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TIL that Lactase Persistence, the ability of humans to digest milk as an adult, is only common among Europeans and those of European ancestry, as a unique mutation. Most of the global population, including 90% of Asians and 100% of Native Americans, have some degree of lactose intolerance.

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7AYx TIL in 1983, a small town in Missouri was permanently evacuated when high levels of dioxin were discovered in soil samples. It was discovered that a man hired to oil the dirt roads to keep dust down had used waste from a company making Agent Orange.
loeGa TIL Between 1912 and 1948, the Olympic Games awarded medals in sculpture, music, painting, and architecture.After a heated debate in the post-war years, the competitions were scrapped. John Copley of Britain won one of the final medals at age 73 for his painting named "Polo Players".
xVMN5 TIL the "Betsy Ross" of the Iowa flag, Dixie Cornell Gebhardt, was born "Jim Dick" Cornell. Named after a horse owned by her father. Mercifully, her mother called her 'Dixie'.
xV91g TIL that in 1951, a woman sitting in her Florida apartment caught on fire. When found the next day, all that was left was her backbone, her left foot and her skull, shrunk to the size of a cup. Nothing else in the apartment burned. Police were stumped. Some think it was spontaneous human combustion.
wLmm8 TIL that the groundwork for modern medical training - which is infamous for its grueling hours and workload that often lead to burnout - was laid by a physician who was addicted to cocaine, which he was injecting into himself as an experimental anesthetic.