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TIL about the Fermi Paradox, a concept from the 1950s named after Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi, that highlights the apparent disparity between estimates of intelligent life on other planets and a conspicuous lack of such evidence thus far in our exploration.

J16Q8 TIL the space shuttle would orbit tail-first due to space debris, this allowed it to take a greater proportion of the debris load on the engines and rear cargo bay, which were not needed in orbit or during descent.
1Zw7 TIL there is a scientific term for a person’s tendency to modify their behavior when they know they’re being observed. It’s referred to as the Hawthorne effect.
bea0 TIL several European countries prescribe free heroin to addicts in order to improve there “social and health situation” while “significantly reduce[ing] costs incurred by trials, incarceration, health interventions and delinquency.”
ja4v TIL when 50 deaf Nicaraguan children, who didn’t know sign language, were put in a school together they developed their own sign language. Scientists are still studying the unique spontaneous appearance of language and its ongoing development and introduction of grammar.
GA9E TIL of the Holodomor, the man made famine inflicted upon the Ukrainians by the Soviets in 1932/33. Western governments ignored it due to the desire to gain the Soviets as an ally in trade and war. By the 1937 census, 11,000,000 Ukrainians were no longer present. Some left, but most starved to death.