› added 7 months ago

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TIL that much like in the movie Dune, you can make earthworms surface by vibrating earth at a specific frequency. This technique is called 'worm grunting' and it consists in driving a stake in the ground and vibrating it using a metal rod. This technique is used to catch worms for fishing bait.

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j6y8n TIL that in 550 AD, the Byzantine Emperor sent two monks to China to smuggle silk worms out of there to avoid Persian control over the Silk Road. The monks hid the worms in their walking sticks, and the silk industry they started lasted for 650 years.
lokvr TIL that in 1977 the FDA made a policy to exclude "all women of childbearing potential" from clinical trials after thalidomide (an anti-nausea drug used in pregnancy) caused detrimental birth defects.
pY74e TIL House cats are more closely related to Walruses than Aardvarks are to any other animal alive on the Earth today
rR4Me TIL of Ken Hechtman who as a student at Columbia stole Uranium 238 was expelled. Then proceeded to break into Area 51, Yucca Flat Test Site, and was present at Timothy McVeigh’s execution. After 9/11 he entered Afghanistan illegally and was captured by the Taliban.
Z40p TIL that in the state of Florida it is illegal for heterosexual couples to live together before marriage. Gay couples, however, are exempt.