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TIL historically syphilis was called “French disease” by the Italians, “Italian disease” by the French, “Spanish disease” by the Dutch, and “Christian Disease” by the Turks

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v17aR TIL the reason Corgis have short legs is because they were selectively bred for a type of dwarfism, called Chondrodysplasia, over hundreds of years. This gene, FGF4, proved dominant, and there no longer exists a single purebred Welsh Corgi without the genetic condition of achondroplastic dwarfism.
6EOWQ TIL that locusts are mutated grasshoppers. When an abundance of food is followed by a drought they are forced to group, causing the insect to mutate in a matter of hours from green to brown, solitary to swarming, and become long distance flyers. Up until 1920 they were considered 2 different species
oBkVo TIL that the Black Knight from Monty Python was based on a real person: Arrichion of Phigalia, a Greek wrestler who famously refused to give up during a particularly tough wrestling match. He died during the match, but still won because his opponent surrendered, not realizing he was dead.
LQ5np TIL that Hydra are small freshwater invertebrates whose stem cells exist in a continuous state of renewal. Kept safe and in isolation, these organisms show no signs of aging.
eQOJ TIL while it’s only impossible to go faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, it’s definitely possible for some things to go faster than light in air or water, and when they do, the air or water starts to glow blue