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TIL the Appalachian Mountains were once part of a mountain range called the Central Pangean Mountains, which were created when the supercontinent Pangea was formed about 335 million years ago. Other mountains that were once part of that range are now in Africa and Scotland.

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N7EON TIL about Emilie du Châtelet, a scientist who in 1749 feared that bearing a child at 42 would be the last thing she did. She worked furiously on a magnum opus that would eventually change the world of physics. Within days of completing her work, she gave birth to a daughter and died soon after.
NrL8 TIL that due to a large amount of polar bears, people in Svalbard (northernmost Norway) are required to carry a rifle outside of settlements as a last resort of self-defense against the animal.
E1P1w TIL In 1989 the Chinese Communist Party forces at Tiananmen Square used expanding bullets, prohibited by international law, to cause particularly grievous wounds when shooting at protesters, thousands of whom were killed.
GEy5 TIL the phrase ‘crocodile tears’ refers to a medieval belief that crocodiles shed tears of sadness when killing and consuming their prey
xgND TIL a genetic study of people from Iceland found a number of them had a mutation predominantly found among Native Americans. It has theorised that this could be because of American women breeding with Viking men, during Norse exploration of America in the 11th century AD.