› added 10 years ago

184

TIL Americans read TWICE as much as they did 60 years ago

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a8ERA TIL the smell of freshly cut grass is actually a distress signal. When grass blades are cut, they release green leaf volatiles (GLVs).It alerts the plant to damage so it can mobilize repair. GLVs are also airborne messages warning neighboring plants of danger.
VBE0B TIL in 1790s Samuel Ireland announced a rare discovery of Shakespearean manuscripts and plays. Experts were convinced they were real. Shakespearean scholar Edmond Malone proved the handwriting was forged and William Henry Ireland, Samuel's son and lawyer-apprentice, eventually confessed to the hoax.
Z8Djp TIL a man who regularly said that God sends natural disasters to punish gay people ended up having his home destroyed in a natural disaster
wMjM TIL that modern Peanut Butter was invented as a source of protein for people with no teeth
aR9J TIL Vicar’s Close in Wells, England is the oldest purely residential street with its original buildings all surviving intact in Europe.