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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

l7P7B TIL about the northernmost indigenous people in the world, Greenland's Inughuit. Isolated hundreds of miles away from even from their fellow Inuit, they developed a highly specialized culture that allowed them to live in the high arctic. They only constitute 1% of Greenland's modern population.
nJRB TIL It is often assumed in astrobiology that if life exists somewhere else in the universe, it will also be carbon based.This assumption is referred to by critics as carbon chauvinism.
PYDgw TIL the large Hadron Collider has had such bad luck with accidents and animals randomly breaking it that some scientists have hypothesized it's being sabotaged from the future to stop us from destroying the universe.
YZEB TIL last September there was a “Nickelodeon Golden Age” conference reflecting on the network’s early days, featuring dozens of speakers including Billy West, Marc Summers, Big Pete and more! The video is long but worth it if you grew up watching 90’s Nick.
YZjA TIL contrary to urban legend, the woman who accepted Marlon Brando’s 1973 Academy Award was in fact a Native American. Sacheen Littlefeather was born Maria Cruz to a white mother & full-blooded (but mixed tribe) Native dad. John Wayne had to be restrained from dragging her off stage.