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TIL that since Queen’s lead guitarist Brian May could not afford a guitar at the beginning of his career, his father and he decided to build an electric guitar from scratch with old oak wood from a fireplace in 1963. He still plays “Red” wherever he tours.

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0w0pA TIL Japanese researchers transplanted lab-grown heart muscle cells onto a human patient's damaged heart as a successful alternative to whole heart transplant. They turned adult stem cells into heart muscle cells, placed the cells on degradable sheets, & covered the damaged parts of the heart.
4k0mR TIL Psychologist B.F. Skinner tried to train pigeons to serve as guides for bombing runs in WWII. After canceling the project, he successfully taught the pigeons to play ping pong instead.
0w4OM TIL that there's a species of spider that breathes air, but lives its entire life underwater in diving bells made of spider silk
98lQ TIL that a German knight named Gotz von Berlichingen lost his hand in 1504, and had it replaced with a mechanical iron prosthetic. It was capable of grasping everything from a sword to a feather pen.
Eg5Ep TIL because US constitutional amendment ratification doesn't have a deadline, the amendment proposed in 1861 for making slavery constitutionally protected could in theory still be ratified