› added 4 years ago

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TIL researchers sent out surveys to 23AndMe users asking if they noticed a smell when peeing after eating asparagus. Using the 53% that said "Yes", they were able to isolate the specific part of the DNA that determines whether you can smell asparagus pee.

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b60Ja TIL: The ubiquitous anti-piracy commercials used on DVDs used pirated music.
loPJr TIL a scientist named Doctor Claire Rind wanted to design a collision-avoidance system for cars, so she made locusts watch Star Wars while monitoring the reactions of their visual systems. A robot was programmed with the data obtained and was able to avoid collisions 91% of the time.
5YVxp TIL That one of the outtakes from an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm exonerated a man charged with first degree murder, who claimed he was at an LA Dodgers game. During the filming of the episode "The Carpool Lane", he was caught on video in the crowd, thereby confirming his alibi.
je5R TIL that General Motors hired private investigators and prostitutes to try and catch Ralph Nader in compromising situations, in an attempt to discredit him after he published a book on car safety in 1965.
b694 TIL that, as a way to reinvent himself upon enrolling at Northwestern University, Stephen Colbert began pronouncing his last name with a silent t.