› added 5 years ago

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TIL that particle physicist John Ellis lost a bet and had to include the word "penguin" in his next scientific paper. After struggling to find a way to include the word, he "smoked some illegal substance" which gave him the inspiration for the now important Penguin Diagrams.

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wd9E TIL porcupines have natural antibiotics in their skin, and are the only mammals native to North America to have such protection.
awrdJ TIL that over 50% of all outdoor hockey rinks, and over 40% of all indoor hockey rinks are in Canada.
VMjBD TIL that Henry Ford had initially lead the movement of shorter working weeks from the entrepreneurial side of things. He (counterintuitively at the time) showed that shorter working hours led to higher productivity.
wLXpJ Jedidiah Jenkins quit his job and decided to bike from Oregon to the southern tip of South America. His best friend, filmmaker Kenny Laubbacher, came along for the ride. This short film follows Jenkins as he shares what he's learned from his journey so far. “When you’re a kid, everything is astonishing. Everything is new, and so your brain is awake and turned on ... Once your brain establishes a routine, it stops ... the alertness goes away,” he says. By choosing adventure Jenkins is able to reactivate his brain and turn his “hundred years on this planet into a thousand.
e0yK6 TIL that last year a Japanese company launched a satellite into space that can artificially recreate a meteor shower. This spring it should reach the right position and the first test shower will be released over Hiroshima. They expect a colorful meteor shower visible in an area up to 200km wide.