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TIL in the originally filmed ending of “I Am Legend,” Will Smith realizes he is the “monster” and the zombies have only been protecting themselves from him. The studio insisted on a replacement “happy ending”, which implies the discovery of a “cure” and nothing of the zombies’ humanity.

xpno TIL In 2009, scientists at India’s Defense Research and Development Organization announced plans to use ghost peppers in hand grenades, as a non-lethal way to flush out terrorists from their hideouts. It would also be developed into pepper spray as a self-defense/anti-rape product.
4dAJ TIL that in 1942, the HMS Porcupine was split in half by a German torpedo. The two sides were salvaged and renamed the HMS Pork and the HMS Pine.
E1rgX TIL there is no such thing as "dying of old age", and you won't see this term written on a death certificate. Most older people actually die of pneumonia.
0dPoL TIL of the Challenger expedition which catalogued over 4,000 previously unknown species. John Murray, who supervised the publication, described the report as "the greatest advance in the knowledge of our planet since the celebrated discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries"
ANREg TIL when Mongol fleets under Kublai Khan attacked Japan in 1274 and 1281, typhoons struck both times, causing significant damage to the fleets. Japan successfully repelled the invasions, and the Mongols never attacked again. The typhoons are called "kamikaze" and are said to have saved Japan.