› added 7 years ago

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TIL breast milk contains sugars which aren’t digestible by human infants, but which serve as food for desirable gut bacteria

Read more ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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e08v6 TIL about a Miner’s egg, a method in which miners would smuggle silver ore out of mines using candle wax, and later “lay” once out of the mine.
EgPed TIL that the reason crystals and rocks feel cold to the touch is that they have "high thermal inertia". In other words, a rock that sits on a table in a 24°C room will want to take in heat from our 36.8°C bodies,.. and that feels cold. Once it has gained that 12.8°C it does not feel cold any more.
VDbB TIL prescriptivism, which prescribes rigid grammatical rules to written English, only came into favour in the late 1800s. Prior to this most writers were comfortable using multiple spellings and grammatical conventions within a single text.
m1aNY TIL that Vincent van Gogh painted his iconic Irises while staying at an “insane” asylum, inspired by the vibrant flowers he observed in the courtyard from his window.
e0pR4 TIL that Necco Wafers, Sweethearts valentine's hearts, Clark Bars, Candy Buttons and Mary Janes are all made by the same company. Necco Wafers were created by America's first candy machine in 1847 and the formula has largely remained unchanged.