til - hexagons are the basis of the human visual system and the brain’s navigation system
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0042698916300499?via%3Dihub=
[Meta] Any reason to have this community when there is !til@lemmy.world?
TIL: The Canadian shield is in fact not an item but a region in Canada that is mostly rock
TIL about the Guarana plant, which looks like a cluster of eyes when ripe. This is fitting because it's full of caffeine.
TIL that in 1956 during the Olympic torch relay, a veterinary student staged a protest and made a fake flame by lighting a pair of underpants on fire in a can and handing it over to the next runner
https://web.archive.org/web/20080413001401/http://www.thebirdman.org/Index/Temp/Temp-OlympicUnderwearRelay-EH.htm
[TIL] Soil did not exist before Cenozoic period (the period since the Dinosaur mass extinction event)
TIL there's a company in Indiana that makes custom vinyl records for bands that contain things like liquid and sand (and even weirder stuff) inside two sides of a transparent playable 33 1/3 disc.
Romanus Custom Vinyl MFG
https://romanusrecords.com/pages/romanus-custom-manufacturing
ROMANUS CUSTOM VINYL MFG. From Fall Out Boy, Motley Crue, Alice & Chains, to Young Thug or awesome underground bands we are here to add something unique to your release. We are your one stop shop for custom built vinyl orders. We offer a array of proprietary in house custom designs that were once only available her
TIL people used to clean their clothes with gasoline as a form of 'dry cleaning.' And yes, lots of people died.
Dry Cleaning with Gasoline at Home 1930s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlutWhzDk1U
Drycleaning dates back to ancient times, probably beginning with the advent of textile clothing itself. There are many stories about the origin of dryclean...
TIL Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO carved the world's largest ruby into the shape of a turd.
https://greyartmuseum.nyu.edu/2017/07/artwork-spotlight-mark-mothersbaughs-ruby-kusturd/