› added 6 years ago

79

TIL the Soviet Union gave John F. Kennedy a dog named Pushinka. Pushinka was the daughter of Strekla, one of the first dogs in space.

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lonN5 TIL that the fastest airspeed record is held by the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a plane designed in the 60's. The record speed, however, is NOT the Blackbird's maximum speed which is still classified.
RNwj TIL that the Lyme disease bacteria is actually transmitted from mice to ticks. And that humans have greatly contributed to outbreaks by causing forest fragmentation and killing predators.
j6AdE TIL that it's not free to move out of america and that it costs $2350 to renounce US citizenship and may cost more if you need be tax compliant.
LkN60 TIL that Philippines is a hotbed for theatrical death fraud that involves false corpses. The most common motives are financial, evasion of prison sentences, and romance. Prices vary depending on the sort of 'death kit' you need to fake your own death.
mxPBP TIL In 2017, Canadian scientists recreated an extinct horse pox virus to demonstrate that the smallpox virus can be recreated in a small lab at a cost of about $100,000, by a team of scientists without specialist knowledge.