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TIL of democratic backsliding, the process through which a democratic government is gradually replaced by an autocratic one. Since 2010, the number of democracies backsliding into autocracy has been higher than those adopting democracies. Scholars have called this the third wave of autocrization

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a8wV9 TIL of "Antiaris toxicaria", also known as the "Upas", a tree whose latex is so toxic it is used to poison the tips of blowdarts and arrows in Southeast Asian cultures. It has sometimes been regarded as the most poisonous tree in the world.
b9GYj TIL ginkgo biloba is the only member of its genus, which is the only genus in its family, which is the only family in its order, which is the only order in its subclass.
oXlL TIL ukuleles weren’t introduced to Hawaii until the late 1800s. They were quickly popularized because the king at the time thought they were really neat.
JYNb4 TIL that Robert A. Heinlein is credited with popularizing the phrase "pay it forward."
6E8Mm TIL that Isaac Asimov died from complications of HIV. In 1983 got HIV from a blood transfusion during heart surgery. His doctors told him to keep it quiet. 10 Ten years later, after most of Asimov's physicians had died, Asimov's family agreed that the HIV story should be made public.