› added 12 years ago

71

TIL The man who wrote what is considered the first significant self help book in 1859, Samuel Smiles, is the great-great-grandfather of Bear Grylls.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

d87 Today I learned cicadas have evolved 13 and 17 year breeding cycles, because prime integers rarely sync with other integers making it rare that they will breed in sync with predators.
69N7Z TIL that 25% of all known animal species are beetles
1aZ8W TIL the phrase the “Bees Knees” likely evolved around the 1920s along with the “cats pajamas,” the snake's hips", "the kipper's knickers" and "the sardine's whiskers" unlike the others though Bees actually do have Knees (go
0dkxv TIL: John Von Neumann learned an entire 7 year medical program in 2 weeks, can divide 8 digit numbers and converse in Greek at age 6, worked on the Manhattan Project, and published 150 papers in his life. Colleagues claim if he lived longer, the world would be drastically different.
ZVVp TIL Rhode Island gets 3% bigger at low tide.