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TIL, in 1979, a small town in Australia fined the United States $400 for littering after debris from NASA’s Skylab space station landed in the town. The fine was paid in 2009.

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R8Vw TIL Robert Downey Jr. credits Mel Gibson with saving his career and getting him sober.
0wV5R TIL that for decades Chinese villagers consumed dinosaur fossils as traditional medicine. They believed these 'dragon bones' would help children with dizziness and cramps.
yQVve Take a look out your window and you're bound to see a dinosaur or two—or at least the descendant of one. That little blue jay? Dinosaur. The obnoxious early rising crow? Dinosaur. The squirrel running up the tree? Well, that’s still a squirrel. But those feathered friends make your yard a real-life Jurassic Park. Most researchers believe birds are descendants of a group of dinosaurs that included the Tyrannosaurus rex. Fossil research has shown that birds and dinosaurs shared behaviors such as brooding and nest building. According to paleontologist and National Geographic grantee Jack Horner, it also stands to reason that dinosaurs had similar courting behaviors as today’s birds. Because various bird species tap-dance, moonwalk, and boogie to impress potential mates, it makes sense that dinosaurs did the same. Just imagine a giant T. rex with its tiny T. rex arms "twerking" its way into the heart of its intended. In this week’s Today I Learned, Horner explains how dinosaurs might have been the original smooth criminals.Read more about one species of Triceratops, Triceratops horridusAdditional footage provided by Cornell Lab of Ornithology
16R47 TIL Japan is offering smiling classes because some people forgot how to do so during the pandemic
jN5ej TIL of Big Hill-a section of railway on the Canadian Pacific line that proved so difficult to climb, spiral-shaped tunnels had to be bored to reduce the slope to a safe grade.