› added 10 years ago

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TIL that in 1954 the economist Armen Alchian was able to figure out what the secret fuel was for the newly developed hydrogen bomb just by looking at the share prices of chemical suppliers on the stock market

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via reddit.com

R5xM1 TIL of Koi Pla, a raw fish salad dish consumed in the Isan region of Thailand said to be responsible for the deaths of around 20,000 people every year. Mainly due to the fish being used containing fluke worms that if eaten can inflict you with bile duct cancer.
rRMNo TIL formations called "the Devil's Corkscrew" were first found around Harrison, Nebraska, in 1891, and were once thought to be extinct forms of sea sponges, but it turns out they are actually fossilized dens of an extinct type of beaver called Palaeocastor.
A9K4 TIL less than a month after the first traffic light went operational, it exploded and killed the unfortunate traffic cop who was operating it.
LkaOm TIL There's a sexually transmissible cancer which shows up in all stray dog populations around the world except Chernobyl
ZEd4 TIL our digestive system is better tuned to digest meat, rather than vegetables