› added 7 months ago

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TIL that seagulls have a special gland that allows them to drink saltwater without getting dehydrated. This gland filters out the salt, which they then excrete through their nostrils. I found it fascinating because it shows how well-adapted these birds are to their coastal environments!

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

xVGkw TIL about practice babies. In the early to mid 1900s, orphaned babies were lent out to college home economics programs where they were taken care of entirely by groups of students in order to learn child-rearing skills.
9YO0D TIL of oncolytic viruses, viruses that are genetically modified to target and kill cancer cells
wL9Lo TIL Henry Jay Lewis was an American double-bassist and orchestral conductor. A child prodigy, he joined the L.A. Philharmonic at age 16, becoming the first African-American instrumentalist in a major symphony orchestra and later, the first African-American symphony orchestra conductor in the U.S.
5jd8 TIL in 1980, former Vice President Spiro Agnew published a memoir in which he implied that Nixon and his Chief of Staff, Alexander Haig, had planned to assassinate him if he refused to resign the Vice Presidency, and that Haig told him to “go quietly…or else,” the memoir’s title.
a8kjM TIL Legendary sports announcer Al Michaels, 78, claims to have never eaten a vegetable.