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TIL That there was a design flaw in the Huygens lander's communications system. Scientists were unable to make a firmware update on the Cassini Spacecraft, so they plotted an alternative orbital trajectory that would use the Doppler effect to correct the programming error.

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X077j TIL about the Phantom Time Hypothesis, a conspiracy that suggests that the AD dating system was fabricated to place Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Pope Sylvester II, and Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII at 1000 AD. According to this, the years AD 614 - 911 (the early Middle Ages) never happened.
VBMmG TIL gold has no discernable flavor. The fad of adding edible gold to expensive food items does nothing in terms of taste and is more of a gimmick than a way to create a unique flavor.
0xGy TIL in 1947 there was an explosion in Texas City so large, it instantly killed the entire fire dept, knocked airplanes out of the sky, and people eleven miles away fell down.
GYAbQ TIL Nuclear Semiotics investigates methods to inform earthlings of the far future to avoid nuclear waste sites; ideas include color-changing cats, an atomic priesthood, and a Rosetta Stone-type message
NOKJ TIL: Dogs can smell when humans have low glucose levels (Type I Diabetes) and actually serve as a service animal.