› added 12 years ago

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TIL mosquitoes are adapted to ignore side-to-side movement; a resting female permits a finger to approach slowly if the finger moves several centimetres from side to side about once a second. With practice one can use this stratagem to squash resting mosquitoes with high frequency.

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v1mYx TIL South Africa developed nukes and voluntarily dismantled them. It's the only country in history to do this.
E1eaX TIL Ric O'Barry transitioned from training dolphins for the TV show 'Flipper' to instead advocating against industries that keep dolphins in captivity, after one of the Flipper dolphins died in his arms.
6gE8 TIL there are “cancer villages” in China, where residents are hundreds of times more susceptible to cancer due to pollution.
Bn9r TIL that Ryan White, an HIV/AIDS spokesman in the 80s, was expelled from middle school after contracting HIV from an infected blood transfusion. 117 parents and 50 teachers campaigned for his ban, after being told that the students would catch HIV if they were in the same class as he was.
wLLAY TIL Steven Seagal (90s action star) was declared by a Buddhist spiritual leader to be the reincarnation of a 17th-century Buddhist master. Seagal was given the title of "tulku" which is a being who reincarnates into the world to help other beings reach enlightenment.