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TIL Myopia is extremely uncommon among nonhuman primates but researchers can easily induce it by depriving infant monkeys of normal outdoor lighting levels. Outdoor lighting is usually about 100 times more intense than what you get inside

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9YRxD TIL that in 1954, the French was soundly defeated by the Vietnamese at Dien Bien Phu. That was the first time a non-European colony defeated a modern Western occupier in a pitched battle. The victory then fuelled the independence movements in other colonies, like Algeria
W7V0N TIL About the purple Earth hypothesis. It states that the Earth may have been more purple in colour due to retinal being used instead of chlorophyll by the microorganisms in Earth's environmentally harsh past.
agPL TIL birds, fish, and frogs naturally recover from noise-induced hearing loss as their auditory organs automatically regenerate. Mammals lost this ability 300 million years ago.
X0k8r TIL that on November 25, 1864, Confederate agents set fire to many New York buildings
e0jrD TIL the Pony express was in operation for only 18 months between April 1860 and October 1861.