› added 10 years ago

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TIL Bacteria can absorb genetic material from dead bacteria and integrate them into their own genome. So if a bacterium eats the corpse of one which has adapted to colder temperatures, it will gain that resistance to cold as well.

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oBOrE TIL in 2007, Hong Kong researchers warned the "presence of a large reservoir of SARS-CoV-like viruses in horseshoe bats, together with the culture of eating exotic mammals in southern China, is a time bomb"
7Var TIL There is an operating system that fits on a floppy disk, and is still being developed for fun
kOll5 TIL the state of South Dokota once sued 15 cats
XELR TIL that in 1961, only 10% of physicians thought it was correct to tell a patient about a fatal cancer diagnosis
xo5b TIL In 1883, a writer attempted to make a Portuguese-to-English phrasebook - despite not knowing English himself. Popularized in America by Mark Twain, “English As She Is Spoke” is filled with such nonsensical English idioms as “to craunch the marmoset” and “to buy cat in pocket.”