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New to me Facts and Ideas in December 2024

By Justin G. on 25JAN01WED

The December editions of fascinating facts.

After this edition, and the end of the 1 year experiment, I’ll be folding the fascinating facts into the week notes.

Week 49

Began on 24DEC01SUN .

• Fact: More Nazca lines. Via Mark Larson, and quite a few other sources too. This is the second ML enabled Nazca lines drop this year.
• Hypothesis: Neanderthals manufactured tar 20k years earlier than similar evidence for humans. Via Ancient Beat.
• Hypothesis: humans transitioned to mode ii tools 900k to 780k years ago, also via Ancient Beat. More details on mode ii tools and industry: pear shaped hand axes.
• Hypothesis: dog domestication attempted many times.

Week 50

Began on 24DEC08SUN .

• Fact: Sharks evolved before trees by 50 Million years. Via Damn Interesting.
• Fact: There are dark comets roaming the solar system. Via Damn Interesting.
• Hypothesis: Neanderthals and humans interbred between 50k and 43k years ago. Also in The Economist

Week 51

Began on 24DEC15SUN .

• Hypothesis: murder hornets eradicated from US, via Kottke. Good news, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s wrong at some level (but I’m paranoid about these kinds of claims).
• Hypothesis: syphilis is from the New World. More context at the Ancient Pages article.
• Observation: plant fossil has no known modern related species and that’s really cool. What does it mean? Via Damn Interesting.

Week 52

Began on 24DEC22SUN .

• Fact: modern dairy cows produce six times the milk compared to 100 years ago. Via Quantum of Sollazzo and others.
• Fact: Earliest bubonic plague evidence outside of Eurasia found in mummy in Egypt from 3250 years ago. Also skeletal evidence for bubonic plague is known in Eurasia as far back a 5000 years ago. Via Damn Interesting.
• Fact: Russia is not as large as it appears on Mercator projection maps and it’s a relief, tbh. But see later reply on the projection of the projection.

Week 53

Began on 24DEC30MON

• Fact: new branch of life discovered in the human intestines? via HN. Not sure what it means, but what?

Email me the cool facts you've learned lately. Or a correction.