Scientists are now speculating that a nearby supernova showered the earth with cosmic rays 8 million years ago. This caused more lightening in the atmosphere which caused more fires which burned down trees and created more grasslands. These grasslands were more favorable to the great apes who could adapt to leaving the trees.
(The Great Courses – Nuclear Physics Explained)
Every proton and neutron in the universe was created in the first microsecond after the Big Bang. Once they got created quarks cannot exist as separate entities.
(The Great Courses – Nuclear Physics Explained)
Our Milky Way galaxy is currently absorbing several dwarf galaxies. Our star is actually closer to one of these dwarf galaxies than to the center of our own galaxy and we see stars in our night sky that belong to this dwarf galaxy.
(TV Science channel – How the Universe Works)
During the Roman Empire period all Roman men had a first name that was picked from a list of only 16 names. The second and third names distinguished the family the person came from.
(The Great Courses – The Rise of Rome)
Nicotine is a powerful toxin. It takes about 60 mg to kill an average person. That is the amount of nicotine in 3 cigarettes. The process of smoking reduces the amount of nicotine actually being ingested.
(The Great Courses – Chemistry)
Salicylic acid is combined with acetic acid to form aspirin and water. This is done because aspirin is easier on the stomach than salicylic acid. When the aspirin reaches the bloodstream it is dissolved back into the original components. It is the salicylic acid that is the actual pain relieving agent,
(The Great Courses – Chemistry)
It is not true that the right side of the brain is more about creativity and the right side more analytical so it is also a myth that left handed people are more creative than right handed people. However it is true that ambidextrous people are generally more creative than one handed people AND more left handed people are somewhat ambidextrous than right handed people.
(TED Talks – 10 myths about psychology – Ben Ambridge)
The Colorado River flows from the Rockies through the Grand Canyon to the Gulf of California. There are several dams on this river and due to high demand for water and drought conditions no water from this river reached the Gulf from 1998 through 2014. In 2014 one percent of water was allowed to reach the Gulf.
(The Great Courses – Geology of the National Parks)
Under normal circumstances the earth only has enough farm-able land to feed about 3 billion people. New methods of creating fertilizer have increased that number and there are now about 7 billion people. The methods for creating the fertilizer involve the extraction of nitrogen. This has become so successfully used in farming that it is estimated that half of all the nitrogen atoms in your body come from fertilizer created from these methods.
(The Great Courses – Chemistry)
Complete solubility of salt in water is about 26% salt.
(The Great Courses – Chemistry)