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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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O7OL TIL that Puritans didn’t leave Britain to avoid persecution, they left because of the laws preventing them from persecuting those they thought were not practicing religion properly.
loMX7 TIL Human Alarm Clocks: Before the advent of reliable and affordable alarm clocks, British and Irish workers were woken up by a person who made sure they could get to work on time. The knocker-up used a baton to knock on clients’ doors or a long and light stick to reach windows on higher floors.
5Y7Xp TIL of Oak Ridge, a city built in the U.S. in 1942. 100,000 people lived and worked there doing very specific tasks, most of whom with no idea of what they were working towards. In 1945 they saw news reports of the atomic bombings of Japan and realised they’d been working on the bombs all along
69dal TIL about Boris Skossyreff, an emigre due to the Russian Civil War who started appearing publicly as a monarch after a trip to the Principality of Andorra. With the help of an American millionaire heiress, he seized Andorra in 1934 for several days before being arrested by Spanish authorities.
l7NOr TIL while filming the 1987 film RoboCop, actor Peter Weller struggled to see through the thin helmet visor and interact with (or grab) objects while wearing the gloves. Weller's experience in the costume was only worsened by the warm weather, which made him sweat off up to 3 lb (1.4 kg) per day.