› added 3 years ago

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TIL that the first scientific paper on the greenhouse effect was published in 1856 by a female scientist, Eunice Newton Foote

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8eROZ TIL that the civil rights act was not the first one in the U.S., but rather the second one, as the first was overturned by the supreme court in 1883.
v1yRL TIL there's a reason there's no generic insulin for diabetics. Its discoverers gave the patent to their university for $1, but the university couldn't make what was needed quickly enough. Drug companies have kept making small changes since the '20s to keep it from going generic.
BrLar TIL Ara Abrahamian, Greco-Roman wrestler for the Swedes in the 2008 Olympics, lost a semifinal due to a controversial ruling. The refs refused to review match video. Ara calmly accepted the bronze medal, then placed it on the mat and walked off. The IOC gave him a lifetime ban from the Olympics.
vwo8 TIL Verizon developed a special knife that uses pressurized air to slice through lawns so fiber optic lines can be buried. The tool cuts through grass but does not break sprinkler pipes and gas lines.
bON9 TIL that Chef Gordon Ramsay originally aspired to be a professional soccer player, but then suffered a knee injury that he never fully recovered from. He then decided to follow his already growing interest in culinary education so he wouldn’t be known as “the football player with the gammy knee”.