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TIL Police in cities across America, Canada and the UK use a device known as a StingRay to track cellphone users, block service and intercept cellphone communication without warrants. The use of these devices is so controversial that most police agencies won't confirm or deny they use them.

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d8Rg8 TIL babies were not anesthetized during surgery until the early eighties
b91dQ TIL of the Nazino affair - the mass deportation of 6,000 "socially harmful" people to Nazino Island in the Soviet Union in May 1933. They were abandoned with only flour for food, and little in the way of tools, clothing, or shelter, and those who attempted to leave were killed by armed guards.
woPb1 TIL 70 percent of human genes are found in zebrafish, which is one of the reasons why they are excellent for modeling human diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy and melanoma. They are also used to study gene mutations and test new drugs.
kED5 TIL ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, the most energetic particles known to humans, all come from the same region of the universe and are caused by an physical process of unknown origin. The most powerful cosmic ray ever recorded carried energy of 300 billion billion eV.
e0RdL TIL despite growing, Yokohama managed to reduce it's waste by 42%, sparing two incineration plants and 230.000 tons of CO2 per year