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TIL that the CUORE Detector located under Gran Sasso uses lead from a Roman shipwreck in its experiments as radioactive-free shielding in its hunt for neutrinos

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5VPgp TIL In 1728, a mason left a ladder by accident in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It is still there today. This so-called "immovable ladder" can't be moved because any changes to a Christian site in the Holy Land require the approval of six different Christian communities.
vjkr TIL The two “M’s” in M&Ms represent the names of Forrest E. Mars Sr. (son of candy company Mars, Inc. founder Frank C. Mars) and Bruce Murrie (son of Hershey’s Chocolate president William F. R. Murrie).
mx8NM TIL that while repairing a whale enclosure divers during the cold war heard a human-like voice saying "out, out, out," and got out of the water to see nobody. A beluga whale named Noc began to mimic human speech and attempted to communicate with them.
oY97 TIL The Rolls Royce Merlin V12 aviation engine created so much thrust from the exhaust, engineers were able to angle the exhaust backwards to gain 10 mph in the Spitfire it powered.
D1MmV TIL that the reason that Australia is formally named "The Commonwealth of Australia" is that the framers who wrote the Australian Constitution were obsessed with a book called "The American Commonwealth" that described American democracy in the 1870's. They give it the same "reverence as the Bible".