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TIL that the first person to see human chromosomes through a microscope made a counting error, and published a paper in 1923 stating that there were 24 pairs of them. The error remained widely accepted as a scientific fact for 33 years until it was corrected.

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X0kB8 TIL that after being described as Sheldon Cooper's favorite number, 73 was proven to be the only number that meets both the mirror and product property
4kybw TIL that the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883, mandates that most positions within the federal government should be awarded on the basis of merit instead of political patronage
VMJxD TIL Britain ended Capital Punishment after the unjust execution of Timothy Evans, for the murders of his wife and daughter. He'd accused his neighbour John Christie of the crime. Years later, Christie was discovered to be a serial killer who had killed 6 other woman and Evans's wife and daughter.
dXjK TIL If you hold up a grain of sand, the patch of sky it covers contains 10,000 galaxies
RJ8 TIL that in humans, the nasal cycle means that during the course of a day, the nostrils will switch over approximately every four hours or so.