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TIL The lightest touch from a human, animal, insect, or even plants touching, triggers a huge gene response in plants. Within 30 mins of being touched, 10% of the plant's genome is altered. This is a huge expenditure of energy. If the touching is repeated, then plant growth is reduced by up to 30%

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69VAW TIL about Birendra Mazumdar. He was a little-known Indian-British hero of the infamous Colditz Castle POW prison during World War II, who defied the Nazis. He was shunned and treated terribly by the British, facing racism and accusations of theft, corruption and treason when he escaped.
9w6gr TIL in 2020 a Venezuelan naval ship was sunk by an unarmed German cruse ship when it tried to ram it into its territorial waters. The RCGS Resolute, designed with an ice-strengthened bulbous bow, took only minor damage.
M7XX8 TIL During the American Revolutionary War the French had to defend their trading posts from the British since French allied themselves with the American colonists revolting against the British Empire, forcing Indians to fight amongst each other in India in a civil war over the trading posts.
E1x1W TIL a saguaro cactus once killed a man. When an Arizona man vandalized a 23ft saguaro with a shotgun, the cactus shed one of its arms and crushed him to death.
mxwMM TIL the woman in the 'woman yelling at the cat' meme was actually arguing with a group of people who were accusing her of making up her husband's abuse, who almost blinded her