

142

TIL that half of UK speed cameras are turned off

Read more bbc.co.uk

via reddit.com

D19EY TIL decaffeinated coffee was discovered in 1903 by accident by Ludwig Roselius, head of German coffee company Kaffee HAG. One of his shipments got swamped by seawater in transit, leaching out the caffeine but not the flavour. Roselius worked out an industrial method to repeat it.
wLva7 TIL A language typically can’t survive past 8,000 or 9,000 years, since it’s common for languages to mix and get replaced by other more influential languages or morph into new ones altogether.
X076P TIL J.J. Thomson, Nobel prize winning physicist, had 6 of his students win a Nobel prize in physics, and 2 of his students win a Nobel prize in chemistry. Additionally, his son also won a Nobel prize in physics.
XErRj TIL that when Ethiopian Airlines Flight 702 was hijacked and flown to Switzerland, the Swiss Air Force did not respond because the "incident occurred outside normal office hours."
kJ70m TIL about some of the names given to gene mutations bred into fruit flies by scientists. Cheap Date is a gene that increases susceptibility to alcohol, the Van Gogh gene produces swirling of hair on the wings and the Swiss Cheese gene produces holes in the brain.