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TIL Iceland is has almost eradicated down syndrome because nearly 100% of the women who received a positive test for Down syndrome terminated their pregnancy.

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x6P7b TIL of Irene of Athens (750-803 CE), the first sole-ruling empress in Roman history. Her husband the emperor having died, she had her son's eyes gouged, and him imprisoned, becoming sole ruler for 5 years, when she was exiled to the island of Lesbos and forced to support herself by spinning wool.
xVKg5 TIL that there is a marathon in the town of St. Charles, Missouri called MO' Cowbell, which was named after the "Saturday Night Live" sketch "More Cowbell"
m1XDY TIL DST was conceptualized by Ben Franklin in a satire piece about saving money on candles, proposed in the 1890's by and entomologist wanting more daylight to bug-hunt, implimented in WWI as an energy saving measure, and is now used to provide workers with more daylight.
VB1N8 TIL human birth rates exhibit significant seasonality, with a large peak in spring and a similarly-sized trough in autumn/winter.
9w6KM TIL many female insects mate only once in their lives. Insect populations can be controlled by releasing flocks of sterile males into the wild. Females mate with them, never give birth and simply die.