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TIL In 1985 a private radiotherapy clinic in Brazil was abandoned, leaving behind a radiation source with 100 grams of Cesium-137. Thieves stole the container in 1987. Over 200 people were contaminated and 4 people died after it was broken into (and the glowing blue dust was spread around)

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4XVmw TIL current American law states that any American can declare any unclaimed unoccupied island in the world for the United States, making it subject to US criminal law and US military protection (at the discretion of the president), but only if the island has lots of bird poop (seriously).
oBVPr TIL: In 1902, due to pressure from the butter industry, the U.S. government made it illegal to put yellow food coloring into margarine. This caused annual margarine consumption to drop from 54k tons to 22k tons due to the unappetizing stark white color of undyed margarine.
4kM7o TIL about ichneumon wasps, a family of parasitic wasps that lays their eggs in butterfly cocoons, spider nests, or into larger insects directly. The adult wasp paralyzes the hosts such that the ichneumon larvae can feed. After some weeks, the now-mature offspring then emerge en masse from the host
grrN9 TIL Arthur Blake competed for the Boston Athletic Association and it was after a 1000 yard race he said in jest "I'm too good for Boston, I ought to go over and run the Marathon, at Athens, in the Olympic Games". This led to him being noticed by a stockbroker, and sending Arthur to the 1896 Olympics
78npb TIL the life expectancy of people with down syndrome has risen from 25 years old in 1983 to 60 years old today.