› added 4 years ago

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TIL lobsters have the enzyme called "telomerase" which stops DNA strands called "telomeres" from damage as new cells are made. Other organisms' telomeres erode with age, but lobsters can theoretically live forever, because their ability to create perfect copies of cells never erodes.

Read more telegraph.co.uk

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J1bD1 TIL that horses, ships, and gold, are notably absent in the ash of Pompeii and Herculaneum, pointing out that many people did manage to escape the Mt. Vesuvius eruption. Analysis of Roman inscriptions in surrounding towns found that they simply rebuilt their lives in nearby towns like Ostia.
awV6M TIL that honey bees only die after stinging humans and other mammals with thick skin, but are perfectly capable of attacking other insects. Their barbed stinger gets stuck in the thick skin making them disembowel themselves when they try to escape and die.
4ZXJ TIL Two dead men were found wearing lead masks and suits next to a notebook that said “Be at the place arranged at 16.30. Take capsules at 18.30. After feeling the effects, protect half the face with lead masks. Await the agreed signal.”
4kNmR TIL that the largest living organism on Earth is not a blue whale or an elephant, but actually a fungus. Covering over 2,200 acres in Oregon, the Armillaria ostoyae fungus, also known as the Humongous Fungus, is estimated to be between 2,400 and 8,650 years old and weighs over 6,000 tons.
8a1BV TIL of the Great Smog of London. In 1952, several days of intense smog that killed thousands and sickened 100,000.