› added 11 years ago

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TIL that thanks to a 1997 Texas law, astronauts can vote from space on Election Day (via secure email to Johnson Space Center).

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via reddit.com

e0WVk TIL children from countries exposed to parasitic worms are less likely to be diagnosed with allergies
KODew TIL of Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian adventurer and scientist, who became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000 km (5,000 mi) across the Pacific Ocean in a hand-built raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands to prove the Ancients could've accomplished this too.
gMLr4 TIL, it takes a photon up to 100,000 years to travel to the surface of the sun but only 8 minutes for it to then reach the earth.
P19EL TIL about the forced expulsion of the Chagossians, when the UK, at the request of the US, began expelling the native inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelago in 1968. The entire population of the Chagos was removed to Mauritius and the Seychelles by 1973
4Zg6 TIL people’s teeth used to randomly explode in the 1800s due to bad fillings. Before the advent of mercury amalgam, a wide variety of metals were used to fill cavities. Using two different metals could create an electrochemical cell – effectively turning the whole mouth into a low-volt battery