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TIL when Sophie Rutschmann of the University of Strasbourg discovered a mutated gene that causes an adult fruit fly to die within two days after it is infected with certain bacteria, she named the gene "Kenny" in honor of the South Park character, who dies in almost every early episode.

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via reddit.com

nWXKB TIL: Pope Gregory IX issued a Papal Bull in the 11th Century declaring that cats bore Satan’s spirit. Huge numbers of cats were killed throughout Europe, an indirect cause of the Bubonic plague spread by fleas on rats.
rRQx0 TIL Sean Connery's 2000 movie "Finding Forrester" inspired the creation of YTMND, after its creator saw a trailer for the movie, in which Sean Connery says the line "You're the man now, dog!"
4Xj7R TIL Martin Luther enrolled at the University of Erfurt at age 17 to study law which he described as a "beerhouse and whorehouse". He gave up law for philosophy but eventually left university altogether, sold his books, & became a monk.
vPpa8 TIL Hermann Görner, a legendary German strongman, still holds the record for the heaviest right-hand deadlift, lifting 301 kg (664 lb) in 1920, a feat recognized by Guinness World Records.
grjgA TIL that after Goathe's novel "Sorrows of Young Werther" was published there was a marked increase in young men shooting themselves in the head while dressed as Werther was when he did the same thing.