Fun Facts

[Jimi]

World History​

[td]

​

​

[/td]​

[td]

​

[/td]​

When it comes to transportation, Americans and Brits have one thing in common: Both consider the other to be driving on the wrong side of the road. But how did it come to this?

 

[Jimi]

6 Amazing Facts About DNA​ Despite it being the microscopic engine that makes life on Earth possible, humans have only known about the existence of DNA for about 150 years. These six facts explore the incredible science of DNA: its discovery, its function, and its impact on human history. [td] [td width="100%"] Read More ​

​

​

[/td]​

[/td]

 

[Jimi]

Why Do We Have Eyebrows?​ Unlike other facial features, eyebrows don't seem immediately essential for survival. So why did we evolve them at all? [td] [td width="100%"] Read More ​

​

​

[/td]​

[/td]

[td width="630px"]

[td]

[td]

​

[/td]​

[/td]​

[/td]​

 

[Jimi]

[td]

[td]

​

[/td]​

[td]

Your science fact of the day​

[/td]​

[td]

Porcupines are quite slow-moving. In fact, their top speed is roughly 2 mph. Their strong defenses usually mean that they don’t need to flee from predators, but if they are approached, they will rapidly shuffle backwards and wedge themselves into a hollow or burrow until the predator moves on.​

[/td]​

[td]

[td]

Keep Learning

​

[/td]​

[/td]​

[td]

image source: iStock.com/Konoplytska​

[/td]​

[td width="100%"]

​

[/td]​

[td]

[td]

How would you rate today’s newsletter?​

[/td]​

[/td]​

[/td]​

 

[Jimi]

[td] Fact of the Day​ ​

Songbirds practice singing in their sleep.

By Bennett Kleinman

Many musicians spend countless hours in rehearsal studios perfecting their tunes. But to some songbirds, rehearsing is also second nature; they’re even known to practice singing in their sleep. This behavior is similar to how a dog’s paws twitch while it snoozes, only in the case of songbirds, it’s the vocal muscles in the throat that experience subconscious movement. Researchers confirmed this phenomenon by implanting electrodes in sleeping birds such as the zebra finch. While zebra finches are known to croon in a more methodical staccato style when awake, the birds were observed producing disjointed, sporadic notes as they slept, a behavior researchers likened to “learning a musical instrument.” Similar — albeit less common — behavior has also been viewed in great kiskadees, which produced louder and more aggressive tones in their sleep.

Do animals dream like we do? [td] ​

Birds

[td]

[/td]​

[/td]

[td]

​

[/td]​

​

[/td]

 

[Jimi]

[td] Original photo by Rawpixel/ Shutterstock​

The Earth shakes every 26 seconds, and scientists aren’t sure why.​

Like a lot of strange happenings, it was first noticed in the 1960s: a minor seismic pulse, large enough to register on seismological instruments but small enough to go otherwise unnoticed, occurring every 26 seconds. Researchers have since traced the microseism to the Gulf of Guinea — but the “why” behind it is still a bit of a mystery.

[td] Continue Reading

​

​

[/td]

[/td]

 

[Jimi]

[td]

[td]

​

[/td]​

[td]

Your science fact of the day​

[/td]​

[td]

There are well over 8,000 species of Dung Beetles living in the world today. (Depending on classification considerations, this number is sometimes cited at around 9,800 species.) Approximately 75 Dung Beetle species are found in North America today.​

[/td]​

[td]

[td]

Keep Learning

​

[/td]​

[/td]​

[td]

image source: iStock.com/ranplett​

[/td]​

[td width="100%"]

​

[/td]​

[td]

[td]

How would you rate today’s newsletter?​

[/td]​

[/td]​

[/td]​

 

[Jimi]

What do Lucy Ricardo, Fonzie, and Lieutenant Columbo have in common? Discover We live in a time where there's an endless supply of TV shows to choose from. And with so many options, it's easy to forget a character or really connect with them in the first place. But there was a time when characters felt relatable and could bring whole families together. As a result, they have become unforgettable. Let’s take a walk down memory lane with the TV characters who’ve stayed with us. Read full article

 

[Jimi]

[td] Fact of the Day​ ​

One oyster can filter a bathtub’s worth of water per day.

