› added 6 years ago

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TIL: The thorax fur of moths acts as a lightweight porous sound absorber, facilitating acoustic camouflage and offering a significant survival advantage against bats.

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epePb TIL that there is a rare parasitic disease called Guinea Worm Disease that causes blisters so painful that people seek cool water to alleviate the pain, also allowing the worm to release larvae. The painful blisters led to this worm's nickname of "fiery serpent."
XE4oP TIL Ridley Scott tried to make Gladiator (2000) an authentic representation of Ancient Rome. An early script had Maximus doing a product endorsement for olive oil, which was historically accurate for famous gladiators to do, but the detail was left out in later scripts for being too unbelievable.
epOgD TIL French ambulances always stabilize patients at the scene rather than rushing to a hospital. Many injuries in the US result from penetrating trauma & require fast "scoop-and-run" management by surgical teams. In France, most injuries are due to blunt trauma so a "stay-and-play" strategy is used.
E14xp TIL A very tired chemist once spilled UK's entire supply of plutonium(10mg) on a table, and in order to recover it, used a saw to cut out that section of the table, then burned it. He recovered 9.5mg of the plutonium from the ashes.
rROQW TIL "Tarzan" actor Johnny Weissmuller was playing golf during the Cuban Revolution when his cart was suddenly surrounded by rebel soldiers. After doing the Tarzan yell for them, the guerrillas recognized him and even escorted him to his hotel.