› added 6 months ago

25

TIL that sloths can hold their breath longer than dolphins—up to 40 minutes—by slowing their heart rate to conserve oxygen

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16Dg8 TIL that the Amazon is slowly pirating part of the Orinoco
Eg6Nd TIL William Thornton, a phycisian and a close friend of George Washington failed to arrive early enough to treat him in 1799. Instead he proposed a plan to reanimate his frozen corpse using blankets, a transfusion with sheep's blood and a tracheostomy to pump his lungs with air. It was rejected
xV9y0 TIL about "The Thomas Edison of Finland", Eric Tigerstedt, who was awarded 71 patents between 1912 and 1924, including one in 1917 for a "pocket-size folding telephone". He was tragically killed in a car accident on April 20, 1924, rumoured to have been caused by a competitor.
Y9lB TIL Amazon owns the patent for purchasing things with a single mouse click
pYD88 TIL the first recorded use of "May the Fourth be with you" was on the day Margaret Thatcher won the 1979 UK General Election. Her party purchased an ad in the news which read "Dear Maggie, May the Fourth Be with You. Your Party Workers."