› added 6 years ago

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TIL that Elizabeth Proctor, one of the convicted witches of Salem, was pregnant and "plead her belly", delaying the execution until after giving birth. She was never executed afterwards.

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loemK TIL when the Grand Canyon divided the local squirrel population, they evolved into two different species. Despite being separated only by the Colorado River and remaining extremely similar in appearance, they are now so genetically incompatible that they can no longer interbreed.
6EMd8 Hong Kong-based students, Sum Ming Wong and Kin Pong Li designed a door handle that uses light to always keep itself sterilized. The students were inspired by the SARS outbreak in the 2000s and figured that a self-sanitizing door handle is more effective than the chemical-based cleaning processes we are using right now. The handle is made of a glass tube with aluminum caps at each end and the entire handle is covered in a powdered photocatalytic coating made from a mineral called titanium dioxide. The bacteria is decomposed through a chemical reaction that is activated by UV light reacting with the thin coating on the glass tube.
8KvV TIL Sture Bergwall, Sweden’s most notorious serial killer who was incarcerated after confessing to at least 30 murders and crimes such as rape and cannibal, was later found to have been a manipulative liar. He never actually killed a single person.
9wBkG TIL roman epicurean poet Lucretius repeatedly stated in his poem "de rerum natura" that his goal was to give a natural explanation of the universe, and "free the world from religion and fear of the gods". The same work opens by addressing the goddess Venus, peading for her guidance and protection
YMLP TIL a 124,500 square foot abandoned Walmart in McAllen, Texas, has been turned into the largest single-floor public library in the United States