XFacts

Daily odd science & curious facts. Always true. Never boring.

[XFacts @XFactBook]

Bonus: the word comes from Ancient Greek oktopous. Grammar fans have argued about the plural ever since it reached English in the 1700s.

[XFacts @XFactBook]

Did you know "octopi" isn't really the right plural? Octopus comes from Greek, not Latin, so the -i ending doesn't fit. The Greek-style plural would be octopodes. In English, plain old octopuses wins.

[XFacts @XFactBook]

Source: Smithsonian Ocean: Octopuses, Squids, and Relatives https://t.co/pO2JZuSGjp

[XFacts @XFactBook]

Bonus: Uranus was the first planet found with a telescope, spotted by William Herschel in 1781.

[XFacts @XFactBook]

Did you know Uranus basically rolls around the Sun on its side? It's tipped nearly 90 degrees, so instead of spinning like a top it goes round like a rolling ball. No other planet in our solar system is tilted like that.

[XFacts @XFactBook]

Source: NASA Science: Uranus Facts https://t.co/2l9h5m62oW

[OnThisDay @X_OnThisDay]

On this day in 1938, the world's first photocopy was made in a rented room in Queens, and all it said was "10.-22.-38 ASTORIA." Chester Carlson's lab used a sulfur-coated zinc plate, a handkerchief and some powder. Over 20 companies, IBM included, turned him down. #OnThisDay

[XFacts @XFactBook]

Killer whale mothers stop breeding in their 30s or 40s but can live to around 90. Menopause is now known in five toothed whales: orcas, short-finned pilot whales, false killer whales, belugas and narwhals.

[NOAA Fisheries @NOAAFisheries]

We forgot to post about #WorldMenopauseDay (brain fog, what can we say).

Aside from humans, toothed whales are the only animals that go through menopause. Scientists aren’t sure why. One theory is they help with child rearing—their presence can increase offspring survival.

[Astrobiology @astrobiology]

A New Method For Constraining 3D Exoplanet Atmospheres: Application To WASP-94A b's Panchromatic Spectrum
https://t.co/cpYiHGGKjv #astrobiology #exoplanet #astronomy

[Schmidt Ocean @SchmidtOcean]

This year we're shining a spotlight on moments of growth and events that amplified the Ocean far and wide. Enjoy highlights & snapshots of our work to extend the impact of our seagoing science.

Thank you for exploring with us! https://t.co/ZHjdgPDVM4

[XFacts @XFactBook]

@AAS_Press JPL traces its start to 31 October 1936, when a few Caltech students test-fired a rocket motor in the Arroyo Seco. Colleagues called them the Suicide Squad.

[XFacts @XFactBook]

@skyatnightmag It was Vera Rubin and Kent Ford's 1970s work on galaxy rotation that made it hard to ignore. Stars far out in Andromeda were orbiting about as fast as ones near the centre.

[NOAA Fisheries @NOAAFisheries]

We forgot to post about #WorldMenopauseDay (brain fog, what can we say).

Aside from humans, toothed whales are the only animals that go through menopause. Scientists aren’t sure why. One theory is they help with child rearing—their presence can increase offspring survival.

[XFacts @XFactBook]

@NOIRLabAstro Thanks! Gemini South's 8.1 m mirror makes it the big neighbour on that ridge.

[XFacts @XFactBook]

Bonus: in metric that sugar cube is about 1 trillion kilograms. The whole star is only about 12.5 miles across.

[XFacts @XFactBook]

Did you know a sugar cube of neutron star would weigh about a billion tons on Earth? That's roughly a mountain. A neutron star packs about a Sun's worth of mass into a ball about 20 km wide, the size of a city.

[XFacts @XFactBook]

Source: NASA Imagine the Universe: Neutron Stars https://t.co/Ctj12XekBf

[XFacts @XFactBook]

The question started as lunch chat. At Los Alamos in 1950, Enrico Fermi and colleagues joked about a New Yorker cartoon of aliens stealing trash cans. Later, out of the blue, he asked "But where is everybody?" and the whole table knew he meant aliens.

[National Geographic @NatGeo]

Why haven't we found any evidence of alien civilizations? The answer could be simple.

Discover more about LOST IN SPACE: 5,000 Facts for Navigating the Universe: https://t.co/NIFF4xumdc

[OnThisDay @X_OnThisDay]

On this day in 1959, the Guggenheim opened in New York, and Frank Lloyd Wright wasn't there to see it. He'd died six months earlier. Beforehand, 21 artists signed a letter protesting their work hanging on his spiral ramp. Visitors didn't care: 600 an hour poured in. #OnThisDay

[EarthSky @earthskyscience]

See the brightest star, Sirius, in your morning sky! 🌟🌌

Before daybreak, look for #Sirius. It’s so bright that you can see it from a light-polluted city. It’s rising in the middle of the night and best seen by dawn.
https://t.co/QYSmvgaJSz

📸 https://t.co/3d6wShOgKW.