› added 6 years ago

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TIL a scientist named Doctor Claire Rind wanted to design a collision-avoidance system for cars, so she made locusts watch Star Wars while monitoring the reactions of their visual systems. A robot was programmed with the data obtained and was able to avoid collisions 91% of the time.

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via reddit.com

1am8W TIL about Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges, born in 1745. He was the first Black composer of the classical era, conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris, and a champion fencer. He has been referred to as “Black Mozart”
m18Rp TIL that smokers with hepatitis may lose their taste for smoking
GVAE TIL that after seeing the documentary “Blackfish” about Killer Whales in captivity, Pixar executives have changed the ending to “Finding Dory”, the 2016 sequel to “Finding Nemo”.
vPdpD TIL that because earthquakes kept destroying Spanish-built buildings like churches, houses, and settlements in Colonial era Philippines, a new architectural style was created solely to withstand the tremors——Earthquake Baroque.
LkMW9 TIL that the Walls of Benin were the largest man-made structure on earth, with a length of 16,000 km (four times longer than the Wall of China), until their destruction by the British in 1897. Building it consumed a hundred times more material than the Great Pyramid of Cheops.