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TIL that Stepan Company is the only business in the United States legally authorized by the DEA to import coca leaves, and Coca-Cola is the sole company permitted to purchase and use them in its products.”

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p8e64 TIL when Robert Ballard (professor of oceanography) announced a mission to find the Titanic, it was a cover story for a classified mission to search for lost nuclear submarines. They finished before they were due back, so the team spent the extra time looking for the Titanic and actually found it.
x6Xwk TiL that Brian Wilson was only 23 years old when he produced, arranged, and co-wrote the Beach Boys album "Pet Sounds". The album has since been credited for revolutionizing music production and has appeared in many "greatest records of all time" lists.
dN0K TIL Charles Darwin wasn’t the first choice to go on the voyage in which he theorized the Theory of Evolution. He got the spot because other candidates turned down the captain’s invitation. Meanwhile, the captain just wanted a travel buddy because commanding a ship was very stressful and lonely.
v1yRL TIL there's a reason there's no generic insulin for diabetics. Its discoverers gave the patent to their university for $1, but the university couldn't make what was needed quickly enough. Drug companies have kept making small changes since the '20s to keep it from going generic.
veGj TIL that Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Kary Mullis stated that his LSD use greatly helped him develop the polymerase chain reaction, a commonly used technique in molecular biology.