› added 6 years ago

151

TIL the 12 days of Christmas actually start with Christmas Day instead of leading up to it

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wpQJ TIL In 2011, people playing Foldit, an online puzzle game about protein folding, resolved the structure of an enzyme that causes an Aids-like disease in monkeys. Researchers had been working on the problem for 13 years. The gamers solved it in three weeks.
R5l59 TIL of the half-life of knowledge which pertains to the duration it takes for half of the knowledge within a specific field to become outdated or replaced.
Q1yp TIL Christianity is the fastest growing religion in Iran
xVxk7 TIL that a dam failure in China, 1975 caused as many as 240,000 deaths. The chief engineer predicted it beforehand, and was removed from the project. It was covered up for decades
PeLO TIL that Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo was initially released from custody because his semen type was different than his blood type (which is extremely rare).