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TIL In 2008, NASA beamed a song - The Beatles' "Across the Universe" - directly into deep space. The transmission was aimed at the North Star, Polaris, which is located 431 light years away from Earth. The song will travel across the universe at a speed of 186,000 miles per second.

Read more nasa.gov

via reddit.com

BgBEb TIL that in 2014, scientists discovered a 30,000-year-old virus in Siberian permafrost. Named Pithovirus sibericum, it was still infectious and started killing amoebae, raising concerns about the potential release of unknown pathogens due to Arctic ice melting or drilling.
X09Nr TIL about the Sorbian people of Lusatia in eastern Germany. They speak a Slavic language, keep bilingual signs, and still celebrate traditions like Easter horseback parades and intricate egg painting. Though small in number, they’ve preserved their culture for over 1,000 years.
4Xww TIL that the United States’ only native parrot species, the Carolina Parakeet, went extinct in 1918 because they were deemed as pests by farmers and as lovely decorations for ladies’ hats.
M7Q08 TIL Major General Orde Wingate, who would later devise and lead the Chindit raids in Burma, once persuaded an Italian commander in Abyssinia to surrender his 12,000 strong force to Wingate's 2000 man force, despite having been ordered by his superiors to cease pursuing the Italians.
DQBEr TIL that in the 1600s, a conjoined twin was sentenced to death but averted the execution by pointing out that this would also kill his innocent twin brother.