Saturday, September 14, 2013

Science Factoids of the week

Beer Goggle study win IgNoble Prize.

the more you drink, the better you think you look.

And Mice recover faster from heart transplant surgery if you listen to Opera.

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Hashtag: where does it come from?

The story of the hashtag begins sometime around the fourteenth century, with the introduction of the Latin abbreviation “lb,” for the Roman term libra pondo, or “pound weight.” Like many standard abbreviations of that period, “lb” was written with the addition of a horizontal bar, known as a tittle, or tilde ...And though printers commonly cast this barred abbreviation as a single character, it was the rushed pens of scribes that eventually produced the symbol’s modern form: hurriedly dashed off again and again, the barred “lb” mutated into the abstract #. 

the article goes on to explain the history of the ampersand, diple, pilcrow and other rare abbreviations...

via the bbc...

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VOYAGER ONE has left the solar system.

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Friday the 13th is unlucky in the US, but other countries have other "Unlucky" numbers.

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Panda Poop Might Help Turn Plants Into Fuel

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Wired has an article on sea monsters.

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Monkeys in Florida were originally brought there for Tarzan movie 74 years ago.
(headsup DaveBarry)

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also from DBarry:




Blobfish wins ugliest animal award.

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