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TIL it was theorized through the 19th century that the Arctic Ocean got warmer as it got closer to the North Pole. The "Open Polar Sea" could provide trade routes through an equator-like temperate climate to Asia, Europe, and the Americas. It was disproven by dozens of failed expeditions.

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Lklwv TIL London is the largest urban forest in the world: with more than 8 million trees - about one for every Londoner - the capital of the UK is literally classified as a forest in its own right.
b94aN TIL Soap and water don't kill germs; they work by mechanically removing them from your hands. Running water by itself does a pretty good job of germ removal, but soap increases the overall effectiveness by pulling unwanted material off the skin and into the water.
WewY TIL Khrushchev lunched in IBM’s cafeteria in 1959 and admired the concept of self-serve dining - which was so unknown in the Soviet Union - that he went home and instructed Soviet factories to build cafeterias which mimicked what he’d seen in San Jose
E1nxV TIL the word 'jehovah’ is a latinised derivative of God's given name 'YHWH’, this translated abbreviation stemming from 4 Hebrew consonants called the ‘tetragrammaton’ considered too sacred to utter and whose letters were replaced by latin-speaking Christian scholars.
9Y4Xp TIL that YouTube was originally intended to be a dating site with the slogan “Tune In, Hook Up” - however its creators couldn’t find anyone willing to submit videos, even when they were offered cash.