› added 4 years ago

173

TIL that silica gel packets aren't poisonous. They are labeled "do not eat" because they are a choking hazard.

kOEn7 There's an extremely rare metallic asteroid lurking between Mars and Jupiter, and it's worth more than the entire global economy. Now, the Hubble Space Telescope has given us a closer look at the object, which is worth an estimated $10,000 quadrillion. — that's a one followed by 19 zeroes.
e0MVg TIL that by far the most successful predator with a 90-95% success rate when hunting, is the dragonfly. This is in large part due to a combination of very high speed and their ambush strategy, allowing them to rush down insects before they know what to do.
GY8GN TIL that in 2002 NASA interns stole Moon Rocks worth $30 million, then drove to a motel and had sex on them, before trying to sell them to an amateur mineralogist from belgium
XEWpD TIL in 2013, Neil Gaiman performed a reading of “A Christmas Carol” using Charles Dickinson’s personal copy that he used specifically for live readings, complete with notes and directions, in full victorian costume. The performance was recorded (audio only) and subsequently released online. Enjoy!
Br55W TIL when Sophie Rutschmann of the University of Strasbourg discovered a mutated gene that causes an adult fruit fly to die within two days after it is infected with certain bacteria, she named the gene "Kenny" in honor of the South Park character, who dies in almost every early episode.