October 31st, 2016

In 1911, a man walked out of the forest in California and became somewhat of a legend. He was the last member of a group of Native Americans called the Yahi people. Due to the Yahi custom of never speaking your own name, he became known as Ishi, meaning 'man' in his native language. During the California Gold Rush the Yahi were massacred by settlers. Eventually Ishi, his mother, sister, and uncle, were the only four remaining. His mother passed away, and his sister and uncle disappeared into the woods, leaving Ishi alone for four years before he finally opted to leave the wilderness. He spent the remaining five years of his life at Berkeley, where he shared much of his language and culture with linguists and anthropologists.

Bonus:

Bananas used to have large seeds, but varieties that have effectively none are now the norm. However, these strains are asexual, and must be cultivated by pruning and replanting shoots. This can keep a plantation going for 25 years, and all plants are effectively clones! The process of cultivating fruits such as bananas that are modified to remain seedless is referred to as Parthenocarpy.

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October 30th, 2016

In Laos you can stay in a treetop hotel, where you access other areas of the 'hotel' via zipline.

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October 29th, 2016

In Korea, a yearly standardized nation-wide university entrance exam is considered one of the most important challenges in a student's life. During the exam, plane traffic is limited, so the sounds of planes flying overhead don't distract the test-goers.

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October 28th, 2016

Although not the first attempt to set down a system of laws through which to govern, the Code of Hammurabi was one of most elaborate early attempts. The work was completed in the last years of Babylonian King Hammurabi's life, and he hoped it would help future rulers manage society. It is most known for the first mention of lex talionis, or 'an eye for an eye', however it also included broad rules for everything from marine law to witchcraft accusations to divorce. In many ways the rules were quite ahead of their time, suggesting that a woman has a right to financial compensation if a man divorces her, and should be free to remarry. Although punishments were still quite arcane, and often involved being thrown into a river and allowing the gods to decide your fate.

Bonus 1:

Atop the pillar upon which the Code of Hammurabi is inscribed is a carving of the ancient Semitic sun god, Shamash, handing wisdom to Hammurabi. The name of this god is still preserved in the Arabic word for sun, شَمْس (Shams).

Bonus 2:

Some East Asian cultures measure their ages starting roughly at conception (meaning they are considered to be one year old at birth), and also add a year each new year. That means that if a baby is born the day before the new year, by the time they are one day old by western standards they would be considered to be 2 years old in East Asia.

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October 27th, 2016

In 1922 a temperature of 58.0 C, measured in Libya, became the world record for hottest temperature ever observed on Earth. But as Randall Munroe mentions in his discussion of temperature records, this has now been disproved. The director of the climate department at the Libyan National Meteorological Centred, who provided key documents in the investigation of this record, was shot at and nearly killed during the Libyan Civil War in 2011. Had he not survived, the erroneous record may have.

Bonus:

The common swift can stay airborne for months: sleeping, eating, migrating, and even mating without landing.

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October 26th, 2016

The most powerful volcanic eruption since modern humans have existed was the Toba Supereruption about 75,000 years ago, which led to a winter that lasted years. Genetic records show that roughly around this time modern humans (as well as several other species) suffered a bottleneck, possibly being reduced to only a few thousand individuals.

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October 25th, 2016

On China's flag, the big star represents the Communist Party, while the four smaller ones represent the four social classes (working class, peasantry, urban bourgeoisie, and national bourgeoisie). The small stars are all rotated slightly relative to one another, to give the impression that they are radiating outwards. During the 2016 Olympics, Chinese Officials were disappointed to see that this detail had been omitted from the flag. Canada also occasionally suffers flag mix-ups...

Bonus:

Bees have two stomachs, one for digesting food, and another for collecting nectar and processing honey. In their six week lifetime they only make 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey.

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October 24th, 2016

When you are falling asleep, and suddenly your body jerks unexpectedly and wakes you up, you have experienced a Hypnic Jerk. The reason for these is still unknown, however one explanation is that it is an archaic evolutionary adaptation for when early humans slept in trees. When your muscles relax as you fall asleep, your body thinks you are slipping off a tree branch and quickly jolts awake to prevent the fall.

Bonus 1:

A youtuber has taught a program to play Super Mario, and provides an excellent explanation of Neural Networks to accompany the project.

Bonus 2:

Someone who loves cats is called an Ailurophile.

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October 23rd, 2016

The word 'Métis' in North America refers to a group of Aboriginals who trace their ancestry back to both First Nations groups and Europeans. However, in France the term describes anyone who is mixed-race. For some blacks these mixed-race Métis are seen as neither black, nor white until they marry. The colour of their spouse is seen as deciding their race.

Bonus:

The largest power outage in history took place in India in summer 2012. It left 9% of the world's population without power!

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October 22nd, 2016

In 1592 Catherine de' Medici wedded her Catholic daughter to a Protestant in Paris. The unorthodox union caused tensions to erupt in Paris, and Catholic mob violence spread all throughout France. The event, know as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, is estimated to have resulted in the death of between 5,000 and 30,000 Protestants.

Bonus:

The language of Madagascar is called Malagasy. It was originally written with a variant of the Arabic script called Sorabe. How the Arabic script was introduced to the island is unknown. The Malagasy word for 'Thank You' is 'Misaotra'.

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October 21st, 2016

The List of Kings is an ancient text that chronicles early Mesopotamian kings dating back to over 2900 BC, and is the only known reference to many of them. Some are said to have reigned for many thousands of years, so there may be some slight inaccuracies. The wife of Sargon of Akkad, one of the most famous kings, is only known to have existed from a single pottery fragment!

Bonus:

You can watch a live feed from the ISS 24 hours!

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