› added 2 years ago

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TIL Michael DeBakey, developed over many years the technique of replacing the damaged aorta with a tube made of polyethylene terephthalate. He himself suffered aortic dissection at the age of 97 and survived for two years thanks to the technique he developed himself.

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KOLO4 TIL: Orange peels helped revive a Costa Rican forest
VB6M8 TIL that a beetle genus had the name Platypus first, and got it 7 years years before the duck bill platypus was classified, which is why its genus doesn’t have the name platypus in it.
AWEg TIL Heath Ledger based much of the Joker’s voice and mannerisms on Tom Waits. This interview from 1979 is a great example.
W79E8 TIL Canada developed the Ross Rifle because the British wouldn't give them Lee-Enfields during the 1899–1902 South African War. After the war the British urged Canada to switch to the Lee-Enfield but Canada refused. Ross Rifle proved ineffective in WW1 and Canada switched to the Lee-Enfield in 1916.
kJ404 TIL in 2016 a man ate a ghost pepper in an eating contest and drank 6 glasses of water to cool off. He vomited so much he tore a hole in his esophagus and was rushed to a hospital where doctors found his left lung collapsed. He spent 23 days in the hospital and was sent home with a gastric tube.