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TIL a robot named HitchBot successfully hitchhiked across Canada, Germany and the Netherlands, but got decapitated while hitchhiking across the US

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oRwr8 TIL that some creatures such as frog embryos can change their DNA using sound. We are experimenting with using sound for DNA changes now and this may lead to human DNA alterations without splicing, cutting or intruding into the body manually.
OQk6 TIL that around 4,000 Brazilian street children “disappeared” after being arrested in a social cleansing leading up to the 2012 UN Conference in Rio. The Brazilian government refuses to say where they are. Around 90,000 people have disappeared in Rio in only two decades. More than half are minors.
69d4l TIL one of P.T. Barnum’s promotions featured a “6 Foot-Tall Man Eating Chicken,” which was actually a 6-foot-tall man munching on a chicken leg.
vPmNB TIL a physicist published his cat as a coauthor so he could write using first person plural without being criticized.
p87wZ TIL the last 2 Afghan Jews lived on opposite sides of Kabul's synagogue, both claimed ownership of the space, refused to leave fearing the other would sell it. The two fought so much over the synagogue's Torah (bible) scroll that, after each called Taliban on the other, the Taliban confiscated it.