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TIL The largest North American fruit the Asimina triloba(Paw Paw), which bears the largest edible fruit indigenous to the continent. While it’s abundant in the wild, pawpaws have become an exotic fruit, forgotten by most Americans. Yet enthusiasts believe it’s poised to make a comeback.

LQYdp TIL of the swing riots in 1830 England. Farmers unemployed by new machinery rioted across much of England, which prompted calls for reform. The PM, the Duke of Wellington, suggested the existing constitution was perfect and couldn't imagine reform causing a mob to attack his house and his fall as PM
N7ZZJ TIL in 1956, the American Legion hall in Roanoke, Virginia spontaneously desegregated during a Fats Domino concert, where approximately 2,000 whites, crowded on an undersized balcony, migrated to the main (blacks only) dance floor.
aw4kb TIL bats and dolphins evolved echolocation in the same way (down to the molécular level). An analysis revealed that 200 genes had independently changed in the same ways. This is an extreme example of convergent evolution.
lKg7 TIL that one unofficial method of defending merchant vessels against Somali pirates is to blast Britney Spears music. And it has been reported to be effective.
dJ5j TIL (1940) Niels Bohr dissolved two 23-karat gold Nobel prize medals in three parts hydrochloric acid and one part nitric acid and hid it from the invading Nazis. In 1952 the medals were restruck and returned to their owners.