› added 10 months ago

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TIL fruit flies (drosophila melanogaster) share 60% of human DNA, making them perfect for research that has led to vital strides in the treatment of cancer, autism, and diabetes. Six Nobel prizes have been awarded for research involving fruit flies.

Read more theguardian.com

via reddit.com

D1LBY TIL that ultrasound, thought to lie outside of the human hearing range, can be detected by listeners when it is played in combination with sound in the audible range. The mechanism for this is unknown, but in June 2000, researchers verified it by using brain activity scans.
4oEa TIL Salvador Dali would avoid paying for expensive dinners with his friends by sketching on the back of checks. The Artist knew the restaurant owner would not cash in a valuable piece of art.
wLemP TIL of Rebecca Chittum, a girl who was switched at birth with another girl and the mistake wasn’t discovered for 3 years. The day that the swap was realized, her biological parents died in a tragic car accident.
YR6x TIL That a photo exists of a man born 246 years ago. That man is John Quincy Adams (b. 1767)
VjGm TIL that in 1856 a school master strangled a student for stepping on his tame parrot. Afterwards the boy’s father went to the school and shot the schoolmaster dead.