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TIL that in 1948 a high school student by the name of Randy Gardner stayed awake for 264.4 hours for a science fair project. He was monitored by a Stanford sleep researcher and contributed notably to the science community. Following he slept for 14 hours and suffered no observable health issues.

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R5d18 TIL about Arrow Air Flight 1285, a charter aircraft that crashed on takeoff in Gander, Canada. Killing 248 (+8 crew) US Army soldiers returning from a peacekeeping deployment. Prob Cause: thin ice/extra weight leading to stall.
Bregr TIL Cheetahs are not considered a big cat because they lack the ability to roar. Cheetahs, the last living member of the Acinonyx genus, lacks the floating hyoid unlike lions, tigers, jaguars, and leopards.(Panthera)
6EGpX TIL there was a global search to find a mate for Jeremy, a rare left-coiling snail. Because his shell coiled counterclockwise, the opposite direction of typical snails, his sex organs could not align with others. Two candidates were found but they proceeded to mate with each other instead of Jeremy.
epmK4 TIL that American physicist Richard Feynman once faced off against a Japanese abacus expert to see which could calculate faster. The abacus consistently won on more simple operations, but Feynman was faster in division and complex calculations such as cube roots.
KOJLG TIL There are 5 methods to hypnotize a chicken, although not all chickens can be hypnotized. An effective way to bring them out of trance is by clapping or nudging them.