› added 8 months ago

138

TIL The universe has a distinct smell. Astronauts describe it as a mix of hot metal, welding fumes, and seared steak.

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gM7Ab TIL about the crab spider which can change colour to match the flower it waits on to ambush its prey.
Lky69 TIL of Anthony Ashley-Cooper 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, a 19th century MP . He was involved in the reforming of insane asylums, responsible for several important child labour laws, and campaigned against the opium trade. As a result of his philanthropy he was known as 'The poor man's Earl'.
awyvy TIL San Francisco had a plague outbreak in the 1900s. Government officials repeatedly denied that it existed to ensure that no quarantine was put into place. When they acknowledged it existed, they blamed it on China. This resulted in the destruction of Chinatown.
OoBgX TIL we aren't allowed to excavate the area the Graecopithecus (human's oldest direct ancestor) fossil was found because the owner of the property built a swimming pool on it.
VMYxm TIL Benjamin Franklin raised his illegitimate son (mother never revealed), who assisted his father in the famous kite experiment. But William became the leader of the Loyalists in the Revolution. They never reconciled, meeting only briefly in Britain after the war to settle family legal matters.