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TIL a British millionaire who bought the Segway company died after riding one of the scooters off a cliff and into a river near his Yorkshire estate

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PmjE TIL The people of Melanesia independently developed a recessive gene for blond hair. This is distinct from the blond hair gene found in Western populations
9oNX TIL The Codex Leicester, a collection of famous scientific writings by Leonardo da Vinci, was sold to Bill Gates in 1994 for $30.8M. After Gates acquired the Codex, he had its pages scanned and distributed as screen savers and wallpapers for Windows 95.
yVY0v TIL the British submarine HMS Poseidon sank in 1931 after a collision with a Chinese steamship; 21 crew died in the incident. In 1972, the sub was secretly salvaged by China which wasn't known about in the West until a journalist discovered its description in a 2002 Chinese magazine article.
xZyb TIL that in 1956, France approached the UK about merging together with the Queen as head of state
gxQ7 TIL The disposable syringe was invented by New Zealander Colin Murdoch in 1956. The Department of Health weren’t interested, saying the design was “too futuristic” and that patients wouldn’t want to be injected with anything contained in plastic.