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TIL about tetrachromats. Tetrachromats have 4 vision cones as opposed to the average 3. This allows them to see ~99 million more shades than the average person. It is thought to be impossible for men to have this gene because they only have a single X chromosome, whereas women have two.

Read more bbc.com

via reddit.com

myYo TIL it has been mathematically proven that in any random group of 23 people, there is always about a 50–50 chance that two individuals within that group will have the same birthday. This is known as the birthday paradox.
4XvGg TIL: Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, who is often portrayed as the epitome of Mexican machismo, never drank alcohol. He actually was so worried about alcoholism spreading in Mexico, that he banned alcohol from his province of Chihuahua.
W7NGL TIL the evolutionary leap from egg laying to placental birth may have been helped by DNA from an ancient retrovirus, which coded for a protein allowing cells around the placenta to fuse, blocking the exchange of maternal-fetal blood and preventing the mother’s immune system from harming the fetus.
9EEG TIL although Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” outsold any other book of its time, he didn’t make any profit, instead donating the sales to buy mittens for the troops in the American Revolution
4kAyg TIL someone bought Lee Harvey Oswald’s Life Insurance for $80K