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TIL that man by the name of John Leal put chlorine into a city’s water supply unbeknownst to anyone else which eventually landed him in court. His work would go on to cut the infant mortality rate in half and dropped the rate of death for typhoid nearly to zero.

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R54ma TIL "gene guns" (referred to formally as biolistic particle delivery systems) exist. They work by firing small, metal bullets coated with genetic material at a target. While normally used on plants due to the relative ease of transformation, they have also been tested on animal cell cultures.
yQwYX TIL In 1809, Ephraim McDowell performed the worlds first ovariotomy opening the door to abdominal surgery. Legend has it that a surly crowd gathered outside McDowell's home during the operation and waited to hang him on his patients certain death.
nWoGd TIL that the reason why certain commercial washing machines have come with the warning label "Do not put any person in this washer" is because companies have been sued after small children have climbed inside washers which have then been started.
Zmba TIL Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top has a 5-octave vocal range (higher than Freddie Mercury’s).
1av4D TIL FOX network refused to pick up the South Park series, saying the talking poo character (Mr. Hankey) would stain "[their] network." The series was then brought to Comedy Central, and it became the highest rated show that made the network one of the fastest-growing U.S. cable channels at the time.