› added 3 days ago

2

TIL that potato “eyes”come from undifferentiated stem cells that can sense their environment and decide whether to grow roots or shoots based on where they are. If they are underground they become roots, above ground they become shoots and grow leaves.

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8aZgP TIL Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes author) was called upon to help solve a real life crime. His help kept an innocent man from spending life in prison.
X7ZE TIL William Kamkwamba aged 14, learnt how to build an electricity-producing windmill from spare parts and scrap from information gained in library books, after being forced to drop out of school due to poverty.
6EnYX TIL that a Chinese billionaire sparked social backlash by purchasing a rare 500 year old tea cup for 38 million dollars, and then drinking tea out of it. To appease people angered by his using it, Liu Yiqian said “I’m not going to use it ever day.”
oBD4W TIL that Hitler was an avid coprophiliac
xVebw TIL "Motivated Reasoning" is why you can't change someone's mind on the Internet. Techniques include identity-protective cognition (being dismissive of uncomfortable ideas) biased assimilation (only remembering supporting ideas) and biased information search (staying in a bubble).