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TIL That Leonardo Da Vinci once conducted an experiment to understand the flow of blood through the valves of the heart, by pouring hot wax into one, making a mould of thin glass from the cast, and then pumping water mixed with seeds through it. He saw how a heart actually regulates itself.

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ALEa TIL The Manhatten Project raised background radiation levels so much, that for a long time geiger counters were built out of pre-1940s steel, mainly salvaged from sunken battleships
LQQKp TIL that the term "fundamentalism" was coined in 1920, and was named after a series of 12 Evangelical protestant pamphlets called " The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth." The pamphlets argued that the Bible was the literal and inerrant word of God.
rRLDx TIL that Ted Jorgenson abandoned his son shortly after his birth. A reporter managed to find Ted, who owns a bike shop, and asked about his son. He had no clue who his son was, and upon refreshing his memory Ted asked if he's still alive. His son ended up being the richest man on earth, Jeff Bezos.
neMM9 TIL that Lima is the second largest desert city after Cairo. The city faces acute water shortage due to very low precipitation. To solve their water shortage issues, the locals use meshed fog catchers made of bamboo frames to harvest water from the thick sea fog that covers Lima all year round.
XEQjD TIL cats prefer consuming human tissue during the relatively early stages of decomposition and will cease consumption when a corpse decays to the point of leaching bodily fluid.