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TIL that in 2013 a novel bat coronavirus was found in a Yunnan cave bat which, unusually, could affect humans; it was extremely similar to the current COVID-19.

Read more nature.com

via reddit.com

P1JGw TIL that the 2020 Beirut explosion left approximately 300,000 people homeless.
1aZ44 TIL in the civil war, the commander of the Union "lightning brigade" personally took out a loan to buy his soldiers advanced new repeating rifles because the government would not supply them. Using the firepower advantage afforded by the new rifles, his brigade proved extremely effective in combat.
R5Bj1 TIL that the idea that smelling coffee beans 'resets' or 'clears' your olfactory palate is a myth. Smelling fresh air or clean, unperfumed skin is the best remedy for 'nose blindness'.
r8b0 TIL LOTR dwarves are supposed to speak with Arabic or Hebrew accent, resulting in dwarven place names like Khazad-dûm and Moria, not Scottish as per popular culture today.
e0BjE TIL J.P. Morgan died with an estimated fortune of “only” $80 million (approx. $1.5 billion in 2015 dollars), upon hearing this John D. Rockefeller remarked “and to think, he wasn’t even a rich man”.