› added 5 years ago

169

TIL a woman in 2002 almost lost custody of her children seeking financial assistance after genetic testing showed she wasn’t the mother. She in fact exhibited chimerism, or 2 sets of DNA.

Read more vanishingtwin.com

via reddit.com

9wygQ TIL that Earth orbits where the Sun currently is in real-time, not where it was 8 minutes ago - even though gravity propagates at light speed. Newtonian gravitation does not work unless it is assumed to be instantaneous.
a8jxo TIL that using biodegradable plastic bags doesn't mean they can be discarded anywhere. They require specific conditions to decompose properly. Incorrect methods include throwing them in regular trash or leaving them out in nature.
ZpWjY TIL that the phrase “mad as a hatter” comes from 18th- and 19th-century hat makers who suffered mercury poisoning from the chemicals used in felt production, leading to tremors, hallucinations, and erratic behavior.
OoVj4 TIL Pluto is technically a binary system. Its moon, Charon, is massive enough in relation to Pluto that the point around which they orbit is somewhere in between the two.
g7Ob TIL that Thomas Jefferson proposed a bill that punished male rapists with castration.