› added 1 year ago

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TIL smelt are naturally-occurring "GMOs": in the only known case of horizontal gene transfer between animals, they "stole" their gene for antifreeze protein from the very distantly related herring

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QL9d TIL that Daniel Tammet,an extremely gifted autistic savant, was given a week to learn Icelandic and was able to successfully complete an interview on national television.
vPEVD TIL that planthoppers are the first animals found to possess a biological form of mechanical gears, used for precise jumping. Found only in nymphs, these interlocking gears synchronize their hind legs, allowing for straight jumps at an acceleration of nearly 400g in two milliseconds.
MeOL7 TIL Bill Gates owns a small investment firm which has the sole purpose of selling off shares of his Microsoft stocks on a daily basis and investing the profits in a tiny portfolio of high performance non-tech companies.
a0pM TIL Don King brutally killed an employee that owed him $600 and only served a 4 year sentence
b9bnZ TIL a working flying car was made in 1949. The reason it was unsuccessful was due to a lack of demand.