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TIL the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC displayed a working "Little Boy" Atom Bomb that lacked only uranium until 1986. Then the Department of Energy took the bomb from the museum to remove its inner components, so it could not be stolen and detonated with fissile material.

X0ROQ TIL that cats can really land on their feet when they fall freely from a tall building's window. This is called righting reflex. But unlike popular belief, cats can even die after falling upright on the ground.
R7oD7 TIL Gaze following is instinctual for many animals—including humans, chimps, dogs, goats, dolphins, and even the red-footed tortoise. Dogs glance back and forth between human and where the human is looking. The behavior, only seen before in humans and chimps, is called check backs or double looking.
aXJ9 TIL scientists found that men wearing white t-shirts with a large black letter “T” printed on the front were 12% more attractive to women. The t-shirt creates the illusion of broadened shoulders and a slim waist, a male body shape women typically find attractive.
apWo TIL there is a German children’s book from 1845 about three boys teasing a dark-skinned boy. To teach them a lesson, Saint Nicolas dips the three boys in black ink, to make them even darker-skinned than the boy they’d teased.
p1K4 TIL the Skunk Cabbage is one of a few plants that generates its own heat, 20 degrees Celsius/36 degrees Fahrenheit on average, above the outside air temperature. This allows the plant to melt through the snow and flower while snow is still on the ground.