› added 10 years ago

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TIL in 1600 one of the first Englishmen to land in Japan ended up a samurai and adviser to the Shogun

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Brnrx TIL that honey bees are able to stab through the leaves of certain plants to trigger their flowering process weeks earlier than usual.
0mlM TIL Pierre Terrail (a french knight) single-handedly defended a bridge against 200 Spaniards during the battle of Garigliano.
p8dE8 TIL that, in 2009, the Large Hadron Collider was turned off for a short period of time because a piece of baguette was found in the machinery.
K77B TIL the Maunder minimum was a period of record-low sunspot activity that lasted from 1645 to 1715. This period coincides with the Little Ice Age and suggested to scientists that solar activity plays a major role in Earth’s climate.
oE9o TIL researchers have developed a portable HIV test which can test a single drop of blood via a USB drive plugged into a laptop. Its accuracy approaches that of traditional tests, and it could be used in remote areas as well as allowing people to monitor their condition at home.