Today in 1960, Chas Newby of Liverpool got a temp job that would he could dine out on for the rest of his life: for two weeks, he played bass for the Beatles.
Today in 1774 was the birthday of Johnny Appleseed. In some ways, the real life John Chapman was like the person depicted in books and movies. But he was also a savvy, albeit eccentric, entrepreneur whose apples were less for eating than they were for drinking.
Today in 1966, the Beatles were trying to make one great take of their new song “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and with help from producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick, they ended up making that one great take out of two half takes.
Physarum polycephalum is pretty smart for a slime mold. It can find its way back to the places where food had previously been even though it doesn't have a nervous system. Researchers in Germany have just figured out how this organism does it.
