› added 3 hours ago

TIL papayas can naturally change sex while growing and scientists are working on methods to produce fruit-only plants

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via reddit.com

pYeQb TIL about the American Fotoplayer, which was a player piano that combined a piano and an organ plus percussion instruments used to add music and sound effects to silent movies. I also learned that the "circus song" is actually a military march called Entry of the Gladiators
PYp7g TIL during a drill in 1943, the USS William D. Porter accidentally fired a torpedo at the USS Iowa which was carrying US President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the time. The entire crew was rumored to have been arrested when they returned to shore.
XEmbk TIL that studies have shown that organic food is worse for the environment than non-organic, and is unsustainable due to its higher land use requirements
jNVVv TIL about Lady Qi, consort of Emperor Gaozu founder of the Han dynasty, whose limbs were chopped off, eyes were gouged out, tongue cut off, ears cut off, made mute, locked in a pigsty and referred to as "human swine" by the Empress Dowager Lü Zhi who was apparently not on very good terms with her
4XEmo TIL that sustaining a second concussion before fully recovering from an initial one (even an extremely minor one) can cause a condition called Second Impact Syndrome, which causes severe brain damage 100% of the time and frequently results in death.