› added 2 months ago

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TIL that a brainless slime mold called Physarum polycephalum can solve mazes, optimize transport routes, and even “remember” solutions, despite being just a single cell.

LklPP TIL that in the 19th century, obstetricians did not wash their hands before examinations. In 1861 a guy called Semmelweis recommended hand washing to decrease very high mother mortality rates. He faced fierce opposition, had a nervous breakdown and died in a mental hospital 4 years later.
R7l78 TIL Brandon Lee's stunt double in "The Crow" was later used as a stand-in for Lee after his death and CGI was used to digitally superimpose Lee's face onto the head of the double. The stunt double was Chad Stahelski who later directed "John Wick" and "John Wick: Chapter 2".
PYwZE TIL that wild populations of the Kanab Ambersnail exist in only two small, disconnected areas. One location is a series of small ponds located in a meadow near Kanab, Utah, and the other is at some waterfalls that emerge from the cliff face near the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
j6kmE TIL that the movie Kingdom of Heaven Directors Cut was so long (3 hours and 14 minutes), that it had an overture at the beginning and a 3 min intermission in the middle of the film where you watch a photo of Balian sitting with his fellow Crusaders after a battle to a special musical score
OGXEX TIL Alexander Fleming on discovering penicillin was quoted as saying: “When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionise all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic, or bacteria killer. But I suppose that was exactly what I did.”