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TIL the chemical Formamide has been proposed as an alternative to water that could support life with alternative biochemistries to that currently found on Earth. It can be formed with hydrogen cyanide and water, has a large dipole moment, and dissolves almost everything that dissolves in water.

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neWX9 National Geographic explorer Luke Powell tells you about some of the worst bird parents out there – brood parasites. These birds don’t build nests, but sneak their eggs into other birds’ nests and fly.
L5yZ TIL that Eratosthenes, along with countless other achievements, calculated the size of the earth in 240 BC using a stick, the shadow of the sun, and the known distance between Alexandria and Syene. He was off… by only 66 km.
awWoL TIL that Albanian Highlanders would use shouting as long a distance communication. The one that would hear the shout would shout it to another and so on, traveling 2 week long distances in hours.
XEp5R TIL in 1970 film critic Roger Ebert wrote the screenplay for ‘Beyond the Valley of the Dolls’. One review described it as “a treat for the emotionally retarded, sexually inadequate and dimwitted. It is a grievously sick melange of hypermammalian girls, obvious double-entendres and sadistic violence”
e04l5 TIL human eyeballs only grow about 8 millimeters from birth to adolescence, making them the only body part that stays relatively the same size throughout your life.