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TIL The Hindenberg, who’s crash heralded the disappearence of the zeppelins, was originally designed to use non-flammable helium (not hydrogen) but the US controlled the only Helium supplies and refused to export them.

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YpV6v TIL that dragonfly-like Meganeuropsis permiana which flew around 300 million years ago was 1.5 feet long with a wingspan of 2.5 feet. The biggest insect that has ever existed. If we cloned one today, it would probably suffocate because it needed the 30% Oxygen atmosphere present then (20% now).
v4d7 TIL When Japanese WWII soldier Hiroo Onoda heard of Japan’s surrender, he thought it was Allied propaganda. He and his unit stayed in the mountains, killing 30 Filipinos and engaging the police in several shootouts. He finally surrendered in 1974, 29 years after the war ended.
D1w0J TIL That dry counties have 3x the fatality rate of alcohol-related accidents than wet counties, because people drive longer distances for alcohol
7BWX TIL that DeForest Kelley disliked repeating Dr. McCoy’s catchphrase “He’s dead, Jim”, which appears 20 times in the original Star Trek series. It became so famous, however, that he joked that the line would appear on his tombstone. It did appear in the first sentence of Kelley’s obituary.
rNyAy TIL about "Flynn Effect", which shows that the average IQ rises steadily with each generation. IQ tests are made harder and harder to keep the average at 100. Today's children taking tests from previous decades score well above 100 on average.