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TIL while a grad student, botanist Arthur Galston discovered the use of an acid to encourage the flowering of soybeans, noting that high levels had a defoliant effect. The military later developed this acid into agent orange. Galston became a bioethicist, and his objections led Nixon to ban it.

l7nNV TIL: Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was known as the dog shogun for his protections of dogs. During the his reign Edo became overrun with dogs.
oBjeE TIL: After the $4 "Stella" coin was rejected by Congress the already minted coins were sold to Congressmen at cost. This later became a source of scandal when a number of them ended up as jewelry pieces adorning the necks of madams operating some of Washington's most infamous brothels.
4X8P5 TIL that not only is USA the 3rd most populated country in the world, but if it had ONE BILLION MORE people, it would still be the 3rd most populated country in the world.
E1Kbx TIL the actor who played the kid in The Ring is actually a beast. He got accepted to UCLA at age 13, graduated as valedictorian. Then went on to student law at Harvard. While still acting in movies. Today he is works for the House of Representative as a legal counsel.
R7PB9 Today I learned of the severed feet of Salish Sea in the Pacific Northwest. Since 2007 at least 20 human feet have washed up on shore. It has been blamed on everything from a serial killer to plane crashes to a tsunami with the most likely explanation being some combination of these.