› added 13 years ago

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TIL that from the 1940s Sunbeam produced several models of toasters that could sense the heat passing through the toast, meaning that regardless of the color of the bread (white or wholemeal) and the initial temperature of the bread (even frozen), the bread would always be toasted to the same degree

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Bg4br TIL pandas are one of the few animals with opposable thumbs - but the "thumb" develops from a wrist bone, so when looking at pandas, it looks as though they have six fingers
jNnxa TIL Pangolins are the most traficked mammal in the world. Now in a good news Chinese government has removed pangolin scales from a list of approved ingredients in traditional medicine, which could help in bringing end to the large-scale illegal trade.
LQYYm TIL while some mammals have 'baby teeth', others have special stem cells which allow continuously growing teeth. Rats have continuously growing incisors, and rabbits and voles have continuously growing molars
wLN41 (TIL) Toyota cheated so brilliantly it was applauded by rule makers (the FIA or International Automobile Federation). If this had not happened, then we wouldn’t have seen the iconic Colin McRae victory in a Subaru that sparked a whole other generation of competition.
E1p0x TIL USA spent about 24 billion dollars on the “Saturn-Apollo” program until 1969, which would correspond to the sum of about 150 billion dollars today. It was the price to pay to make history, for the first people on the Moon to be American astronauts.