› added 9 months ago

37

TIL the term for a female cat is a "queen". How fitting.

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via reddit.com

Oo1N4 TIL Researchers injected mice on the ISS with a gene treatment aimed to prevent bone and muscle loss (by sticking "decoy" receptors on muscle cells). The rodents didn't just maintain their muscles, they even bulked up, which could have implications for both astronauts and earthbound people alike.
mxWVx TIL Washington is the first state to allow the composting of human remains. The law allows organic reduction using wood chips & straw, or alkaline hydrolysis aka liquid cremation. Tests of donated bodies resulted in rich, odorless soil passing all federal & state safety guidelines.
j6EDN TIL that because Caffeine doesn't activate the brain's reward system, scientists don't classify it as an addiction
NXAne TIL about the Soviet biologist Alexander Chizhevsky, who posited that movements of the sun caused major changes in politics and society. For example, Chizhevsky believed that the Russian revolution, along with various other upheavals and wars, was caused by solar cycles.
eDbk TIL that a chimpanzee Washoe, the first animal to learn American Sign Language, was able to combine the hundreds of signs that she learned into novel combinations that she hadn’t been taught and created herself. She also taught her adopted son some American Sign Language.