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TIL a scientist at the University of Florida, USA, grew a “living ‘brain’” – “a network of 25,000 rat brain cells” – that when “connected to an array of 60 electrodes that can interact with a computer” learned to fly a simulated F-22 stealth fighter jet in a range of weather conditions.

Read more research.ufl.edu

via ift.tt

gMxN8 TIL that caffeine in coffee beans is thought to serve as a toxic substance protecting the seeds of the plant, a form of plant defense, against herbivores. Its production has evolved independently to caffeine found in cacao and tea.
AOYB TIL Saddam Hussein had a Quran written using his blood. It is considered sinful to write out the Quran in blood, but it is also forbidden to defile or deface it. One Iraqi was quoted as saying “"It is forbidden to write the Qur'an in blood, but how could we destroy the holy book from God?”
ne1eb TIL in 1987 when an SR-71 Blackbird lost an engine while flying Mach 3 over the Baltic Sea, four Swedish jets prevented it from getting shot down by the Soviets. The mission was declassified 30 years later, and the four Swedish pilots that protected the Blackbird were awarded the US Air Medal
yVklM TIL On Dec 28, 2016, the day after Carrie Fisher’s death, her mother, Debbie Reynolds, had a stroke at the home of her son, Todd, where the family was planning Fisher’s funeral, she died later that day. Reynolds had said, “I want to be with Carrie” immediately before she had the stroke.
KOAJ TIL that there is a cemetery in Romania famous for their vibrant and colorful tombstones that artfully depict scenes from the buried person’s life, most often involving how they died. Each tombstone also has a poetic epitaph inscription.