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TIL the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge lead to a significant gene discovery

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9Y777 TIL about June Almeida, a Scottish virologist who pioneered virus imaging, identification and diagnosis; her work includes the first or early images of rubella, coronavirus and HIV.
6Ej1X TIL that humans can regenerate some of their organs through a process called compensatory hypertrophy. When part of the liver is removed or destroyed, the remaining portion grows to the original size and allows the liver to function as it did before. Kidneys and lungs can also similarly compensate.
gMrdX Depending on your beliefs (and luck), when you drop dead, a variety of things await what’s left of your handsome corpse. If you’re Christian, you might be put in a box, and your friends will come by to tell each other how great you look. Nobody said this when you were alive—but hey, take what you can get! Hindus are typically cremated, and if you’re a Jedi, you might meet a similar fate while surrounded by Ewoks.If you kick the bucket in certain parts of Mozambique, a wake of vultures might gather round and peck out your lifeless eyeballs. After devouring your eyes, these scavenging birds will most likely move on to your butt. Like Sir Mix-A-Lot—but for different reasons—vultures are preoccupied with the derriere. Vultures are just opportunists, and they naturally go after the soft spots first.National Geographic Explorer Jen Guyton is studying mammal ecology and conservation in Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. In this week’s Today I Learned, Guyton explains that vultures are eating more tush than usual due to loss of larger scavengers. Bon appétit!Click here to read more on why vultures are important.
m1WDE TIL George Clooney was asked to play himself in a sketch for the Movie 43 (the gag was that Clooney is bad at picking up women), and Clooney replied "No fucking way."
dDrJ7 TIL that it is not known exactly when the University of Oxford was founded