› added 5 years ago

524

TIL that, if extra-terrestrial life is found in our Solar System, it means the Great Filter (whatever keeps other life in the Cosmos from contacting us) is in Humanity's future, not its past. Basically, if we find life on Mars or Europa, we can be certain that our kind will never travel the stars.

Read more technologyreview.com

via reddit.com

dn6Q TIL there is no evidence Marie Antoinette ever said “let them eat cake”. In fact she was widely known for looking after the poor and several times depleted her accounts to feed and shelter them during famines.
dDwBQ TIL about the 1886 short story “How the Mail Steamer Went Down in Mid Atlantic by a Survivor”, which served as a cautionary tale about the dangers of ships having too few lifeboats. Its author, William Thomas Stead, later died during the Titanic sinking in 1912.
4JEw TIL John Adams, before becoming the second U.S. President, was the lawyer who defended the British soldiers responsible for the Boston Massacre. Six of the soldiers were acquitted, while the other two were convicted of manslaughter and given reduced sentences.
N7nVP TIL two 16-yr-old Canadian snowboarders went missing near a B.C. ski resort. A helicopter found them with only a bit of frostnip to their hands ; they had managed to build a shelter and make a fire fueled in part by homework one of the teens had in his backpack.
oRPdW TIL an African grey parrot named "Nigel" who spoke with a British accent, went missing from his California home. He was returned 4 years later speaking Spanish