› added 2 years ago

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TIL: There is something called 'The Glitter Conspiracy'. One of the largest producers of glitter doens't want to tell what tge glitter is used for. Theories range from the use in explosives to boats

yXbp TIL that poison dart frogs raised in captivity are completely nontoxic. This is because they do not manufacture their own toxins. Instead, they simply concentrate toxins found in the insects they eat. When fed nontoxic insects, they cannot obtain the toxins, rendering them completely harmless.
Yp6Rv TIL the Ewoks from Return of the Jedi were based on the Vietcong guerillas who faced a more technologically advanced foe but originally the events on Endor were to be set on the Wookie home planet. It was changed because Wookies had become technologically skilled over the evolution of the series.
xVYZo TIL about the French Paradox: people who had bad habits, such as consumption of lots of fatty foods, chronic smoking, etc, lived longer in some towns of Burgundy than people in other towns. Why? - They were drinking more burgundy grapes that absorbed an antioxidant molecule produced by mushrooms.
NXPRe TIL the streets of Ancient Rome were filled with jars that Roman men were free to use to relieve themselves. The jars were collected by fullers, who aged the urine and used it to launder clothes. The trade was so lucrative that Emperor Vespasian taxed the urine they collected.
mxmLv TIL Elephants risk their lives to mine a cave in an extinct volcano in Kenya. The rock has 100 times more sodium than what they normally eat, as well as being rich in potassium and calcium. They dig with their tusks, grind it and swallow it. The bones of those who didn't make it line the trail.