› added 7 years ago

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TIL- In China, roughly 9.4 million students take the Gaokao, a college entrance exam that lasts two days. During testing time, factories shut down, motorists are banned form honking, and police monitor the streets to ensure that the students are not distracted.

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via reddit.com

wLww8 TIL that study published in Cell in 2014 shows that fasting for 3 days triggers stem cell regeneration in your body and repairs your immune system which in turn can help you live longer and healthier.
8eGla TIL American Falls of Niagara Falls ran dry for several months in 1969 so engineers could inspect and fortify it to prevent/reduce erosion.
nEWW TIL at the height of the Cold War the titanium used in building the legendary SR-71 Blackbird was sourced by the CIA (via dummy companies) from the completely oblivious Soviet Union.
GAeLJ TIL There has been only one Female Medal of Honor Recipient: Dr. Mary Edwards Walker
p8Eae TIL that “cooties” originally was WWI soldiers’ slang for body lice that infested the trenches, before it evolved into a children’s game of contagion that even includes “inoculation” via a ball point pen and a rhyme, which emerged after the polio vaccine became common.