Today I learned

TIL from watching the Tetris movie about Robert Maxwell, a British businessman who was posthumously found to have propped up his failing businesses with some of the worst pension fraud in British history

Robert Maxwell - Wikipedia

#til #todayilearned https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1pu4usz/til_from_watching_the_tetris_movie_about_robert/

TIL Memory foam was invented by NASA

Forty-Year-Old Foam Springs Back With New Benefits | NASA Spinoff

#til #todayilearned https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1pu4gnf/til_memory_foam_was_invented_by_nasa/

TIL about the Spotted green pigeon, a single mysterious stuffed specimen of an extinct species of pigeon which due to poor record keeping it is unknown where it was originally from.

Spotted green pigeon - Wikipedia

#til #todayilearned https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1pu42gy/til_about_the_spotted_green_pigeon_a_single/

TIL that fungi were found growing inside the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that actually feed on radiation. They use a process called "radiosynthesis" to convert gamma rays into chemical energy, similar to how plants use photosynthesis to convert sunlight.

Radiotrophic fungus - Wikipedia

#til #todayilearned https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1pu3ig1/til_that_fungi_were_found_growing_inside_the/

TIL "The Eternaut" is a legendary Argentine graphic novel, first published in 1957. Its author was "disappeared" by the military dictatorship in 1977, yet today the book is so revered the government distributes it to high schools. It received its first official English translation in 2015.

The Eternaut - Wikipedia

#til #todayilearned https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1pu3apg/til_the_eternaut_is_a_legendary_argentine_graphic/

TIL the human brain normally limits muscle strength to prevent injury, and in extreme stress it temporarily removes this limit, allowing people to use far more strength than usual.

Hysterical strength - Wikipedia

#til #todayilearned https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1pu2ytw/til_the_human_brain_normally_limits_muscle/

TIL that In 1867 an American businessman attended a reading of the Charles Dickens story "A Christmas Carol." The businessman was so moved by the reading that he closed his factory on Christmas Day and sent every employee a turkey.

A Christmas Carol - Wikipedia

#til #todayilearned https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1pu2plx/til_that_in_1867_an_american_businessman_attended/