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TIL human post-reproductive longevity is also an extreme and distinctively human evolutionary trait

Read more ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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JYGk4 TIL there was a caste in medieval France and Spain who had to use separate entrances to churches and were fed communion at the end of the spoon because they were thought to be contagious. We're still unsure why they were persecuted, because they were not ethnic, religious, or linguistic minorities.
gMWDL TIL veteran suicide rates are 22% higher than civilians
v1mxB TIL about Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), a system where two AI’s effectively “compete” against each other to create synthetic new versions of existing data like photos or music
E1n0w TIL the tail feathers of Birds of Paradise are so black that they absorb 99.95% of all light, just .01% less than the blackest human-made nanomaterial, and help make brightly-colored patches stand out more during mating dances
pVWb TIL On 9.11.2001, 91 fire trucks and FDNY vehicles were destroyed, and approximately 130 more were damaged. Thanks to “superhuman feats” from the fleet services staff, all companies (except two) were back in service using reserve, spare, and equipment that was repaired within 1 week of 9/11.