› added 9 years ago

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TIL Italians are growing an outdoor cathedral, its roof & walls made of soaring branches

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R7d5l TIL The Peregrine falcon can reach speeds of 200 mph during its high speed dive, making it the fastest bird in the world, as well as the fastest member of the animal kingdom.
xmG1 TIL That in 1978 a monolithic rock was moved from Machu Picchu to make way for a helicopter landing site for the Royalty of Spain. This was done again in 1989, for a meeting of Latin-American leaders, damaging the stone beyond repair and so it was buried.
Eg1lP TIL promoter's in the early1970's made up a fictional start date of 1916 for the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. The real start was 1972.
rR0Ey TIL that sand dollars are actually live creatures. The white sand dollars we often see on beaches are actually dead. When they're alive they are black and have fine bristles on their underside to catch food.
gMBxb TIL radioactivity was discovered accidentally due to bad weather. H. Becquerel stopped his experiments on uranium that required sunlight in an overcast day and put uranium crystals and photographic plates away in a drawer. When he opened the drawer, he discovered the radioactive nature of uranium.