agriculture

Mousetrap with a gun
History

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Ever since humans transitioned from hunter-gatherer society to agriculture, they had to learn to overcome food storage issues. Mold, fermentation or pests could destroy one’s grain. Lack of solutions sometimes resulted in famine. Civilization came up with many ideas for fighting rodents considered as pests: house mice, rats and others. Cats were domesticated over 9,000 years ago, and archeological findings suggest that they were used for pest control in Egypt

A pound coin floating in mercury
Featured

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Mercury is a chemical element. It is a metal, but has peculiar physical properties. It’s one of few metals that is liquid in standard temperature and pressure (imagine normal room temperature conditions). Mercury is commonly known as quicksilver. Other than its cool sounding name (almost like a superhero, Captain Quicksilver), and interesting physical properties, mercury and most of its compounds are toxic. Mercury poisoning can be a result of vapors