I learned this today. The South Sea Bubble was a financial bubble that sprang up around the share trading of the South Sea Company (SSC) in the early 18th century. The South Sea Bubble wasn’t the first speculative bubble to happen. That honor goes to the Dutch Tulip Bubble of 1637. However, it was the […]
#228 What was the South Sea Bubble? Read More »
I learned this today. Astronomers believe that there is a black hole at the center of every galaxy. In May of 2022, astronomers released photographs of the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, which is called Sagittarius A*. It is a supermassive black hole, and it is estimated to be
#227 Is there a black hole at the center of every galaxy? Read More »
I learned this today. Different countries have different laws, but the first bankruptcy laws were created in 1542 in England. The word “bankruptcy” comes from the Italian banca rotta, which means “broken bench”. The story is that bankers used to do their business over a bench. If a banker defaulted on a loan
#226 When did bankruptcy laws start? Read More »
I learned this today. The Kola borehole is the deepest manmade borehole on Earth, and it is the deepest artificial point on Earth. The Kola borehole is on the Kola Peninsula, which is on the Russian border with Norway. It is in the very far north of Russia and is in the Arctic
#225 What is the Kola borehole? Read More »
I learned this today. Many animals can run quickly because they have four legs, run on their toes, and have bodies designed for speed. There are three types of animals when it comes to the shape of feet. There are plantigrades, digitigrades, and unguligrades. We are plantigrades. Along with rodents, rabbits, hedgehogs, kangaroos,
#224 Why can animals run so fast? Read More »
I learned this today. The Magna Carta promised the protection of church rights and the protection of the barons from King John and eventually became the basis for English common law. By extent, its concepts are also the basis for some American and Canadian laws as well. It was the first time the idea that
#223 What did the Magna Carta do? Read More »
I learned this today. Hydraulic machines work because a force applied at one point to an incompressible fluid is transmitted to another point and multiplied at the same time. There are two principles at work in a hydraulic system. The first is that an incompressible liquid will transfer energy and the second is that
#222 How does a hydraulic system work? Read More »
I learned this today. Radar works by using radio waves to work out the position of objects relative to the detector and sonar uses sound waves. Radar works in a similar way to sonar, but it is far more effective in air. A sonar system sends out a sound and waits for the sound
#221 What is the difference between sonar and radar? Read More »
I learned this today. Hawai’i became a state in 1959, when 93% of Hawaiians voted in favor of it. People have only lived on the islands of Hawai’i since about 400 AD. Polynesians sailed there from the Marquesas Islands, which are about 3200 km away. They settled the islands and fished and farmed
#220 Why did Hawai’i become a US state? Read More »
I learned this today. Deep sea fish can survive because they don’t breathe in the same way that we do. However, even they cannot survive at the very bottom of the ocean. Pressure at sea level is 14.7 psi (pounds per square inch). If someone weighing 14.7 pounds stood on you, you would
#219 Why don’t deep sea fish get crushed by the pressure? Read More »