By Michael Nordine

When they aren’t being served as delicacies, oysters are serving an extremely important ecological function: filtering prodigious amounts of water. An adult oyster can filter plankton, algae, and various debris from up to 50 gallons of water (the equivalent of a full bathtub) per day, feeding themselves and making their marine ecosystem a cleaner, healthier place for all manner of sea life in the process. Cleaner water allows sunlight to penetrate deeper into the brackish, coastal environments oysters call home and reach aquatic vegetation that thrives in submerged areas; this, in turn, provides more food for fish, turtles, and even sharks. Oysters’ filtration power is magnified when they cluster together and form reefs, which provide shelter and breeding grounds for even more sea creatures.

Other creatures you forgot were actually animals [td] ​

Across Species

[td]

[/td]​

[/td]

[td]

​

[/td]​

​

[/td]

 

[Jimi]

[td] Original photo by Magic mine/ Shutterstock​

Information from your central nervous system travels at up to 268 mph.​

From the automatic tasks of regulating breathing and blood pressure to the voluntary efforts needed for muscle movement, the central nervous system puts in a lot of work to maintain the complex mechanisms of the human body. Pace is crucial to keep this system running smoothly — which is why some signals from our body’s command centers can reach speeds upwards of 250 mph.

[td] Continue Reading

​

​

[/td]

[/td]

 

[Jimi]

U.S. History​

[td]

​

​

[/td]​

[td]

​

[/td]​

Without question, the $2 bill is the black sheep of the U.S. currency family. Despite being such a small denomination, the “Tom” — nicknamed for its portrait of Thomas Jefferson — rarely surfaces in day-to-day transactions. But make no mistake, the $2 bill is very real and remains in regular circulation. Here are five fun facts about the not-so-terrible $2.

 

[Jimi]

 

[Jimi]

 

[Jimi]

On the night of November 22, 1987, something took over the airwaves in Chicago. Twice.
The first time, people tuned into the evening news suddenly saw it cut out. In its place, a figure in a rubber mask, set against a wall of black-and-white stripes, silent except for a low electric buzz. Engineers scrambled and killed the feed after a few seconds. Nobody knew what they had just seen.
Two hours later, it happened again. A different station, the middle of a show, and this time with sound. The same masked figure returned, and for a minute and a half he ranted, laughed, mocked everyone on the other side of the screen, and then the broadcast ended in a scene too strange to describe. Then he was gone.
To do this, you do not just plug in a camera. You have to overpower a professional television signal with a stronger one of your own, from exactly the right place, with equipment most people have never touched. It took real skill. It took planning. And whoever did it knew exactly how to vanish.
The FBI investigated. The FCC investigated. They had millions of witnesses. They had the footage. And they came up with nothing.
The only real lead came decades later. In 2018, an anonymous voice online named two brothers, and said one of them, a quiet tech-minded type, was the man behind the mask. People looked into it. It fit. But no authority ever confirmed a word of it, and no one was ever charged. Another dead end, thirty years too late.
So, one person decided what an entire city would see on their screens, and nobody could stop him, and nobody ever found him. If a stranger could do that in 1987, with a mask and a homemade signal, ask yourself who decides what shows up on your screen right now. And whether you would even notice.
Do you think he could hijack live TV today?

 

[Jimi]

 

[Jimi]

 

[Jimi]

6 Facts About Our Sense of Taste​ Ask 10 people what their favorite and least favorite foods are, and you’re likely to get 10 completely different answers. The food, textures, and flavors we love (and hate) are determined by thousands of tiny sensory organs, and not just on the tongue. [td] [td width="100%"] Read More ​

​

​

[/td]​

[/td]

 

[Jimi]

 

[Jimi]

 

[Jimi]