› added 6 years ago

164

TIL that the Wild West was ended by the invention of barbed wire. It was a cheap and efficient way to contain cattle and thus ended the need for cowboys.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

JYakm TIL Brazil's Kayapo people rejected money from dambuilding companies. "We have decided that we do not want a single penny of your dirty money... Our river does not have a price, our fish that we eat does not have a price, and the happiness of our grandchildren does not have a price"
1alLV TIL that Alexander of Greece (Greece's 4th King) died aged 27 after a mob of monkeys attacked and bit him as he was trying to break a fight between one of the palace monkeys and his German Shepherd dog.
gMwwA TIL there’s a protein made by placenta cells called syncytin which aids in the attachment of the placenta to the uterine wall, making it essential for nutrients to get to the developing fetus. The gene that codes for the protein actually came from a virus millions of years ago.
7rR4Z TIL following a 2016 fatal shooting of a man aboard one of their trains, BART admitted 77 percent of train cameras were fake or didn’t work
X8dD TIL about Hoda Sharaawi, founder of the Egyptian Feminist Union. She became famous when in 1923 she removed her veil in public, causing outrage with authorities.