› added 11 years ago

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TIL the “immortal” cancer cells of one woman, Henrietta Lacks, have been multiplying since her death in 1951 and have been used globally to research cancer, AIDS, the vaccine for polio, effects of radiation, gene mapping, and many other pursuits.

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Od61 TIL that in 1971 there was a failed attempt to adapt Dune to film. It would have included Salvador Dali, Orson Welles, and Mick Jagger acting with music by Pink Floyd. Its failure caused the SFX head to go into a psychiatric hospital where he later wrote the script for “Alien”.
D7Yj TIL that it is hard to fool the brain by providing it with ‘energyless’ sweet flavours. Our pleasure in consuming sweet solutions is driven to a great extent by the amount of energy it provides: greater reward in the brain is attributed to sugars compared to artificial sweeteners.
gYaL TIL American roulette wheels are different than wheels in other parts of the world. Casinos in the U.S. use a 0 and double 0 to decrease the odds of winning to 1/38, while other countries use just 0, making the odds 1/37 when betting individual numbers
ANkVB TIL native americans were the first people to turn raccoon body parts into hats and european pioneers copied the fashion
44Go TILcolombian druglord Carlos Ledger had so much money. He offered to pay Colombia’s external debt. Not once but twice.