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TIL that the facial expressions we make are hardwired into our brains rather than learned during life. After comparing the expressions of sighted and blind athletes at the 2004 Olympic games, researchers concluded that both competitors showed or controlled their expressions in exactly the same way.

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6EAQm TIL Crocodiles are the ultimate survivors. Having arisen some 200 million years ago, they have outlived the dinosaurs by some 65 million years. Even humans, the most fearsome predators ever to stalk the Earth, have failed to force into extinction any of the 23 species of crocodilians.
p8KMb TIL that the Northern Great Plains was home to many fortified Native American towns, beginning in the 800s and existing all the way until the 1880s. These towns had over a thousand residents and a plaza centric layout. These were sedentary towns where people lived year-round.
b6B9 TIL that Freddie Mercury stopped doing a skit at Queen concerts [where he would appear on the shoulders of Darth Vader] because George Lucas threatened legal action against the band.
4XMEJ TIL of Franceska Mann, a Jewish ballerina who was sent to Auschwitz. She reportedly stripped down to nothing but high heels outside of a gas chamber, then stabbed an SS guard in the eye with a heel, grabbed his pistol, shot and killed another SS guard, and wounded a third.
1aAxP TIL In 2003, the U.S developed playing cards to help identify the most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein's government. 46 out of 52 have been captured.