› added 1 year ago

69

TIL that the James Webb Telescope orbits a Lagrange point, a spot in space where the gravity from earth and sun (or another set of bodies) cancel one another out and satellites can orbit the spot rather than earth, giving a unique perspective.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

9YkZB TIL Polar bears actually have black skin and clear hollow fur. The clear and hollow fur enables the sun rays to get to the black skin that keeps the polar bears warm in the cold climate.
9YGlQ TIL 4 Spider-Man suits were stolen from Spider-Man back in 2002. The suits cost $50,000 USD to make and Sony offered $25,000 USD for their return. It lead to a 18 month investigation, and the suits were found in Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo. It was stolen by a security guard who worked on set.
gagD TIL actor Charles Durning, was in the first wave of troops to land on D-Day and the lone survivor of his unit, received eight stab wounds from a Nazi soldier, whom he killed with a rock in hand-to-hand combat, died 12/24 at age 89 [/r/tsis]
epN7n TIL Giovanni Battista Grassi ingested roundworm eggs in 1879 to solve the century-old puzzle of how infection of roundworm is transmitted from host to host. Eventually, he found fresh eggs in his feces. Thus proving that the roundworm is transmitted through direct ingestion of a contaminated source.
loVPA TIL the Ministry of Truth building in Nineteen Eighty-Four is inspired by a real structure - Senate House, the headquarters of the UK's Ministry of Information during WWII.