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TIL that 75% of the world’s food is generated from only 12 plants and 5 animal species.

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6Eey8 TIL The sun is white, but it can often appear yellow, orange or red through Earth's atmosphere due to atmospheric Rayleigh scattering
R7Qp4 TIL: Before the trial of Soviet politicians Zinoviev and Kamenev, they had agreed to plead guilty to the false charges on the condition that they not be executed, a condition that Stalin accepted, stating "that goes without saying". A few hours after their conviction, Stalin ordered their execution
Y79av TIL In the 18th century, philosopher Bishop Berkeley argued for immaterialism, stating material objects don’t exist independently of our perception of them. To which, thinker Samuel Johnson expressed disagreement by kicking a large stone and declaring, "I refute it thus!"
KO9M6 TIL the reason Phoenix can exist in the middle of the desert is because in 1868 Jack Swilling discovered the ruins of a 27,000 sqmi canal system built by the Hohokam. He restarted the canals and today that infrastructure, with modern expansions, waters the city of over a million in the hot desert.
PNRG TIL that Einstein did not really fail math; instead, he excelled, mastering differential and integral calculus by the age of 15.