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637

TIL that in 552 AD two monks successfully smuggled silkworm eggs in their walking sticks from China to the Byzantine Empire, essentially ending the silk monopolies of China and Persia, and bringing silk manufacture to Europe

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9YJWQ TIL of Australia's pyjama girl mystery: an unidentified murdered woman's body was on public exhibition in a vat of formalin many years for identification. Ten years later the husband confessed to killing her - he was once a waiter at the detective's regular restaurant who he had known many years
nBYG TIL that 1 week of camping, without electronics, resets our biological clock and synchronizes our melatonin hormones with sunrise and sunset. If you have trouble sleeping, go camping.
8pBP TIL the last two speakers of an indigenous language in Mexico refuse to converse with each other because they don’t get along
8ak7Z TIL the Mercedes-Benz G-Class was developed as a result of a suggestion to develop a military vehicle by the Shah of Iran, who at the time was a significant shareholder of the company.
oy1R TIL that the Guatemalan currency, the quetzal, was originally a bird’s tail feathers. “Since it was a crime to kill a quetzal, the bird was simply captured, its long tail feathers plucked, and was set free.”