› added 1 week ago

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TIL that stray dogs in Chernobyl have managed to survive for 40 years in a radioactive environment due to genetic adaptations that help them cope with the radiation.

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ANwDn TIL restaurant staff in the Houses of Parliament called spotted dick (a traditional British steamed pudding) "Spotted Richard" so it was “less likely to cause a stir”.
VBn7m TIL that the male redback spider will assist his partner during sexual cannibalism by somersaulting toward her mouthparts. Because this allows him to mate only once, some find a juvenile female -- too young to eat him -- and break her exoskeleton to deliver his sperm for her to use when mature.
OoDe7 TIL that based on geological definitions of a continent, the Earth actually has a lost eighth continent, known as Zealandia. Most of this continent is submerged beneath the sea, while a tiny sliver, including New Zealand, is above the water.
Y7XkP TIL that there has never been a state or federal law on the books that prohibited killing a praying mantis. Since the 1950s, a rumor has circulated that killing a praying mantis carries a fine.
4Xoeg TIL of Joseph Tartaro who applied for a vanity license plate with the California DMV that said "NULL" as a joke. Because of how computers interpret that word it wreaked havoc in the system and he began to receive dozens of citations in bulk from all over the state.