How Bananas Led to the World’s First Chairlift The world’s first chairlift was built in Sun Valley, Idaho in the fall of 1936. The first two lifts were located on Sun Valley’s Dollar and Proctor mountains. The design of this new machine was patterned after conveyor belts which were used to load bananas on cargo ships in Central America. James Curran designed the first plans for the ski lift. He was a bridge engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Curran’s previous work making conveyor systems that ran at a continuos flow and loaded bananas on ships in Honduras inspired his design for a machine that could carry humans uphill and drop them off on top of a […] Brains The Brains | July 27, 2020 10 Comments
Astronomical Event: Jupiter, Venus, And The Moon To Form A Smiley Face Next Month In times like these, the world needs reasons to smile. Luckily for us, the cosmos is about to lend a hand with that. On May 16, a crescent moon, beneath Venus & Jupiter, will form a smiley face in the sky. This spectacle is called conjunction and is quite rare. The last time this happened was 12 years ago in […] Brains The Brains | April 30, 2020 0 Comments
NASA: Hubble Space Telescope Captures Brilliant New Images of the Horsehead Nebula In this Hubble Space Telescope view, the Horsehead Nebula, a popular target for amateur astronomers, appears in infrared wavelengths. The nebula, shadowy in optical light, appears transparent and ethereal when seen in the infrared, represented here with visible shades. The rich tapestry of the Horsehead Nebula pops out against the backdrop of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies that are […] Brains The Brains | April 18, 2020 0 Comments
VIDEO: Think Coronavirus Is Bad? | The “Black Plague” Killed 80 Million Humans Worldwide… “The Black Death [Black Plague] is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe’s population. In total, the plague may have reduced the world population from an estimated 475 million to 350–375 million in the 14th century. It took 200 years for Europe’s population to recover to its previous level, and some regions (such as Florence) did not recover until the 19th century. Outbreaks of the plague […] Brains The Brains | April 11, 2020 0 Comments
The Hardest Hit Companies of the COVID-19 Economic Crisis : ‘BEACH’ Stocks The COVID-19 pandemic has spread to over 100 countries and governments everywhere are implementing strict travel restrictions. As a result, “Beach” stocks, companies in the entertainment and travel sectors, have seen a $332 billion market loss in the past month, Visual Capitalist reports. Beach stocks are companies involved with: Booking Entertainment & live events Airlines Cruises and Casinos Hotels & […] Brains The Brains | April 7, 2020 0 Comments
Brain Post: A Visual History of Pandemics Infectious diseases are as old as humankind. Pandemics are nothing new. This chart shows a visual representation of mankind’s pandemics, in order from deadliest to least deadly. Although new and still unfolding by the day, the COVID-19 pandemic we currently face is the third least deadly pandemic we’ve faced so far. We got this! Visual Capitalist wrote in a recent […] Brains The Brains | March 21, 2020 0 Comments
Brain Post: The Origin of the Word “Quarantine” The word quarantine is being thrown around a lot these days. Where does it come from? What’s its etymology? The history of the word quarantine is very cool and learning it’s original meaning will make you sound way smarter than all your friends while you’re all #SocialDistancing, so let’s go for it. “The very word quarantine is rooted in the […] Brains The Brains | March 15, 2020 0 Comments
NASA: Peru’s 22,000-Foot Cordillera Blanca From Space by NASA When an astronaut took this oblique photograph of a misty winter morning over western Peru’s Cordillera Blanca, snow-capped peaks cast long shadows over the valleys. The highest mountains in Peru are visible, including Huascarán, which soars 6,768 meters (22,204 feet) above sea level. The peaks have been eroded by glaciers into steep curving ridges—known as cirques. With over 700 glaciers, […] Brains The Brains | August 11, 2019 0 Comments
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