› added 7 years ago

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TIL At the time of the Battle of Britain (1940) several nations had functioning radar systems (inc. Germany) but it was the British ‘Dowding system’ that allowed positions of enemy planes to be relayed to fighters in the air, resulting in interception rates of >90% and turning the tide of the war.

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d8Ge8 TIL that prairie dogs have one of, if not THE most complicated language in the animal kingdom outside of humans, even describing discusses, size, and color of potential predators.
4XB9X TIL that it's impossible to die of skin suffocation. The filmmakers of the James Bond films believed it was a real risk. For Goldfinger, which features a scene of someone dying of skin suffocation due to being painted gold, they had a physician present and cleaned the person as quickly as possible.
4DRa TIL there is a parasite which breeds inside the guts of a cat. Their offspring are deposited in droppings and can then be eaten by rats. The offspring then affect the rats’ behaviour to make them less scared, and even sexually aroused, by cats, with the aim of returning to the cat guts
7rOMr TIL about Muchu Chhish, a mountain in Pakistan that is so remote and difficult that even if there are no restrictions to climb it, no one has ever reached its summit
N78mN TIL that it's possible to weld wood by pressing two pieces together while one is vibrating at a high frequency