› added 11 years ago

90

TIL that the “Galileo” space probe was intentionally crashed into Jupiter at the end of its operational life to avoid contaminating Jupiter’s moons with bacteria.

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VMQd0 TIL that only the outer layer of tree trunks are alive. The center of the trunk is technically dead but it will not decay or lose strength while the outer layers are intact. A piece of the dead core 12" long and 1" by 2" in cross section set vertically can support a weight of twenty tons.
A9Po TIL The United States hasn’t had a period of peace since WWII
P1AmZ TIL every major computer font - Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, etc. - is owned by one private equity firm
78r1X TIL of Barthélemy de Chasseneuz, a French lawyer who made his reputation as a criminal lawyer by successfully defending a group of rats that were put on trial for destroying barley crops in 1508.
pYYgb TIL Cats that live in the wild or indoor pets allowed to roam outdoors kill from 1.4 billion to as many as 3.7 billion birds in the continental U.S. each year