› added 4 months ago

13

TIL that the teeth of the limpet, a type of sea snail, are the strongest biological material ever discovered,stronger than spider silk and able to withstand pressures of up to 5 gigapascals.

Read more bbc.com

via reddit.com

jNlBv TIL that Henry of Champagne, King of Jerusalem, once fell off a balcony of his castle. He would have survived though, if it wasn't for his servant, a dwarf named Scarlet, who jumped out to save him, but ended up landing on him instead.
N7NJ6 TIL that slowly losing one's native language while living in a non-English-speaking country is a real thing. It's called language attrition and there are people who study and research it.
78ldO TIL that from the beginning of the Cold War to 1978, the US Army created a fictionalised opposing force known as the Aggressor Republic to train against in war games. The fictional Mediterranean nation was detailed enough that it had its own backstory and unique forces structure [PDF warning]
kOoA4 TIL in 1969, Brazilian bus drivers were arrested for training beetles to crawl inside fare boxes and carry out the coins. The beetles were also arrested.
9wgrQ TIL about Eudes de Sully, Bishop of Paris who tried to ban chess