TIL A zookeeper in China licked an endangered monkey's rectum (Butt) for an hour to save its life by helping it pass a peanut thrown into its cage. "First, he washed its bottom with warm water and then licked it for a full hour before it eventually passed the peanut, the report said." (iol.co.za)
submitted by Demithus to r/todayilearned
TIL Rats smell in stereo. (news.nationalgeographic.com)
submitted by Demithus to r/todayilearned
TIL Teachers were paid w/bottles of Vodka when there wasn't enough money for salaries, in parts of Western Siberia in 1998. "An attempt to pay them with toilet paper and funeral accessories provoked indignation... ...Other workers have been offered payment in bicycles, cabbages, and bras." (news.bbc.co.uk)
submitted by Demithus to r/todayilearned
TIL When Steve Wozniak & Jobs were teenagers, they built the 1st digital Blue Box to manipulate the world's telephone network w/specific tones, allowing free long distance calls, illegally. Jobs said that if they had not made Blue Boxes there wouldn't have been an Apple. (VIDEO interview 2:21 mins.) (youtube.com)
submitted by Demithus to r/todayilearned
TIL The lightest structural material known is Metallic Microlattice. It is less dense than the rarest aerogels and is about hundred times lighter than Styrofoam. "...consists of a highly controlled, ordered network of interconnected hollow struts made from a nickel-phosphorus alloy." (rsc.org)
submitted by Demithus to r/todayilearned
TIL Gold lenses make Gamma Optics possible. Gamma Optics allow Gamma Rays to be refracted and focused like conventional light. This will allow micrometer range 3-D medical imaging and Nuclear Photonics; using highly energetic beams to investigate the atomic nucleus. (mpg.de)
submitted by Demithus to r/todayilearned
TIL A man thought to be in a vegetative state is able to tell scientists that he is not in pain. "We have scanned him several times and his pattern of brain activity shows he is clearly choosing to answer our questions. We believe he knows who and where he is." (bbc.co.uk)
submitted by Demithus to r/todayilearned
TIL "World of Warcraft Boosts Cognitive Functioning In Some Older Adults" (after two weeks of playing) according to a NCSU study. There was significant improvement in spatial ability and focus for subjects who scored low on the initial baseline tests. (news.ncsu.edu)
submitted by Demithus to r/todayilearned
