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TIL the Paraguayan War (1864-70) was proportionally the most devastating war in modern history; it left Paraguay with less than 15% of its prewar population and with a 1:4 male to female ratio!

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M7rX0 TIL Stress hormones can inhibit a process called anoikis, which kills diseased cells and prevents them from spreading. Chronic stress also increases the production of certain growth factors that increase your blood supply. This can speed the development of cancerous tumors.
78WyZ TIL construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, which was built with the help of pressurised caissons (a watertight retaining structure), resulted in numerous workers being either killed or permanently injured by decompression sickness or caisson disease named after this design.
P7mL TIL that wolves with black pelts owe their distinctive coloration to a mutation which occurred in domestic dogs, and was carried to wolves through wolf-dog hybridization.
LkJNp TIL that in 1915, a pilot planned a stunt to drop a baseball into an MLB coach’s glove from a plane during a flyover. As a prank she dropped a grapefruit instead; it exploded in the coach’s glove and covered him in red pulp, and he was convinced he was seriously injured and bleeding to death.
b9BdQ TIL that a species of Waxworm has been shown to be capable of digesting plastics. This discovery may eventually lead to the isolation of an enzyme that can be sprayed on plastic to encourage them to degrade rapidly into more ecologically friendly materials.