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TIL Christa McAuliffe, who was the teacher who died on the Space Shuttle Challenger, was 1 of 11,000 applicants in NASA's search to find an "ordinary person" to put their first civilian in space. She later remarked, "If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship, don't ask what seat. Just get on."

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ryOM TIL there exist humans with four cones in their eyes (tetrachromats) that can perceive color differences the rest of us cannot. Because it is based on a gene variation of the X chromosome, it is believed that only women can be tetrachromats.
LeZZ TIL: Halden Prison in Norway is a maximum-security prison. It was created with a focus on rehabilitation that is reflected in its design. Its design is projected to help inmates reintegrate into society easily by simulating life outside the prison. It has been called the world’s most humane prison.
QN9xE TIL In Albertville, French Alps, cheese generates electricity. Using whey from beaufort cheese production, a plant produces biogas, powering a turbine that generates 2.8 million kilowatt-hours per year, enough for 1,500 people.
epajJ TIL John von Neumann was the first to use the term "singularity" to refer to a hypothetical point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable consequences for human civilization. Many academics dispute the plausability of a singularity.
GRPE TIL in 1961 a b-52 broke apart mid air over Goldsboro, North Carolina causing two nuclear bombs to fall. One parachute functioned properly, that bomb survived. When the other bomb hit the ground 5 out of 6 safety devices malfunctioned, a single switch prevented a nuclear explosion.