› added 7 years ago

80

TIL that those long stringy things that run down the sides of bananas are called "Phloem"

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epvLk TIL About the Laconia Incident where a German U-Boat sunk the RMS Laconia, a British passenger liner. When it was rescuing survivors and towing them to a French handover, it was attacked by a US B-24 and led to the Kriegsmarine no longer assisting ships they sunk for the rest of the war.
KYX1E TIL in 1927, 15-year-old tennis player Sidney Wood became the youngest man ever to play Wimbledon. In 1931, aged 19, he became the only person to win Wimbledon by default when his final opponent Frank Shields (Brooke's grandfather) withdrew with an injury. Sidney Wood died in 2009 at the age of 97.
0dy1y TIL Unlike most bivalves, scallops possess up to 200 small eyes along the edge of their mantles. These eyes utilize a concave, parabolic mirror of guanine crystals to focus light, allowing scallops to detect movement and changes in light, aiding in predator detection.
8eYKG TIL recording sound on magnetic wires was used before magnetic tapes in the early 1900s, and use of magnetic wires persisted into the 1960s for recorders designed for stealth use, including one with a microphone disguised as a wristwatch
yRvw TIL that the current Queen of England is related by blood to U.S. President George Washington. Their last common ancestor died in 1681.