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Month: March 2020

Amphidromic points
By The Generalist Posted on March 31, 2020April 17, 2021

Where the tides turn

How high does the high tide go? In the Bay of Fundy, Canada, the difference between high and low tides is more than 16 metres. But at several points in the world’s oceans, called the tidal nodes, the sea level doesn’t change at all.

Categories: Earth science, Places, Sciences, The oceans
Butterfly
By The Generalist Posted on March 30, 2020April 17, 2021

Male killer

The parasitic bacterium Wolbachia is common in insects around the world, which makes it perhaps the most common reproductive parasite on Earth. And it doesn’t like males.

Categories: Animals, Oceania, Places, Sciences
Bridge on the River Kwai
By The Generalist Posted on March 29, 2020April 17, 2021

Anonymous Oscars

Pierre Boulle won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for Bridge on the River Kwai. He did not write the screenplay, did not accept the award in person, and in fact did not even speak English.

Categories: Arts & recreation, Film & television, Politics & law
Mouse
By The Generalist Posted on March 28, 2020April 17, 2021

Polyglot programming

Polyglot programmes run in more than one programming language at the same time. One example runs in C, PHP, and Bash; another one runs in a ridiculous 282 different languages.

Categories: Computer science, Sciences
Marie Casimire
By The Generalist Posted on March 27, 2020March 26, 2020

Fake beauty spot

Need to hide your smallpox or syphilis scars? Try fake beauty marks made of velvet, silk, or mouse fur.

Categories: Arts & recreation, Early modern history, Fashion & design, History
Nuclear explosion
By The Generalist Posted on March 26, 2020March 25, 2020

Shake and barn

In nuclear physics terminology, first you need to hit the barn, and next you need to wait for 50 to 100 shakes. And then the bomb blows up.

Categories: Military, Physics & chemistry, Sciences, Weights & measures
Chautauqua
By The Generalist Posted on March 25, 2020April 28, 2021

Education circus

Tents appear outside a town in early 20th century rural United States. It’s not the circus, it’s the circuit chautauqua: teachers, preachers, musicians, and orators, ready to bring education and religion to the masses.

Categories: 20th century history, Education & philosophy, History, North & Central America, Places, Politics & law, Religion & belief
Protein folding
By The Generalist Posted on March 24, 2020January 25, 2023

Return to the fold

Since 2000, millions of hours of computer time have been donated by people around the world to determine how proteins fold in the human body. This may help to understand and treat Alzheimer’s, cancer, HIV, flu, and the coronavirus.

Categories: Computer science, Health & medicine, Sciences
Don Quixote
By The Generalist Posted on March 23, 2020January 25, 2023

The fake Don Quixote

In 1605 Miguel de Cervantes published Part 1 of Don Quixote, the first “modern” novel. In 1614 an unidentified author wrote an unauthorized sequel: the first fanfic of the first modern novel.

Categories: Arts & recreation, Literature
Mainoumi
By The Generalist Posted on March 22, 2020April 28, 2021

Tiny sumo

Mainoumi Shūhei is a legend in the world of sumo for defeating opponents more than twice his weight.

Categories: East Asia, Games & sport, Places
James Bond
By The Generalist Posted on March 21, 2020January 25, 2023

James Bond, ornithologist

Although the character was inspired by many real-life spies, the author Ian Fleming took the name James Bond from an ornithologist.

Categories: Arts & recreation, Literature
Whistler's mother
By The Generalist Posted on March 20, 2020March 19, 2020

Old people smell

Old people smell different – and a few studies have posited a chemical basis for that difference.

Categories: Health & medicine, Physics & chemistry, Sciences
FIDO
By The Generalist Posted on March 19, 2020January 25, 2023

Burning runway

What do you do when a plane cannot land because of heavy fog? In WWII Britain, you set the runway on fire.

Categories: 20th century history, Europe, History, Military, Places, Sciences, Technology
Gibbons
By The Generalist Posted on March 18, 2020January 25, 2023

Gibbon of the tomb

There’s an extinct species of gibbon, Junzi imperialis, we only know about because a Chinese noblewoman kept it as a pet more than two millennia ago.

Categories: Ancient history, Animals, East Asia, History, Places, Sciences
Marut
By The Generalist Posted on March 17, 2020April 17, 2021

The secret of the Sierra Madre

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was written by a German author under the pseudonym B. Traven. Who was he? We don’t know.

Categories: Arts & recreation, Europe, Film & television, Literature, North & Central America, Places
Japamala
By The Generalist Posted on March 16, 2020March 15, 2020

Counting prayers

Worshippers of many different religious use beads on a string to count prayers: Catholic Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, and Baháʼís.

Categories: Arts & recreation, Fashion & design, Mathematics & statistics, Religion & belief, Sciences, Weights & measures

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