› added 4 years ago

76

TIL City water supplies in Minneapolis, USA and Warsaw, Poland use a "bio-monitoring system." Consisting of clams and mussels that alert them to pollutants via text message or switches. When the clams close, a spring glued to their head completes a switch and alerts the operators in Warsaw.

Read more wikipedia.org

via reddit.com

l7RON TIL that Nikola Tesla openly expressed disgust for overweight people. Once, he fired his secretary because of her weight.
gMab9 TIL a Jewish woman saved her own life and her sister's life in a German concentration camp by playing Chopin so beautifully that the commanding officer declared "She shall live."
GYo9j TIL that Jedediah Smith, an explorer of the American West, survived a bear attack. The animal had smashed his ribs, torn off his scalp, and chewed one of his ears off. He calmly told a friend to sew his scalp and severed ear back on. After 10 days, he was again leading his expedition.
VBk14 TIL: Timon & Pumbaa from The Lion King is based on an actual symbiotic relationship between these two species.
b9r77 TIL Quarantine was first invented in Venice.