› added 8 years ago

492

TIL that beryllium, the fourth element on the periodic table, is rarely used by chemists. However, because it is light and strong, it is used in aircraft and cell phones. It is also highly toxic. Just ¼ milligram (mass of a grain of salt) can kill a rat.

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x6E10 TIL the largest national park in the world is Northeast Greenland National Park, also the world’s northernmost national park.
4XnQw TIL that even in a worst-case scenario, Rubix cubes are no more than 20 moves from being solved
69g6w TIL that simply moving the eyes triggers the eardrums to move too. Keeping the head still but shifting the eyes to one side or the other sparks vibrations in the eardrums, even in the absence of any sounds.
AD5yw TIL pirates wore an eyepatch to have one eye adjusted to the dark at all times. So, they could go below deck, swap the eyepatch, and instantly see in the dark.
WkXw8 TIL of Tore Hedin, a Swedish murderer who robbed and killed a friend in 1951. To cover his tracks, he also burned down the crime scene. As he was a local police officer, he helped investigate the crime and even answered questions about it from the national media.