› added 1 year ago

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TIL that modern microwaves actively recommend you put a metal spoon inside when heating liquids to prevent the phenomenon of ‘delayed boiling’ where the liquid gets superheated and can boil over dangerously when disturbed.

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via reddit.com

5V0BD TIL that Thalidomide, the drug responsible for thousands of birth defects across Europe in the 1950s/60s, was developed by a doctor who had previously worked for the Nazis, experimenting on concentration camp victims
p5OQ TIL two Christian monks smuggled silkworms out of China in bamboo canes. Those silkworms were used to give the Byzantine Empire a trade monopoly in Europe, which became the foundation of their economy for the next 650 years
LYWr TIL that a man accused of embezzling $8.7 million hid from law enforcement by hiking the Appalachian Trail for six years.
LQ0Jr TIL that the English may have established a short lived colony in Texas in the late 16th century.
a8rMA TIL: Bananas, avocados, tomatoes, and eggplants are berries, but strawberries aren't. In botanical terms, a berry is a fruit produced from the ovary of a single flower with seeds embedded in its flesh. A strawberry is a "multiple fruit" with many tiny fruits embedded within.