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TIL China has planted over 500 thousand square kilometers of forest since 1978 to combat the expansion of the Gobi Desert making it the largest forest plantation in the world. It’s expected to reach 4,500 km by 2050

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EVVV TIL that the EPA used to chase commercial jets down the runway with a heavily modified Plymouth originally meant for NASCAR competition. The car stayed in the jet wash the entire time. At $25,000, they determined this to be the cheapest way of collecting emissions data for airliners
1a4RP TIL about Jerry Lawson. He created the first video game cartridges & Channel F console. Atari soon copied.
0dXQ5 TIL that a brain can be large but made of relatively few neurons if those neurons are huge, like in an elephant; primate neurons are small, and bird neurons are even tinier.
jNQRv TIL in 1909 two Latvian anarchists stole 80 pounds worth of coins from a factory across from a police station in London, sparking a two-hour chase now known as the Tottenham Outrage. The chase involved a football charging into a marsh at one point, among other incidents.
PGGV TIL a study showed that 2.6% of Ants in a colony are always active. Over 25% are observed to never be working, and 71.9% are inactive half of the time.