Today I Learned

[zapatos]

Today I learned that Marie Skłodowska Curie was a smart lady.

 

She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and only woman to win twice, the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences, and was part of the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes.

 

Nobel Prize in Physics (1903, with Pierre)

Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1911)

 

Curie died in 1934, aged 66, at a sanatorium in Sancellemoz (Haute-Savoie), France, due to aplastic anemia brought on by exposure to radiation while carrying test tubes of radium in her pockets during research, and in the course of her work at field hospitals during World War I.

Coincidentally I read an article about Marie Cure this weekend. In addition to what you've already pointed out, I learned that her original notebooks are kept in a lead lined box due to radioactivity. Anyone examining them must wear appropriate safety gear.

[Itoero]

Yesterday I learned about Orthorexia nervosa.

It's an eating disorder characterized by an excessive preoccupation with eating "healthy" food

[DrmDoc]

Today I learned the history of tea and that it's consumption around the world is only second to water. I also learned that the tea trade was once responsible for the spread of opium addiction in China when instead of silver, English merchants began to offered opium in trade for tea.

[Mordred]

Today I learned 3 and 5 year olds have far too much energy. If I could harness it in a humane fashion I would solve the energy crisis. Especially when you add sugar to the equations

Edited May 24, 2017 by Mordred

[imatfaal]

Today I learned 3 and 5 year olds have far too much energy. If I could harness it in a humane fashion I would solve the energy crisis. Especially when you add sugar to the equations

 

You would not be the first looking to harness the energy content of children - although your idea is, slightly, more humane

 

A Modest Proposal

[DrmDoc]

Today I learned about A Modest Proposal.

[Itoero]

Today I learned the Gir Forest National park in India has the last remaining Asiatic lions.

These lions were once found across northern Africa, south west Asia and northern Greece.

[DrmDoc]

Today I learned the Gir Forest National park in India has the last remaining Asiatic lions.

These lions were once found across northern Africa, south west Asia and northern Greece.

 

What an unfortunate development. Please, post a link to your source.

[michel123456]

Today I learned that American trees move West. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/go-west-my-sap/526899/

[Silvestru]

Today I learned that a sheep, a duck and a rooster were the first passengers in a hot air balloon.

[Itoero]

What an unfortunate development. Please, post a link to your source.

The Gir forest has a very diverse fauna.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gir_Forest_National_Park

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatic_lion

[DrmDoc]

Today I learned the dangers of food preparation in aluminum foil.

[Silvestru]

Today I learned that people who smile the most in public also cry the most at home.

[zapatos]

Today I learned that people who smile the most in public also cry the most at home.

Citation? Sounds like a personal anecdote.

[DrP]

That may be true in some cases, but it does sound like huge generalisation to me.

 

I learnt that there is a Blackbird nesting in one of our storage buildings that doesn't seem too frightened of me as I walk through it.

[zapatos]

Today I learned about Broody Hens and how they don't like to be disturbed while they are setting. “Puck-AAARRRGGGH!”

[DrKrettin]

Today I learned about Broody Hens and how they don't like to be disturbed while they are setting. “Puck-AAARRRGGGH!”

 

If you have the good luck to have a hen go broody, try getting her to hatch out some duck eggs, as I did once. Poor thing thinks she's got half a dozen chicks when they hatch, and proudly marches them off on foraging expeditions. That works until she walks past the pond, and she goes totally berserk when the "chicks" all go for a swim. It's the funniest ever farmyard scene.

[zapatos]

 

If you have the good luck to have a hen go broody, try getting her to hatch out some duck eggs, as I did once. Poor thing thinks she's got half a dozen chicks when they hatch, and proudly marches them off on foraging expeditions. That works until she walks past the pond, and she goes totally berserk when the "chicks" all go for a swim. It's the funniest ever farmyard scene.

That would be fun! We have ducks and chickens but all females. We are trying to get the broody hen off the nest; she lays there whether there are eggs under her or not. I'd love to get a fertilized duck egg under her.

[Roger Dynamic Motion]

Twisting fibers together to form threads not only makes the thread stronger in thickness, it transfers stress more efficiently since the sides of the thread compresses when the ends are pulled. The average bed sheet has about a million twists of fiber.

 

Source: Why the Wheel is Round by Steven Vogel

Because the time and distance

from the center of the wheel to the ream 360 Deg. must be the same .

Edited May 31, 2017 by Roger Dynamic Motion

[Phi for All]

Because the time and distance

from the center of the wheel to the ream 360 Deg. must be the same .

 

Since this has nothing to do with fiber twisting, I'll assume it's a weird and very poor response to the title of the late Steven Vogel's book, Why the Wheel is Round. I highly suggest you read it and add to your knowledge.

[Silvestru]

Today I learned that you only need 39 digits of π to calculate the circumference of the observable universe with a precision of one atom.

[DrmDoc]

Today I learned that the Iron Maiden was never a medieval torcher device. The device was actually a 19th century performance artist piece.

[KipIngram]

About the Milankovitch cycle and the relationship between orbital elements to ice age / interglacial cycles. Fascinating stuff.

[michel123456]

Not today, but recently I learned why some mummies look like screaming. After some post on FB from a friend of mine about the Phaleron mass grave. An archaelogist wrote: I just wanted to make a small comment, with regards to the jaws and postmortem opening, from a biological perspective. Since mandibles are attached to the skulls by joints and two muscle types (masseter and pterygoid), after death, these parts are lost, so mandible drops and gives that "terrified" look.

 

See also

 

http://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/screaming_mummy

Edited June 6, 2017 by michel123456

[DrmDoc]

Today I learned that space begins from Earth at the Karman line, which is essentially a arbitrary boundary between our planet's mesosphere and thermosphere.