› added 10 years ago

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TIL the primitive immune system of a horseshoe crab makes them useful to humans. Every drug certified by the FDA must be tested using an extract from their blood cells. Their blood is worth ~$15,000 a quart. A horseshoe crab can be bled, returned to the ocean, and after time, can give blood again.

Read more horseshoecrab.org

via reddit.com

OGDPY TIL: there are no loansharks online all are scammers asking for UPFRONT money
Kne9 TIL Bethesda put on A Post Apocalyptic Film Festival to promote Fallout 3 in 2008.
6EPyW TIL about “rallying,” a phenomenon where a terminally ill person appears to get better before dying
j4kp TIL that Mark Haub, a professor at Kansas State University, went on a “convenience store” diet which mainly consisted of Twinkies, Oreos, and Doritos to demonstrate that counting calories is what matters most in weight loss, not the nutritional value in food. He lost 27 pounds in only two months.
0b7y TIL Pierlucio Tinazzi, an Italian security guard, is credited with saving 10 people from the Mount Blanc Inferno. He donned breathing equipment and drove into the tunnel on his motorcycle. It was later found melted into the pavement after he dragged an unconscious truck driver behind a fire door.